[Pokémon] Four Friends [Rater T]

Sequel to Four Paws

"After Jay was sent back to the human world, his four friends suddenly found themselves in yet another adventure. Join them on yet another crazy journey as Vixie, Shock, Fay and Saur follow a weird bird that fell out of the sky for some odd reason."​

Chapter 1​

Ilex Forest, a large area surrounded by trees and wildlife, where many species of Pokémon live in...a not so peaceful style of life. Some are hunters, others are hunted. But that was the norm, and everyone accepted that way of life.

But the forest isn't roaming with Pokémon alone. Humans also go through the said forest, for it was the only way for them to get to the great city of Goldenrod, or the quiet town of Azalea. These humans are aware of how nature works, and they are fine with that. They'll fight with their beloved Pokémon, or die with them.

That was how loyalty works. And loyalty is a very strong connection.

And a Pikachu was almost at the edge of his patience just because of that simple fact alone. "Gah!" he shouted, sparks flying out from both his flashing cheeks. "Why won't she just suck it up and move on?!"

Behind him, standing a few meters away, a Bulbasaur and a Rattata winced, staring quietly at the angry mouse.

After a few seconds of letting out some...electricity, the Pikachu panted and dropped himself into a sitting position, angrily staring at the morning sky that was barely visible from the sea of leaves.

After a few deep breaths, he sighed, his ears and features drooping, and ignoring the angry noises from the many Pokémon living in the area. "...I'm tired of seeing her like that..."

A vine gently patted his shoulder. The Bulbasaur sat beside him with a gentle smile. "She needs time, Shock."

"I know that!" Shock hissed tiredly. "But it's taking so long..."

The Rattata sat on his other side, blinking in confusion. "But it's only been a day since Jay went away." She blinked, and started giggling.

Shock groaned. "I don't want to hear your silly rhymes right now, Fay."

Fay giggled some more.

The Bulbasaur chuckled lightly. "Still, her point stands."

Shock sighed. "I know, Saur... I know..."

"Just give her time," Saur said reassuringly. "She'll turn around."

"...what if she doesn't?"

"Is Lithe still around?" Fay suddenly asked.

Shock turned to the Rattata, blinking in confusion. "Erm... No?"

Fay smiled at him. "Then she'll turn around! To you if you're willing." She winked.

A vine slapped the back of her head, jerking her forward.

Shock chuckled quietly. "I could have done that myself, Saur."

"Ouchies..." Fay winced, rubbing the back of her head.

Saur simply shrugged as he pulled his vine back under the bulb on his back. "We should probably go back and check up on her."

Shock quickly frowned at that. He sighed. "Yeah, I guess we should." He stood up and kicked a small pebble. "Stupid Jay."

"Hey now, don't be like that," Saur said, watching the electric rodent turning around and started walking.

"Whatever," Shock shook his head, his two friends following him. "This is his fault to begin with."

"True," Saur nodded. "But this is more of your fault."

"What?" Shock stopped, turning to glare at him.

"Ooohhh..." Fay ooh'ed.

Saur simply shrugged as he walked pass him. "Well, you did break up with her."

"I thought I loved her back then, okay?"

"But now, you do?" Fay happily asked, suddenly skipping after Saur to avoid Shock's glare, chuckling all the way. "You still owe me that pink apricorn, by the way."

Saur looked at her. "...I have forgotten all about that..."

Shock sighed and walked after them.

The three then quietly walked through the forest, and it took them a few minutes to reach their destination. After walking out from the line of trees, they now found themselves in a very large clearing of the forest, where in the very middle sat a lake that stretched as far as their eyes could see. Pokémon who preferred to live peacefully were living here, and were respecting each others differences and traits. Some prefer the company, others prefer to be alone, like their friend who decided to stay inside her den to cry her eyes ou—

"She's not here..." Shock blinked, as he and his two friends stood by the opening of their friend's shallow burrow. "S-she's not here!" he started to panic. He frantically looked around, heart pounding hard, and failed to notice a vine that slowly began to wrap around his midsection, until it slightly squeezed him and started dragging him. "S-saur!" he said, startled. "Let go! We need to find her."

"Fay," was the Bulbasaur's simple and calm reply as he followed Fay.

The Rattata was busily sniffing the ground, following a certain Pokémon's scent.

Shock blinked. "Oh. Right." He couldn't scratch his head. "Can you let go of me now?"

Saur lets him go, and the two followed Fay back into the trees. Shock was getting nervous and impatient. Saur was simply trying to stay calm.

After a few minutes and a few turns, they turned for the last time, and finally, they saw a Vulpix who sat by a tiny stream, her back on them.

"Vixie!" Shock immediately cried out, running towards her.

The Vulpix flinched, but turned to see her approaching friends. "Um... Why are you guys here?"

"We should be asking you the same question," Shock said, almost hissing. He took a breath to calm himself down.

"What are you doing here?" Saur asked.

Ears drooping, Vixie sighed, turning back and stared at the little stream, the gentle flow of the water reflecting her sad face. "I just...needed to be alone."

Fay blinked, and looked up and around, noticing a few Metapods and Kakunas and a few birds in the trees. She nodded. "Riiight..."

The Vulpix sighed again, closing her eyes. "...I miss him."

Shock opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly felt Saur's glare. He decided to rethink what he was gonna say instead.

Meanwhile, Saur walked and sat beside their troubled friend. "You're not the only one..." He looked down at the stream. "We may not miss him as much as you do, but we'll be here for you."

"Yep," Fay chirped as she sat beside Saur, smiling at Vixie. "Besides! There's still lots of fun stuff we can do instead of mopping around!"

Vixie looked at her, arching an eyebrow.

Shock sat on the Vulpix's other side.

Fay kept her smile. "Why, if you stop moping for just a few seconds, I bet there's gonna be something exciting that'll happen!"

Loud rustling noises.

The four friends looked up and were startled when a blue feathery creature fell and landed on the small stream, splashing them with water.

Fay coughed, blinked, and smiled back at them. "See? Like that!"

"Fay," Saur glared at her.

The Rattata blinked. "What? I didn't do anything this time! Honest!"

A few bird Pokémon started landing around the area, but were too scared to approach...whatever it was that was lying on the stream, unmoving.

Shock gasped when he realized that the thing wasn't moving. He quickly grabbed the creature and tried shaking it awake. "Hey! Hey—"

"Stop touching my penis!" an angry beaked face suddenly turned to glare at him, startling the four friends. "God! I was taking a nice roost and—" he blinked, shock replaced his angry face. "Oh my god! You're a Pikachu!" He looked at the others, and gasped cheerfully. "Oh my god! You're a Vulpix! And you're a Bulbasaur! And you're a—" he blinked. He waved a wing. "And you're just a boring Rattata..." He suddenly froze as he saw his wing, his beak looping from open to close.

Saur arched an eyebrow.

Vixie blinked.

Shock was already starting to not like where this was going.

Fay chuckled. "Wow! How'd you know what we are?!"

"Pfft, please!" the weird bird suddenly said, standing up and smiling at them. "I'm an expert on Pokémon! Hi! My name's, uh..."

A pause.

The four friends looked at each other, and then back at the weird bird.

The said bird suddenly smiled brightly. "Sky! And I'm a Taillow!"

Another pause.

Sky blinked. He looked down. "And I'm standing on running water. Scoot over, please." He pulled his wings in front of him and shoo'ed the four friends to give him some space to stand on, which they did. He then awkwardly shook the water off of him, making him a bit dizzy in the process.

Shock blinked. "Sky?" Well, that's a common name for flying types. Too common, to be honest.

Fay snickered. "Your tail is definitely low, alright."

Saur rolled his eyes.

Shock shivered and wiped his paws on his sides.

Vixie smiled awkwardly at the energetic bird. "Um... W-well, hello, Sky. I'm—"

"Wait wait wait wait wait," Sky said, holding up a wing to stop her from talking. "Hold up! Don't introduce yourselves yet! First, let me take a guess!" He pointed his wing at the Vulpix. "You're Vixie." He pointed at Shock, saying his name. He pointed at Saur, saying his name, and then at Fay, saying her name. He beamed proudly. "Am I right?"

The four friends simply blinked at him.

The Taillow grinned a toothless grin. "I am right! Awesome!" He flapped his wings excitingly. He then looked around, excitingly ruffling his wings at his sides. "And we're in Ilex Forest, right? Right? Right!" He blinked, and stared at the many cocoons on the trees. "Wow... I wonder if there are Silcoons here, too. Wait, no!" He slapped himself as he laughed. "Silly me. We're in Johto! They shouldn't be native here. Hm... I wonder how I got here... Oh! Hello!" He waved a wing at a few Pidgeys a few meters away.

As the bird continued to wave and say hello to the other Pokémon around, Shock leaned to Vixie's ear to whisper. "I...think we should head back now."

But before Vixie could nod, somehow, the blue bird heard him. Sky stopped and glared at the Pikachu. He suddenly shoved his angry and slightly wet face at Shock's surprised face. "Listen here, buster!" he said, stabbing his primary feathers at the rodent's chest. It wasn't very effective. "As long as I'm around, you are not to lay a single finger on this beautiful Vulpix, ya hear me?!"

"Er..."

"Else there'll be blood, and I'm gonna make a cape out of your fur! You understand?!"

Fay chuckled. "I like him already." He turned to Saur. "Can we keep him?"

"Yes," Saur chuckled. He reminded him of a certain Murkrow, but only a lot worse. "We most certainly can NOT."

"Aww..." Fay pouted.

Shock finally collected himself. He glared back, the red pouches on his cheeks glowing slightly as he pushed the angry Taillow to give himself some space. "And who in Mewtwo's balls are you to tell me what to do with my friends?"

The Taillow's angry features turned into one of surprise, and suddenly, he went green.

Shock then realized what he just said. He gasped. "Wait—no! That's now what I—"

His other friends were laughing already, while the Taillow shivered and shook his head to get rid of the unneeded mental image.

Shock cursed under his breath of his friends being dirty-minded idiots.

Chapter 2​

"So...why aren't you guys in your final evolution stages?" asked a Taillow with a happy smile as he and three other Pokémon sat in front of a den's entrance. He then looked at the Vulpix who was lying down inside the den. "Especially you! Ninetales are sexy creatures!"

Shock groaned for the umpteenth time, rubbing both cheeks with both paws. "Arceus damnit, do you ever shut up?!" He glared at him, ears twitching. "You're worse than Fay!"

Fay blinked, confused.

Saur chuckled quietly, before smiling at the curious bird. "Well, we all agreed to stay a Bulbasaur, a Rattata, a—"

"First stage form, I get it, sheesh..." Sky sighed, shaking his head. "You don't have to list them all."

"Then stop asking stupid questions," Shock grumbled.

Saur blinked, smile gone. "Right. Well, it's because this is how our friend saw us last before he went away, and we don't want to change it, as our way of remembering him."

Sky blinked, then turned to Shock.

The Pikachu blinked, annoyed. "What?"

Sky tilted his head. "Even you?"

Shock arched an eyebrow. "For your information, yes. And why are you still here?" He turned and waved a paw at the clear blue sky above the large lake. "Shouldn't you be flying back to...wherever you were heading? The sooner, the better, by the way."

"If he could fly, that is." Fay chuckled.

The Taillow blinked, and then he chuckled. "Wow. You want me gone that badly?"

Shock rolled his eyes. "Took you long enough to notice."

"No offence," Vixie suddenly said, rising into a sitting position. "But we don't really...know who you are."

"I'm Sky!" the Taillow said, fluttering his feathers. "I thought we already established that."

Shock groaned.

Vixie sighed, ears drooping. "What I meant is that...you're a stranger to all of us."

"Not really," Fay chirped. "He's more like an acquaintance now!"

"Don't encourage him," Shock mumbled.

Sky was simply smiling. "Oh! Is that all? That can be easily remedied!"

"Please don't tell us you're staying here," Shock mumbled again.

Sky turned to him, smiling wide. "That's a good idea! But no, I've got a better idea!"

"I am overflowing with excitement..." Shock deadpanned.

Saur and Fay chuckled.

"Let's have a journey!" Sky announced excitingly. He turned and pointed at the sky with a wing. "Let's go on an adventure, the five of us, in search of a way to get the broken-hearted Vixie to be with her true love who's in another world!" He then turned back to smile at the three Pokémon plus Vixie who walked out from her den. "It'll be fun! So what do you say?!"

"...another adventure?" Fay asked excitingly.

"...the five of us?" Shock frowned.

"...another world?" Saur blinked.

Vixie furrowed her brows as she marched towards the smiling bird. Finally, she stopped, her nose an inch or two away from the bird's beak. "Tell me," she said, eyes aflame as she glared at the bird's eyes. "Who are you? And why do you know so much about us? About me? And about Jay?"

Sky's smile was gone, replaced with a confused frown as he blinked once...twice...and then, "ah!" He slapped his head with a wing as he chuckled. "Oh, right! I forgot to tell you all that one important detail! No wonder you all, minus Fay, acted a bit strange towards me!"

"And here I thought it was obvious," Shock groaned.

"Actually," Sky blinked, rubbing his head with his primary feathers. "I really thought it was obvious as to why I knew too much." He shrugged. "I guess I shouldn't assume too much..."

"Can you just tell us, please?" Vixie asked, her patience already running thin.

Sky smiled at her, and winked. "Hey, babe. Save the 'pleases' to my old bro once we get to him. Or once I get you to him. Whichever suits the situation." He shrugged, and then he cleared his throat. "Anyway, I—"

"You're Jay's brother?" Saur asked, blinking.

The rest of his friends turned to the grass type, blinking.

Sky frowned. "Aw... You ruined the dramatic reveal!" He glared on the ground, and awkwardly kicked a pebble.

Shock turned to him, then at Saur, and then back to him. "Wait. Hold on." He rubbed his head, a headache already forming. "You mean to tell us that you're Jay's brother?"

Sky sighed and pouted. "I was really hoping for a dramatic reveal..."

"...sorry?" Saur apologized, blinking.

Vixie stared at the Taillow, a bit surprised from what she just heard. "One moment." She turned and dragged her friends a few feet away. Once she was satisfied with the distance, she looked back at the bird, who decided to look around, before looking back to her friends. "Okay... Has Jay ever told us about his brother?"

Fay arched an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be the one who knows more about him than us?"

Vixie glared at her.

Shock actually chuckled. "Good point."

"I'm serious."

Fay pouted. "So was I!"

Saur shook his head. "Yes, he did mention to us about his brother, although..."

"Although what?" Vixie asked.

The grass type shook his head. "I can't remember him mentioning his brother's name."

Shock rubbed his aching head. "Yeah...I've been trying to recall a name. I don't think he ever told us."

Saur nodded. "And I doubt humans would call their offsprings as 'Sky.'"

The four friends became quiet for a short while, and then looked back at the Taillow.

The said bird fell on the ground. He chuckled to himself, ignoring strange looks that he got from a few Pokémon nearby as he rose back up to his small talons. With extended wings, he started flapping them again, staying airborne for a few seconds before he tilted to his left and fell back down on the ground with a groan.

A few flying types started landing around him, asking what he was doing and some actually gave him advice on how to fly.

"Well," Vixie said, sitting down. "He does kinda give off a weird...what's the term...Jay-ish like...thing on him."

"Aura?" Saur asked.

Vixie nodded. "Right. That."

Shock arched an eyebrow. "You mean how he awkwardly walked with us all the way back here instead of hopping or gliding like how birds usually do?"

"And the fact that he couldn't fly!" Fay chuckled. "Maybe that's actually Jay who's a Flyeon!"

Her friends ignored her.

"Hm..." Saur hm'ed. "He's quite certain that he's Jay's brother, and that he can take us to him."

His three friends turned to him.

Saur looked at them. "Latios took Jay to Arceus, so he could return to his world, right?"

"That's what the grumpy guy's sister said, yes," Shock nodded.

Saur nodded, then looked at the struggling bird, who was glaring at his own wings while a Pidgeotto was busy giving him advice. "Maybe he got in while Jay got out?"

"Wouldn't Arceus notice? Also, how did Jay got here in the first place, anyway?" Shock blurted out.

"Well," Fay smiled. "Arceus didn't even know Jay and Krysie were here."

"...touché," Shock said.

Vixie shook her head. "He couldn't remember. Jay couldn't recall how he got here..." She frowned as she looked at Saur. "Also, he said that it would be a bad idea for us to go to his world, if it was even possible anyway."

Fay blinked, and nodded with a smile. "Oh yeah! I remember him saying that."

Shock nodded. "A world without Pokémon? I don't want to live in that kind of world."

Saur nodded.

Fay blinked. "But it could be fun! With us being the only Pokémon in his world!"

Shock snorted. He then looked at Vixie, and blinked, and then he frowned. "...don't tell me..."

Vixie was smiling, determination and courage on her face, and a little pinch of idiocy, Shock thought.

The Pikachu sighed, ears drooping.

Fay and Saur blinked as Vixie turned around and started walking towards the angrily-mumbling Taillow.

"I became a freaking bird only to find out I couldn't fly..." His wings drooped as he tiredly stared at the sky. "Even this world is so cruel to me..."

A few bird Pokémon around him chuckled, despite not understanding the first half of what he said.

"Sky," Vixie called, sitting behind him.

The Taillow sighed, hanging his head low. "Yesh... I know that's the sky." He threw her a glare. "I'm tired, not stupid."

Vixie deadpanned. "I was calling your name."

The Taillow blinked, and then he chuckled quietly. "Oh, right. Still not used to my code name, is all."

"Code name?" Vixie blinked.

"Is that another human word?" Fay asked, she and her other two friends behind the fire type.

Sky waved a wing at her. "Meh. That's my name on C.o.D. I doubt you know what that is, anyway." He turned to look at the bird Pokémon around them, smiling. "Thanks for the words of wisdom, birdies! But my friends are back and I think we need some alone time for chit-chatting." He waved a wing goodbye as the few bird Pokémon left them alone.

"We're not friends," Shock glared at him, before he sighed and stared at the Vulpix. "Vixie," Shock said, "are you serious about this?"

"Oi," Sky called his attention, glaring. "I told you to stop hitting on her."

Shock glared back. "I'll hit you if you won't stop talking nonsense, bird!"

"Hush, you two," Vixie threw a glare at the Pikachu before turning back to the smiling Taillow. "So, you can take us to Jay?"

Sky nodded eagerly. "Of course I can!"

"Do we even want to go there?" Shock sighed, turning to his other friends for help. "Please say no."

"I'll pass," Saur replied.

"I'm going!" Fay replied.

Shock groaned. "It's a tie." He turned to Vixie, who was staring at him. "Two on two. We need a tie breaker."

A loud roar echoed in the forest, even managing to create small ripples on the calm lake. A large and mighty Arcanine walked out from a line of trees meters away from the four friends plus Taillow, his fur slightly covered in dirt and tree branches.

He shook the dirt off of his coat as a large number of female Pokémon started approaching him cheerily.

Shock blinked, turned the other way, and started walking. "Okay, I'm out of here."

Saur chuckled and walked after him, Fay following close behind.

Vixie glared daggers at the newcomer. He wasn't actually new around the area, but—

A vine wrapped around her and started dragging her away from the scene.

Sky merely blinked at the four Pokémon in confusion, and then blinked at the Arcanine. And then it hit him. His face was awash with anger. Puffing his white feathered chest, he awkwardly marched towards the Arcanine and—

—was dragged away by Saur's other vine. Sky opened his beak, but two soft paws forcefully closed them shut. He was surprised, "mmf!" and even more surprised when a Rattata's face now filled his vision.

Fay chuckled as she held the bird's beak while walking on her hind paws. "Nah-uh-uh! Saury said we should leave as quietly as possible."

Chapter 3​

"Okay," a Taillow said to himself, eyes closed. He took a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and exhaled through his opened beak as he opened his eyes, looking determined as he stared at the ocean of green before him. He lifted a talon, and stretched it to a side. He did the same to the other. With that done, he cracked his neck, and then fluttered his feathers. He stretched his wings, and flapped them up, and down, and up and down, and stretched them again. With that done, he folded his wings back to his sides, and fluttered his feathers once more. "Okay!" he said boldly, and took a step back. He leaned forward, brows furrowed and beak cracking a determined grin.

Seconds passed, and the silence was deafening. A warm, afternoon gust of wind brushed against his feathers, and then, the Taillow awkwardly ran forward, and jumped on the very edge of the cliff. He snapped his wings open, and straightened his body as he closed his eyes. He concentrated with a smile, feeling every feather on his wings, and concentrated on the wind that rushed towards him from below.

...he was falling.

A Vulpix slapped a paw on her face.

A Rattata chuckled nervously.

A Bulbasaur was curiously and nervously leaning forward, as if he could see the bird.

A Pikachu shook his head. "Welp, he's dead." He turned around. "He will not be missed."

The Vulpix quickly looked back at the retreating rodent. "Shock! How could you?! We should go after him!"

Shock stopped and turned to her with an arched eyebrow. "Vixie, it took us hours to get this high up on this mountain."

"...I still don't know why we're up here," the Bulbasaur muttered to himself as he stood on the edge of the cliff beside the Rattata, both looking down.

"Yeah, and it took Sky three seconds to get back on the ground," the Rattata chuckled.

"...five."

"You wanna bet?"

Saur simply shrugged.

Fay grinned and took his challenge. "You're on."

The ground beneath them suddenly shook, if only slightly. An angry Diglett popped out from the ground. He looked around, and settled on glaring at the Vulpix, because she was the closest recipient for his glare. "I believe you guys dropped something." He went back inside the hole, which was soon followed by muffled grunts and yelps, and soon, a bruised and dirty Taillow erupted from the hole, landing in front of the yelping Vulpix with a painful groan. The Diglett surfaced back. "Next time you throw something, make sure it's not on my head!" And he was gone.

"W-wait!" the Taillow turned around, wincing. "I-I wanna know what's under you!"

A paw struck his head, pushing him back on the ground.

"Ow!"

Vixie glared at the Taillow who busied himself by rubbing his aching...everything. "Don't scare us like that!"

Fay giggled as she and Saur approached them. "I'm not the one getting struck on the head anymore! I like this change." She smiled down at the Taillow. "So... How long did it took you to reach the ground?"

"...I landed on a Diglett..." the Taillow pouted, eyes starting to water. "...a-and I didn't even get the chance to see what's under him!"

"Huh," Shock blinked, crossing his arms. "...now that you mention it..."

Fay frowned. "So...more than three seconds?"

Saur chuckled. "And more than five, it seems."

After a few seconds of quiet sobs, the Taillow rose back to his feet, smiling brightly. "Welp, that was a fail." He started to walk awkwardly towards the edge of the cliff. "I'm gonna try again."

"You will most certainly not!" Vixie snarled as Saur dragged the bird back with a vine. "You could have died!"

The Taillow blinked at her. "Well, yeah, if I were a human, I sure as heck would have died. Also, wow. You really are preggy, huh?"

Vixie raised an angry brow. "What?"

Sky simply shrugged. "Eh, you're being caring all of a sudden." He grinned a toothless grin. "I guess my bro really did knock you up." He cheered. "I'm gonna be an uncle soon! Sweetness!" He then winced in pain.

Fay turned to Saur. "Humans use words in strange ways, huh?"

"Why do you wish to fly, anyway?" Saur asked, letting him go.

Sky just now realized how filthy he was. "Eh. I'm a bird, right?" he asked as he brushed his wing with the other. "Might as well use the gift of flight that is given to me."

"Can't you try flying while we go..." Vixie trailed off. Neither her nor her friends really knew where they were suppose to go. "...to Jay?"

"Nope," Sky replied, still busy cleaning himself. "We need flight to get to where we needed to go."

Shock arched him an eyebrow. "Uh huh. Right. Good for you, then."

Sky shrugged and then went back to cleaning himself. "Meh... Not my fault I got wings while you guys don't." He blinked. "Then again, there was an event distribution of a flying Pikachu... Wow, that was a long time ago..."

Vixie was already frowning. "...then you sent us here for nothing? Us going to Jay was a lie?"

Sky blinked at her. He blinked again. And again. He then slapped his face, and laughed. "Oh-hahahahah! I-I get what you mean!" He took a breath to calm himself, and smiled at them. "Well, me bringing you guys up here might be for nothing, now that I think about it. But! I didn't lie about me taking you guys to my bro!"

"I still don't believe you're his brother..." Shock muttered.

"Believe in whatever you like, my Pikachu friend!" Sky smiled at him. "We are, after all, gifted with a mind to think...and to believe!"

Shock sighed in frustration, ears drooping. "I'm not your friend."

"Yet," Sky added with a smile.

Fay giggled.

Vixie slightly shook her head. "Then how can you take us there if we, minus you, can't fly there."

"Technically, he can't fly yet," Fay chirped.

Vixie ignored her.

Sky was still smiling. "That's why I need to learn how to fly! So that I can—"

"You will carry us?" Shock arched yet another eyebrow. "For real? Are you even thinking your plan through?"

Sky nodded all too quickly, still smiling. "Of course I do!" He fluttered his feathers. "I won't say something as crazy as taking you guys to my bro if I haven't thought this plan through!" He stretched a dirty wing and stared at it, frowning a little. "There might be a few bumps ahead, but," he pulled his wing back and smiled at them. "...no worries! I got this covered!" He winked. "Just leave it to me!"

Shock sighed long and hard. "We're so dead."

Sky turned, now facing a city far ahead, the towering buildings reflecting the afternoon sun. "First, I need to go and see Bill."

"Bill?"

The Taillow nodded. "Yup! You guys said that he went back there, right?" he asked, pointing at the city with a wing.

"Well, yes," Vixie replied.

"Hours after Jay was taken by Latios, Bill arrived at the mouth of the cave with a...I believe humans call it a car." Saur said.

"We already told him that while we were climbing up this mountain," Shock muttered.

Sky nodded, still staring at Goldenrod City. "Right. You guys hitched a ride. Well, I need his help." He turned to face them again. "Walking there might take us days, judging from the distance between here and the city."

"It would have been a little bit closer if we didn't climb this stupid mountain in the first place," Shock grumbled.

Sky simply shrugged. "Meh, what's done's done!" He smiled. "I need to know at least the basics of flight so I can go and meet him."

"Good luck with that," Shock said, turning around. He went and sat under the shadow of a lone tree, leaning his back against the trunk. He groaned, his body cried in relief to finally be able to rest. The climb wore him out, but he wasn't really that tired. Still, he managed to smile from the relief that he felt. He looked ahead and saw the Taillow was already flapping his wings again, with Saur, Fay and Vixie behind the stupid bird, saying things that he could barely hear.

Sky flapped his wings fast and hard, managing to make himself hover in the air for a few seconds before a gust of wind pushed him back, throwing him off balance and landing awkwardly on the three yelping Pokémon.

Shock sighed, and shook his head. He looked up, scanning the tree's branches to spot any berries. He instead saw a Pidgey, quietly staring at his friends. "Oi," he called, but his voice was probably too low for the Pidgey up above to hear him. "Oi," he said, louder this time, but the Pidgey still wasn't able to hear him. He rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, and semi-shouted, "Oi!"

The Pidgey yelped, shaking the branches and creating rustling noises, and made a few leaves fall out to be carried by the calm breeze. The bird fell, but managed to catch itself and flew back into the branches.

Shock arched an eyebrow, staring at the shaking Pidgey who was failing to hide itself behind the branches. Whatever, he wanted to ask if the bird could see berries there, but now he decided not to waste his time with a—

"Hiya Shockie!"

"Gah—ow!" Shock yelped, hitting his head on the trunk. He gritted his teeth as he rubbed his aching head while glaring at a smiling Rattata. "One of these days, I'm gonna die from a heart attack."

Fay appeared to not have heard him. "So, wat'cha doing here?"

"Resti—"

"Oh! Hello!" Fay looked up, completely ignoring the Pikachu. She was staring up at the Pidgey. "Wat'cha doing up there?"

"Hiding," Shock said, rolling his eyes. "Just ignore him, Fay."

"Nuh-uh!" Fay happily shook her head. "She's a bird, like Sky! And Sky needs a teacher!"

Shock simply arched his eyebrow.

Fay looked up. "So, wanna help out, Miss Bird?"

The Pidgey stopped shaking, only for a bit, and slowly poked an eye out from behind the branch to look at the smiling rodent.

"Come on!" Fay chirped. "We won't bite!"

"That depends," Shock muttered, suddenly remembering that Pidgey they and Jay met while in Green Forest. That was a long time ago, the Pikachu thought.

"Aw..." Fay slowly said. "She's a shy one! Don't be shy, little birdie." She hopped in place, her tail wagging a bit. "Come on! Fly down and help our little friend, please?"

The Pidgey finally revealed its full face, just to frown at the cheery rodent. "I-I'm not a kid, you know..." she said, her voice almost a whisper.

Shock blinked. How Fay knew that she was a female, he'll never know. He quietly stared at the Pidgey who gently and slowly, slowly, oh so very slowly flew down and landed in front of his Rattata friend.

"Hi!" Fay chirped, making the Pidgey cringe and take a step back. "I'm Fay, and," she looked at the Pikachu. "He's my grumpy friend, Shockie!"

"I'm not gru—"

"So, what's your name?"

"Uh..." the Pidgey uh'ed nervously. "I-I'm uh, I-Innotui..."

Fay nodded cheerily. "Innotui? Weird name, but nice to meet you! So, wanna help out?" She then leaned very close with a sly grin. "Wanna help our silly, handsome and lovable bird friend over there?" she asked, complete with wiggling eyebrows.

Innotui gulped, her throat suddenly dry and her cheeks aflame. She looked away.

"Since when was Sky a lovable bird?" Shock asked.

"Just now," Fay happily replied, turning back and walking back towards her other friends. "So come on! I'm gonna introduce them to ya!"

Shock shook his head, then looked at the Pidgey who was staring at Fay's retreating form.

"I-is she, um..." she stammered. "Is she always that loud?"

"Yep," Shock sighed. "If you're gonna stick around, then I suggest you get used to it." He stretched and got himself comfortable. "Or fly away now and save your sanity."

Chapter 4​

"You...um... Y-you should s-spread it some more..."

"Like this?" Sky asked, stretching both wings to his sides.

The Pidgey behind him stared at the blue feathered wings, admiring how the afternoon glow of the sun somehow made his wing look really wonderful. To her, at least. She snapped back after she could actually feel her cheeks aflame. "U-u-um..." She violently shook her head and studied his wing. "Y-you're kinda exerting a lot of force... T-try to relax."

The Taillow looked over his shoulder, blinking at the suddenly blushing Pidgey. "...you want me to stretch my wings without force?" He frowned.

"N-n-n-no!" the Pidgey stammered. "I-uh, I meant, um, j-just stretch your wings wi-wihout actually stretching them... I-if that makes sense..."

The Taillow's beaked frown went further down. "...that makes no sense..."

"Says you," Shock grumbled as he and the rest of his friends sat under the shade of a lone tree. They were still by the edge of the cliff on the side of the tall mountain that divided the south portion of Ilex Forest from the vast ocean.

Fay chuckled beside him as she and the others watched the bird duo. She turned to stare at her friends. "Aren't they cute together?"

Vixie rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Since when did you become a matchmaker, Fay?"

Shock sighed. "This is going to take forever..."

"I thought you don't want to go to Jay's world," Vixie asked.

"I don't," Shock breathed out. He then glared at the two birds meters in front of them. "I just don't like the fact that my friends are willing to travel with a complete stranger."

Fay blinked at him. "...isn't that how we started our adventure with Jay?"

"He ditched us, remember?" Shock pointed out. "We were the ones who wanted to stick to him."

Fay blinked. "Oh, right..." She smiled brightly. "But it's a good thing we did, right?"

Shock opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. He blinked. "I... I suppose..."

Something close by started to shine brightly. Fay, Shock, Vixie, and the two birds took a look, and saw Saur was glowing white. Not a second after they saw him glowing, the light that surrounded him started to fade almost immediately.

Saur blinked blankly at them. He smiled apologetically. "S-sorry... I absorbed too much sunlight."

"Whoa!" Sky whoa'd, flapping his wings like mad—almost slapping the Pidgey—as he awkwardly ran towards the Bulbasaur. "You were about to evolve!" He cried. "Why'd you press the B button?!"

Everyone blinked at him.

Sky frowned. "You guys don't get it, do you?" He sighed, turned and wobbled back towards the Pidgey, wings drooping. "Never mind..."

Fay suddenly shoved her face to Saur's, her face awash with shock. "Oh my gosh, Saury! Why'd you do that?! You could have evolved!"

"Um..." Innotui quietly interrupted. "I...I-isn't that a good thing?"

Shock shrugged. "Usually."

"Usually?" Sky repeated, his voice full of disbelief. "Usually?! Evolution is a great thing! You become stronger, bigger—"

"Heavier," Fay cringed. "I don't want Saury to be heavy." She blinked, and giggled.

Shock and Saur rolled their eyes.

Sky arched a non-existent eyebrow at the Rattata.

The Pidgey shook her head. "I-I don't get it." She tilted her head to the side, staring at the four friends. "Why don't you want him to evolve?"

"Long story," Shock waved a paw.

"We told Sky a short version of it earlier, you know," Fay chirped.

Shock glared at her.

Vixie turned from Saur to Innotui with a smile. "It's a way for us to remember someone dear to us."

"You," Shock corrected.

Vixie threw him a soft glare.

Innotui blinked at them. "To...remember someone?" She wanted to ask about it more, but decided not to press further. She didn't want to pry, and besides, it wasn't like it was her first to hear someone not wanting to evolve. She turned to Sky, and suddenly discovered how close they were standing side by side, their wing feathers almost touching. She instantly blushed and scooted away to make some distance between them.

Sky turned to her and blinked. "So," he began with a smile. "Shall we continue?" he asked, stretching his wings.

"Y-y-ye-yes," the Pidgey stammered, bowing her head a little in hopes to hide her burning cheeks.

"How's this?"

She took a quick glance. "A-arch your wings higher..."

He raised his wing joints up, his wings now forming like small mountains. "How about now?"

"I-it's good."

He grinned. "Cool! So... Am I ready for lift off yet?"

"Y-ye—" she held her breath as she remembered something. "N-no, wait." The Pidgey then hopped to see his tail behind him. She blinked. She didn't know that Sky only had two elongated tail feathers as a tail. Still, a tail's a tail, she thought. "Um... Y-you'll also need to lift your tail..."

"Oh," Sky said, struggling to see his raised tail behind him with his wings stretched up. "Is that why I couldn't fly before?"

"I think she's enjoying the view," Fay said with a chuckle, making the brown bird blush furiously and look away.

"Um... M-maybe..." she stammered on her reply.

"You're a bad teacher, you know that?" Sky almost frowned when he remembered something.

"Um..." she hopped to his side, with noticeable distance between her and his stretched wing.

Sky grinned a dumb, toothless grin. "And I really liked that movie, too. Damn, that babe was hot!"

"Uh..." Innotui blinked, having no idea what the Taillow was talking about.

He winked at her, making her blush even more. "Don't worry about it. So! Now what?"

"Um, well..." She looked at his posture, a simple task yet so difficult to do at the same time. "P-pull your body closer to the ground..."

"Huh," Sky blinked, but didn't question her. He looked on the ground below him, and slowly tilted his body towards the ground.

Innotui covered her quietly laughing beak with a wing. "N-no! Not like that!" she said at the awkwardly standing Taillow, his chest almost touching the ground. "I-I meant your...um..." she blushed brightly again.

"My what?" Sky asked, standing up properly again and looking down, wings still outstretched.

The Pidgey shook her head. "M-maybe I should just show you?"

Sky blinked at her. He smiled hopefully. "You'll show me your what?"

Innotui blushed furiously. "N-NO! I-ah-uh—"

They heard a few chuckles behind them.

The Pidgey hid her blushing face behind a wing.

Sky chuckled at his own joke. When he opened his eyes, he gasped, seeing the Pidgey quickly turning around, kicking her talons off the ground and flapping her wings, with her tail angling up and down as she flew away. He frowned, and winced as something clicked inside of his head. He rubbed his feathery head with a wing.

"Good job, good looking," Shock said, rolling his eyes.

"Quick!" Fay gasped, running towards the Taillow. "Chase after her!"

Sky shrugged, hopped up and flapped his wings hard, his tail balancing him as it also guided the air that rushed to him. He pulled his wings up and flapped again, distancing himself from the cliff. A gust of wind flew by, but he managed to stay airborne with ease. "Hey!" he said excitingly, circling above Fay. "I-I'm flying! Who-hoo! Yeah!"

Fay was bobbing her head around, smiling at the circling bird until she got dizzy. "Whoa," she fell on the ground.

"Fay hurt herself in confusion!" Sky chuckled as he landed beside her.

"...You knew how to fly this entire time?!" Shock asked as he and his two other friends approached them.

Sky shrugged. "I guess it was already packaged along with this Taillow body of mine." He shrugged again. "I probably didn't dig deep into the brain's instruction manuals or something. Meh. That's Jay's job anyway, reading boring manuals and stuff..." he said, waving a wing.

Silence...

"...Come to think of it," Vixie said, rubbing her chin with a paw as Saur helped Fay back up on her four paws. "Jay was also borrowing that Eevee body when he got here."

Shock nodded. "So who's the bird you're using?"

Sky shrugged again. "Eh, it doesn't matter. I know my bro often times can hear Shadow's voice. So far, I haven't heard any voice inside my head." He blinked, and shuddered. "Brr... Wouldn't that be creepy?"

The four friends looked at each other. They never mentioned Shadow's name.

Fay looked back at the Taillow with a smile. "So, now that you can fly, you should go and chase after her!"

"Her?" Sky blinked at her, confused. "Her who?"

Fay rolled her eyes. "Innotui, silly!"

The Taillow arched a non-existent eyebrow. "And why would I waste my time looking for her?"

Fay gasped.

Sky shook her head and turned towards the city far away. "It's almost sundown, so I should fly to Gol—er, to Cheese City and look for Bill." He looked over his shoulder and smiled at the four friends. "I'll meet you guys in Ilex Forest some time tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Lithe's there."

"I'll kill him and make a rug out of his fur."

Shock glared at him.

Sky rolled his eyes. "Fiiine... At the foot of this mountain then..."

"The Digletts may not welcome us," Saur said.

"Tsk," Sky tsk'ed. "Whatever. Just go somewhere and I'll find you guys no problem!" He smiled at them, and then turned to the city. "Operation Search The Human Bill, commence!"

Shock crossed his arms. "The first time Jay went there, he caused chaos. You're not going to outdo him, are you?"

The Taillow chuckled. "Silly Shockie. Now why would I do that?" He looked ahead, smiling at the city as he stretched his wings. "I'm gonna out-outdo him! Well, smell ya later!" He flapped his wings, pushing him in the air, and soon, he dove down and fell into the sea of leaves down below. After a few seconds, he flew up again, and started gliding towards the city, occasionally flapping his wings to gain altitude.

Shock sighed in relief. "Finally, he's gone!"

"I still think he should have gone after Innotui..." Fay pouted.

"Meh," Shock turned around and started walking. "We should climb down now before nightfall. It'll be chilly here by then."

"Well," Fay said as she and the rest followed him. She eyed something on the ground. "We could always slide down this hole, like that one time." She chuckled.

"That was just you, Fay," Vixie said, remembering that it was when she and Jay had a fight before him finally admitting he had feelings for her. It was still a magical moment for her.

Saur smiled, noticing Vixie smiling.

Shock looked down and stared at the darkness inside the hole. "...what are the chances that we'll land on that Diglett again?"

"Oh! I wanna know!" Fay chirped as she jumped through the hole, startling the Pikachu. "Wheeeeeeeeee—!"

Shock sighed, ears drooping. "Suicidal as always..."

Chapter 5​

A Pidgey sat on one of the many branches of one of the many trees near the base of the tall mountain walls that separated the land from the vast sea of the south. She was shivering, a heavy blush threatening to turn her cheeks aflame. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. She took deep breaths, feeling her rapid heartbeat starting to slow down to a normal rate.

...That stupid Taillow. Why does he had to make her feel embarrassed like that? All she ever did to him was to help him how to fly, and what was her reward? Embarrassing her in front of his friends. She shivered, this time by a slowly rising anger. Why, if only she knew that he was a big jerk, then she wouldn't have bothered trying to help him!

...No. No no no... She shook her head. What is she thinking? She shouldn't judge him like that. Maybe that was just who he is. Surely he wasn't really that bad, considering that he has friends. Four friends, in fact.

"...eeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—oof!"

Innotui jumped, and hit her head on another branch a few inches above her. Wincing, she rubbed her aching head as she looked down. Near the base of the mountain, a herd of Digletts quieted down and stared at a Rattata who just came out from the many holes on the inclined ground. She had a dumb smile on her face as she jumped on her four paws, shaking the dirt off of her fur.

"Squee! That was fun!"

"Incoming!" echoed a voice from the hole.

"Whoopsie!" She jumped out of the way in time to avoid a Bulbasaur that popped out from the very same hole she came out from.

He landed with a groan, rising up. A shrieking Pikachu quickly came out from the same hole and landed on top of him. And then a shrieking Vulpix landed on top of the two.

"You again!" one of the many Digletts shouted, glaring at them.

"Yes," the Pikachu groaned. "Us again."

The three stood up after they separated from each other, ignoring their Rattata friend who kept on chuckling at them.

"How dare you step into our territory! ...Again!" another Diglett shouted, and was quickly followed by the other Digletts shouting at them.

"All right! All right! We're leaving!" the Pikachu shouted back as he and the rest of his friends rushed out of the area. "Sheesh! It's not like we're invading you guys!"

"As long as you have a grass type with you, you're not welcome here!"

"We get it!" the Vulpix snarled at them, glaring. "We're leaving!"

"Actually," one of the Digletts said, catching the attention of a few others close to him. "Why don't you gals stay for a while? It's almost night and we—gah!"

The Digletts flinched , and a few hid under their holes as sparks flew from the ground a few inches in front of them. They turned and saw the Pikachu, his cheeks sparking with electricity as he glared daggers at them.

"Touch her and I'll make a cape out of your skins," the electric rodent hissed through clenched teeth.

The Digletts glared back, but didn't make any move.

After a few intense seconds of nothing, the Bulbasaur sighed, patted his friend's shoulder with his vine, and the four walked away.

"...What's a cape?" one of the many Digletts asked another.

If they had shoulders, they would have shrugged. "Beats me."

"But I don't want to find out."

The other Digletts agreed.

The Rattata looked back at the Digletts as she and her friends continued walking away. When the ground types were out of earshot, she suddenly grinned, and chuckled as she turned to the Pikachu. "Now I wonder where I've heard that line before."

"Zip it, Fay," the Pikachu hissed. "I'm not in the mood."

Fay giggled again. "And here I thought only us girls deal with those."

The Pikachu turned to her to give her the full force of his death glare, while she and her other friends chuckled.

They were now too far away for the Pidgey to hear whatever else they were talking about. The Digletts resumed their idle chat, but she paid them no mind. She wondered where the Taillow might be. She left them not too long ago, right? Why would they leave the poor and flightless bird up there? And it was going to be night soon! The poor bird's going to freeze to death! Unless he'll slide down the hole like his other friends just did. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check up on him. He might try and make her feel uncomfortable again, but...

With a sigh, she turned and looked up the mountain. Why was she stalking them in the first place anyway? Him, to be more specific? Ever since she saw that strange bird with those four Pokémon out of the trees and towards the lake in Ilex Forest, she decided to keep a close eye on him. Her mother teased her of love at first sight, but that was just silly. She didn't like him, or love him for that matter. She was simply curious! Besides, it was her first time seeing a Taillow.

Yes, she was simply curious. And her mom was simply being silly.

She pulled her wings out as she jumped off the branch, flapping them as she rose to great heights, the chilly air rushing at her. In less than a minute, she reached the very spot where the five Pokémon were earlier, but not a soul was there. Blinking, she looked around, and her eyes spotted a little flapping dot at the distance, heading straight towards Cheese City.

She blinked. That couldn't be Sky, right? He couldn't fly! But, why isn't he with his four friends down below? Why isn't he here? Was being unable to fly simply a lie and his friends now decided to leave him be?

She shook her head. No, that would have been cruel for them to do. She might not be friends with those four, even though they live in the same forest, but she does know enough that they weren't that cruel. They even helped that lost Eevee months ago.

...Whatever happened to that Eevee, anyway?

She shook her head and looked around again, but she couldn't find anything that may lead towards the strange blue bird. Sighing, she turned and frowned at the small speck at the distance.

Should she follow him there? Or rather, it. She wasn't really a hundred percent certain if that small speck was the Taillow. Should she follow it there into the city infested with scary humans? She shivered, almost losing her balance as she hovered in the air.

---

A majestic city reflected the bright orange hues of the already setting sun in the west, with tall buildings leaving behind their shadows in the east. Building windows were lit brightly alongside their glowing signs that ranged from plain to bright flashing neon signs. Humans and Pokémon roamed the many streets and sidewalks of the city, walking to and fro their destinations. A number of different vehicles, and even a few large Pokémon ridden by humans, filled the busy roads, running and stopping depending on the traffic light signals.

The streets also had a few food stands for hungry passersby, may they be humans or Pokémon. One of such stands, a hotdog stand, a customer just received his hotdog. He eyed the fastfood meal with hungry eyes as he licked his lips. Without wasting any more time, he opened his mouth and took a bite out of nothing. He blinked, his hotdog no longer on his hands. He quickly looked around, but he couldn't tell who the potential thief was from the sea of people and Pokémon walking about.

Scratching his head, he turned and asked the vendor if he saw anything.

If the area wasn't full of noises, he would have heard the fast flapping noise of a bird Pokémon, hotdog in tow. With twitching eyes, the bird desperately flew up to the shortest building closest to him. A few seconds later, he reached the flat and empty roof of a building, where he quickly dropped the hotdog with a loud "Yeowch!" The food rolled and rolled until it bumped on the foot of an old and rusty antenna. He landed beside the food with twitching talons.

"Gah," he said, hopping on one talon and then on another, wincing in pain. "Note to self... Don't steal hot food. Especially when they're still hot... Ow ow ow..." After his talons were no longer hurting him too much, he looked and frowned on the dirtied meal. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Well, it's still food," he frowned.

He opened his mouth, took a bite, and tore a chunk of the bun. He awkwardly chewed on his meal as he mentally cursed for not having any teeth to make eating easier for him. After a few awkward chewing, he suddenly felt the mashed bun stuck under his upper beak. He tried pulling it out with his tongue, but found it too short to even reach his own upper beak. Rolling his eyes, he lifted a talon to do the job. He stabbed the mashed bun and pulled it off of his beak. He frowned at the sight of it, and sighed before opening his mouth again to swallow it down like how birds do it. At least, he thought that was how birds do it.

His stomach growled as he stared at the hotdog. He leaned towards it, placing his beak on the red meat, and slowly pushed his beak through the meat, cutting it. He grabbed it with a talon, cringed at how dirty it was, shook the dirt off of it to little success, and swallowed it in one gulp. He cringed once more. He frowned at his meal, and frowned even further when his stomach reminded him that he was still hungry.

He repeated the process, taking his time to satisfy his hungry. After he was done, he sighed and looked up at the starry sky. He wondered how long it took him to eat a simple hotdog. The sky still had a few hues of orange when he stole the meal. Now, the sky was full of wispy clouds and twinkling stars.

He fluttered his blue, white and red feathers. He pulled his wings out and flapped them, instantly pulling himself into the air. He flew and carefully landed on the antenna. He was probably on top of an apartment, he thought. Looking around, he could only see a little of his surroundings. He frowned and looked up, his gaze on the neighboring tall building. He flapped his wings and flew towards his destination that only took him a few seconds.

He hopped closer to the edge of the rooftop, and looked down. The many people and Pokémon down below looked like ants, or Durants, he thought. He shook his head and looked around, scanning the many buildings as far as his eyes could see. Occasionally, there were a few more buildings taller than he was standing on, obscuring the other buildings behind them.

It didn't matter anyway, as he finally spotted the building that he was looking for: the train station. He smiled to himself as he jumped off the edge of the roof, and then snapped his wings open, tilting his body towards the station. If he remembered things correctly, that was where his brother went in hopes of catching the train towards the Kanto region.

As he flew closer, he noticed a very tall building that towered almost every building he has ever seen since his arrival. The radio tower, he thought, stood a few buildings to the left from the station. It didn't matter.

He landed on a traffic light in front of the huge station. Unlike the other buildings, the station's front was almost like it was made of glass alone. From the automatic sliding doors and the wide glass windows, the Taillow could actually see everything and everyone inside, minus the ones inside the ticket booth and other offices, he thought.

He looked on top of the building, where a large digital clock displayed the current time, which was six thirty-seven. He nodded to himself, and turned, looking straight ahead on where the station was facing. He vaguely remembered his brother running towards the station. He wasn't sure if Jay took turns or simply ran straight.

He settled on the idea that maybe his brother ran a straight path towards the station. Therefore, Bill's house should be straight ahead, probably in the residential parts of the city, which was usually on and around the edge of the city.

Nodding to himself, he extended his wings and took flight, high enough not to be spotted by any passersby. A few birds took notice of him however, but thankfully, none decided to bother him. If he remembered correctly, Bill's door had his name engraved on it. So it should be easy to find. He smiled.

"Just you wait, bro," he said to himself. "I'm going to make it up to you." He grinned. "Someway, somehow, I'm going to make this happen!"

Chapter 6​

The city night air was chillier than anyone would have thought, especially if one's flying through the air above the rooftops of the city's residential area.

The little Taillow sighed to himself as he landed on the city's southern wall that separated the city from nature. It wasn't really a tall wall however. By his estimation, it was only three storeys tall, comparing it to a nearby building to make things easier.

He ruffled his feathers as he turned, staring at the vast sea of leaves that embraced the color and silence of the night. He wondered how Shock, Vixie, Saur and Fay were doing at this hour.

With a small smile, he turned and stared at the many buildings in the south-west portion of the city. The games never gave proper justice on how big Goldenrod City was. Even with the gift of flight, he couldn't find that one building he was searching for. He shuddered at the thought of how his brother managed to search this big of an area to find just one person's home.

Still, if he did it, then so could he. Nodding to himself, he jumped off of the wall and flapped his wings, gliding on the cold evening air. He stared at the humans and Pokémon who were still out at this hour. It was still pretty early in the night anyway.

He landed on a lamp post, looking around. If he remembered things correctly, Bill's door would have his name engraved on it. However, he found it difficult to read whatever was on each door with these many eyes still out. Taillows were uncommon in Johto, so if humans were to spot him, he or she may attempt to battle and capture him.

He shivered at the thought. He forgot what his bro felt when he went inside a Pokéball. He wanted to know, but a bigger part of his mind told him not to try.

"My spot, hoot," a voice suddenly spoke behind him.

"Gah!" he yelped, losing his balance, and fell as he flapped his wings uselessly. He landed inside one of the wooden boxes, rattling them a bit and catching the attention of a few humans and Pokémon nearby.

After the quiet whispers of questions died down, he poked his head out of the junk and glared at the rounded bird who was now perched on where he was minutes ago. He pulled his wings out and wanted to fly up there, but something in the sea of junk caught his eye.

"Oh my god!" he cried happily, snatching the item and smiling as he held it on his wings. "A Team Rocket hat! Pokémon size!" He squee'd as he placed the hat on his head. It slipped and covered his left eye. "Good enough!" he squee'd again and pulled his lower body out of the pile.

"Mommy," a young girl's voice said from behind him, rattling every feather he had, his pupils shrunk to dots. "There's a weird bi—"

"Get away from there!" a much older female voice boomed a few meters behind them. "You're going to get dirty again! Now come inside. Dinner's ready."

Sky turned and saw a confused little girl's face staring at him. It only lasted for a few seconds before the girl ran back into their home.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Phew... That was close... Never realized how big and ugly humans looked from a Taillow's point of view."

After taking a few seconds to stretch and to check his wing feathers, he turned and glared at the rounded bird above, then flew towards it.

"Hey, you—!" he blinked, and blinked again as he stared at the pair of big, round and red eyes staring back at him. "Uh..." he swore that he could almost see his own reflection.

"Hoot," the Hoothoot said, blinking.

"R-right..." Sky nodded, adjusting his new hat with a talon. He almost lost his balance doing so. "Anyway, uh, your spot?" he asked, gesturing with a talon.

"Yes, hoot," the Hoothoot replied. "Are you food, hoot?"

He frowned. "Uh huh. No. Unless birds eat birds in this world." Sky cleared his throat. "Ahem, well uh, so you're from around here?"

"Born in forest. Now live here, hoot."

"Right. Do you happen to know where Bill lives?"

"Bill, hoot?"

Sky frowned. He wondered if this Hoothoot's still a few weeks or a few days old. And he was getting tired of flapping his wings constantly just to talk to the owl. "Where are your parents?" he asked as he flew and landed on top of the larger bird's head. "You don't mind if I stand on top of you, right?" He blinked. Hoothoot's entire body is it's head, right?

"No, hoot."

"...And my other question?"

"What question, hoot?"

"Your parents? Where are they?"

"Around, hoot. Yours, hoot?"

Sky opened his mouth to reply, blinked, and closed it again with a frown. "They're...away..." He shook his head. "So, anyway! Bill! Do you know where Bill is?"

"Bill, hoot?"

"Yes, Bill."

"Bill? Hoot?"

Sky furrowed his non-existent brows. "...You don't know him, do you?"

"Bill... Hoot..."

Sky could almost feel the sad frown from the owl's voice. "Hm... Whitney—whoa!" he flapped his wings to steady himself as the Hoothoot suddenly hopped, turned in midair, and landed, facing a new direction.

"Whitney, hoot!"

Sky grumbled, regaining his balance, and adjusted his hat that covered both his eyes. He looked ahead, but all he saw was a window where inside, a youngster was busy on his computer. "Damn, I miss those things," he mumbled to himself. If that youngster wasn't busy, he may have spotted him and tried to capture him. Still, he thought that maybe the owl was facing towards Whitney's gym. Or home. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if gym leaders live inside their gyms or have their own houses they call a home. He wouldn't mind snooping around a sexy gym leader's house though.

He shook the goofy grin off of his face, his hat almost falling off. No time for that.

"Hm..." Sky hm'ed, adjusting his Rocket hat again. "How about, uh, Kut? Koot? Kate? What was that Meowth's name again?"

"Many Meowths, hoot."

"Kit? Bah-haaaah!" the Taillow yelped and flapped his wings to regain his balance again after the Hoothoot once again hopped and turned to face another direction.

"Kit, hoot! Grumpy cat, hoot..."

Sky could almost feel the frown from the owl's voice. "Warn me the next time you do that. Anyway, Kit is in this direction, yes?"

There was no reply.

"Right. Anyway, can you take me there?"

"No, hoot. Grumpy cat, hoot. Makes Nystl angry, hoot."

Sky blinked. "Nystl?"

"Yes, hoot?"

"Uh huh. Did I pronounce your name correctly? Wait... Do I even know how to spell it? If my bro wanted to write his adventure as a fic, then so am I!" he said, smiling to himself. "Well," Sky flapped his wings and jumped off of the Hoothoot's head. "Thanks for the help!" and he flew out of earshot. "Hm... Well, that Hoothoot wasn't an important character of this adventure of mine, so maybe I shouldn't add him in my fic. Bleah. Concentrate, Ke—Sky!" He then slowed his pace, remembering that the Meowth lived in an alleyway. He didn't need to see or meet the Meowth though, because he's a bird and cats eat birds.

...Wait. He DOES need to see the Meowth there. If he won't, then how was he going to know which alleyway was whi—oh, there he is.

Sky quietly landed on top of the roof of a building. He looked down, and saw the Meowth. The feline looked like he was preparing a cardboard box as a bed.

Ignoring the cat, he turned and stared at the building across the alleyway, curtained windows filtering the light from inside. Bill was home, or someone was, he thought with a smile.

There were still humans walking on the sidewalks, and occasionally, vehicles crossing the road. Thankfully, there was a tall street lamp close to Bill's home, where a minivan was parked, so with flapping wings, he flew and landed on it. He was too high up, but he was able to read the word 'Bill' on the door.

"Bingo," he grinned. "Now where is that hole that cat made on his window?" He remembered that Kit and his bro didn't want anyone to see them breaking in, "so they probably went to the back." He flapped his wings and flew, and yelped after almost flying straight into a flat wall. Flying in place, he turned and saw Bill's home had no backyard. "R-right, side windows then."

He quietly checked the windows on the left side of the house, finding no hole. He flew to the other side, and found the hole was patched up with—

"They have duct tape here? Cool! Wait," he blinked and frowned as he landed on the window's sill. "Not cool! How am I getting inside?" He stared at his beak, and smiled! "Of course! Something sharp!" He raised and pointed his sharp talon at the tape as he made a 'ka-chiiing!' sound effect. He then poked the tape, the sharp nails of his talons poking through, grabbed it, and pulled. He pulled. He pulled again. Grunting, he pulled hard, and panted. "The hell?" Frowning, he let the tape go, and decided to stab-stab-stab the tape with his talon until he was able to easily rip it open. The process angered him, if only slightly. "Whatever, I'm in," he said, poking his head inside. "Infiltrating target's base, comme—!" he cut himself off after his eyes finished adjusting to the light.

---

"Hello, Nystl!"

The Hoothoot blinked, turned, and looked up. He saw a Pidgey flying in the air, slowly lowering herself so the owl wouldn't tilt his head to face her. The owl smiled widely. "Innotui! Hoot!"

The Pidgey smiled back. "Your parents were really serious when they said they wanted to live here, huh? How are you?"

The Hoothoot immediately frowned. "...Hungry. Hoot."

"Aw..." Innotui frowned as well. "Your parents didn't give you anything to eat?"

Nystl looked down with a glare. "Rivals, hoot. Quick catching food, hoot. No left for parents, hoot..."

"Well, tell you what," the Pidgey said with a small smile as she flew lower so she could look at the Hoothoot eye to eye. "We'll go hunting in the forest later. I'm sure there are Rattat—" she cut herself off. "Er... I-I mean, Caterpies there."

The Hoothoot smiled, and nodded happily. "Rattatas are tasty, hoot!"

Innotui frowned. She hoped that the Taillow's rat friend was faaaar away this evening.

"We go hunting now, hoot?"

The Pidgey forced herself to smile. "Ye-yes, but later! I'm looking for someone, and I'm hoping if you'd seen him around."

The Hoothoot blinked, and tilted his head to the side. "Who, hoot?"

Chapter 7​

There was no mistaking it. The guy who was seated on the chair by the dining table was definitely Bill. If only he wasn't tied on that very chair and wasn't unconscious, then the Taillow probably have already flown up to him and started yapping until he submits to his request of helping him out. Discovering Bill in that situation was not was he was expecting to see.

After recovering from being stunned for a few seconds, he lightly shook his head, his hat covering his left eye again. He wanted to fly up to him and help him out, if only those two men wearing familiar black uniforms weren't standing in the same room, talking to each other while keeping an eye on the inventor.

"Tsk," Sky tsk'ed, stepping back. What would Team Rocket want wi—

"What do we even want from this guy, anyway?" one of the grunts asked the other, turning his head to fully stare at Bill.

The other one shrugged. "Beats me."

The other turned to him, frowning. "Really? We just went here without knowing why?"

The other shrugged again. "Hey, I don't question whatever our team leader's asking us to do." He lifted a finger. "But since you're kinda new in this, I suggest you shut up and keep it to yourself, else you'll be thrown into a situation that I don't want to talk about, and you don't want to be in. Trust me."

Those last two words were enough for him not to ask again. And in perfect timing too, as another grunt went inside the room through the door. "Right," he said, eyeing the two as he put his walkie-talkie inside his pocket. "We're to wait until midnight, and then we'll return to base with that guy," he pointed at Bill, still unconscious.

The curious grunt squirmed slightly, wanting to ask the question that kept bothering him.

Their team leader turned to him. "Is there a problem?"

"N-no, sir." He darted his eyes around, until his gaze settled on something on the wall. "I-it's just that...midnight's still a few hours away..."

"Your point?"

Now he knew to never open his mouth again. If only he'll survive this night, then he could apply what he learned to his next missions. "We-well, sir... Wouldn't that be a long time for us to be st-staying here? What if someone visits this guy?"

"No one has visited the guy for years. So I suggest you stop talking nonsense, newbie."

"Ye-yes, sir," he gulped. He eyed the other grunt, noticing his smirk. He threw a glare at him.

"And what's that bird doing over there?" the leader asked, pointing at the Taillow.

Sky yelped, surprised that he didn't hide to safely eavesdrop on them.

"I'll handle it," the newbie grunt said, hoping that him taking action will make their leader forget he even asked those questions earlier. He approached the window where the Taillow was. "Shoo! Shoo! Fly away!"

Sky would have flown away, if only he did. He took his hat off, threw it behind him in anger, and glared at the grunt. "Excuse me? 'Shoo?' You're shooing me?" He hopped inside, tilting his head up so he could glare at the grunt properly. He just insulted him, and he was not going to let it slide. "Excuse me, but I'm not some stray dog that you can just shoo away!"

"Er..." the grunt blinked at him. "...I've never seen this Pokémon before..."

"Neither have I," the other said, pulling out a Pokéball and tossing it at the guy in front of the bird. "Be useful for once."

The grunt barely caught the ball.

Sky was still glaring at him.

"Right," the grunt said, stepping back and taking aim. "Don't fly then," he said, throwing the ball at the angry bird.

Sky simply slapped the ball, hard. It bounced on the sink, breaking it.

"All right, that's it," the angry Taillow ruffled his feathers and flew in the air, wings glowing.

"Gaaaie!" the grunt yelped, stumbling back as a mechanical snapping sound echoed from behind him.

A white blob of energy appeared in the air. The glow started to fade as the blob formed into a purple bat creature. The said bat wasn't even able to flap its wings before a glowing wing smashed on its face, immediately throwing the poor bat on the wall above the door.

"Get that bird!"

Another blob of energy appeared. Before it could take form however, the angry Taillow swiftly flew through it, disrupting the process of summoning a Pokémon. The disturbed energy went back to a yelping grunt's Pokéball as he desperately tried to fend off the bird's sharp talons.

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" the leader said, summoning a yellow, humanoid creature. "Use psychic."

"Yes, master," the Pokémon said, glowing eyes locked on the Taillow. He lifted both arms, pointing his two spoons at the bird as he concentrated.

The Taillow yelped as his body was surrounded with psychic energy. The bird glowed in white before his back was slammed against the wall, and he was suddenly covered in white smoke, and disappeared.

"What?" the leader asked as the grunt that was clawed earlier suddenly fell on the ground, unconscious. He turned, and saw the Taillow flying above the fallen grunt, glaring daggers at him. He smirked. "You're a tough one," he said, pulling out a black-colored Pokéball. "You'll make a fine addition to my team."

"Thanks," Sky spat, suddenly in front of the man's surprised face. "But I have other plans."

Before he could defend himself, a glowing and metal-like wing slapped him across the face, throwing him to the ground, unconscious.

Sky yelped as his mind was once again suddenly felt too painful that him being slammed against the wall didn't even register in his head.

"How dare you hurt my master!" the Alakazam snarled, aiming his two spoons at the bird again, who hung his head, probably too stunned to move.

Slowly, the Taillow tilted his head up. Wide, angry and bloodshot eyes were glaring at the stunned psychic type.

Recovering quickly, the Alakazam glared back, and threw a powerful wave of energy at the bird. He hit him, but the bird didn't even flinch. Blinking in surprise, he threw him against the wall again with psychic energy.

Sky was slammed on another wall on his side, and closed his eyes to bear the pain. He was thrown again, and was slammed against the refrigerator's door on his other side. He slowly opened his red eyes again, glaring at the shivering psychic.

"H-how?!" the Alakazam cried in fear.

"..." Sky pulled himself off of the fridge, and landed on the floor, the glow on his wing fading. He slowly looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. "...How?" He took a step forward.

The psychic took a step back.

"...Let me tell you a secret..." Sky took another step.

The psychic fell on the ground with a startled yelp, spoons rattling on the floor. He cried in surprise when the Taillow was suddenly standing on his chest, his red eyes the only thing he could see.

"...Have you ever killed someone before?"

"...N-n..."

"...Have you felt that nice and sickly feeling of the thick, warm blood, gushing out from someone you killed?"

The psychic was sweating bullets by now.

"...No?" he stepped forward, his talon on the shivering psychic's neck. He blinked, his eyes returned to normal, and he grinned wide. "Well, neither have I!"

What the psychic-type saw next was a glowing wing, and the eternal darkness of unconsciousness.

"Ow ow ow..." the Taillow winced as he turned, and saw the grunt who angered him, nervously looking back at him, shivering as he hid under the table. Sky rolled his eyes, jumped and landed on the floor.

The grunt jumped, startled, hitting his head on the table in the process.

Sky arched an eyebrow. "Jumpy, aren't we?"

"Guh..." the leader was regaining his consciousness.

Sky simply slapped him back to slumber.

"D-don't hurt me!" the grunt under the table begged.

"Wh-wha...?" a new voice said. Blinking the sleep off of him, Bill tried to move, only to discover that he couldn't. "Where...?" He gasped after his blurry vision wasn't so blurry anymore. "T-Team Rocket?!" he yelped, seeing two grunts and an Alakazam lying on the floor.

"Please help me!" the grunt crawled out of the table towards him.

"Ahhhh!" Bill almost pissed his pants.

"Ahhhh!" the grunt shouted back, hiding behind him and using Bill as a shield from the Taillow with a deadpan expression.

"Ahhhh!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Sky grumbled, the scene before him was too painful than his painful body. He extended a wing, eye twitching from the pain. He then 'slashed' the air in front of him, summoning a wave of air that quickly flew and almost struck the bound human, cutting the tape that constricted him in his seat.

Sky wasn't able to pull his wing back. He mentally wondered why he could no longer control his own body, his sight dimming as the tiled floor got closer and closer.

The two humans kept on staring and screaming at each other, unaware of the Taillow that now lay unconscious on the floor.

---

Panicked shouts could be heard from outside, making a few passersby to stop and look at Bill's house. In an alleyway on the other side of the street, a Meowth was angrily licking a piece of cardboard. When it was wet enough, he crumbled it and formed it into a tiny ball and inserted it in his ear. "Horror movies... Gah! I swear, if Bill wasn't giving me food, I would have murdered him already."

After blocking the sound from his other ear, he smiled with satisfaction and went to sleep.

Above him, a Pidgey and a Hoothoot were perched on a rooftop, blinking and wondering what that noise was.

Chapter 8​

Thin, whispy smoke-like clouds floated around the darkness. There was no sound to be heard in this world of nothingness.

...

...

...

...Suddenly, a little spec of light appeared. Slowly, quietly, it started to grow bigger and brighter.

"...mmf..." a voice echoed from the darkness, and faded into nothing.

The light was slowly pushing the darkness back, the once dark place was slowly growing brighter, and the silence was slowly echoing an eerie humming sound from the light. Soon, everything was consumed by the light, and then...

...a young man appeared. He was sitting on a chair, his hands and fingers busy on a keyboard, typing sounds echoing everywhere. A table formed from the light in front of him, and then a monitor screen on the table.

"...Jay?" a voice called, making the man stop typing, and everything was quiet again.

He turned his head, looking at something and nothing at the same time. He blinked. He smiled. "What's up?" he asked, the bright environment dimming quickly, turning into a room.

The room was spacious, containing a bed, a table, a dining table, chairs, a refrigerator, a small cabinet, a window, a door for a small bathroom, and another door for the apartment's hallway.

Another young man was in front of the fridge, sighing as he closed it. "We're out of milk."

The young man by the computer frowned. "...Then go buy some? It's not far."

"Jay," the other said, scratching his head as he sat on a chair by the dining table, grabbing a spoon. "I'm hungry, and too lazy to go out just to grab some milk," he said, stirring the spoon in his bowl of dry cereal.

Jay rolled his eyes and went back to his computer. "Your problem, not mine."

"Aw...com'on," he turned and pouted at him. "Can't you be a dear big brother again and buy your starving brother some milk?"

Jay ignored him.

He pouted for a few more seconds before he gave up with a sigh. "Fine," he said, standing up. "I'll just ask the ladies next door if they can give me some," he said with a smirk.

Jay shivered. "...yuck."

He chuckled as he walked towards the door. "You want some?" he asked as he grabbed the handle.

"No," his brother replied with a glare.

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Jay. Are ya really going to stay single forever?"

Jay shook his head before returning to the computer. "I don't see a problem with that."

"Sex, Jay! Come on!" he said. "Are you really going to stay single AND a virgin for the rest of your life? Let me help ya!"

"...You're gay and into incest now?"

He blinked, and belched. "Gross, bro! That's not what I meant!" But of course, he knew his brother knew that wasn't what he meant. He rolled his eyes. "Trisha finds you cute, so just say the word, and I'll use some magic words on her, and bam! She'll be yours in a heartbeat!"

"High maintenance."

He blinked, confused. "...What?"

Jay shook his head, still focused on the computer. "She likes to go out. She wears new clothes almost everyday. She wears perfume I couldn't stand, she wears makeup, styles her hair all the time, likes to go shopping almost everyday, always on the phone talki—"

"Jay," he interrupted him. "That's what girls are in general."

Jay simply nodded. "Right. Exactly my point."

He sighed and scratched his head. "Damn it, bro. I know you're a boring kind of guy, but I never thought you'd be THIS boring! No girl's going to get interested with you at this rate!"

"...You just said that Trish next door likes me."

"Trisha. With an A," he corrected him, frowning. "But she wouldn't be once she knew how boring you are!"

"Right," Jay nodded.

"...Wow..." was his simple reply, staring at his brother in disbelief. He shook his head, faced the door, and opened it. "Whatever. I'm getting my milk."

"Don't be too loud."

"Shut up, virgin."

As soon as he closed the door, everything became white again. Soon, the brightness lessened. Everything was dimming, until it became black again, with the occasional flashes of blue, then red, and blue, and red.

Sky exhaled as he slowly opened his eyes. He suddenly winced, feeling how painful his everything was. He heard muffled voices and sounds. If vision can be blurry when you first wake up, then hearing can be blurry too, he thought. He then felt his back was on a soft...something. He slowly turned his head, and found himself lying on a pillow on a couch. He was in a living room, he thought, and he saw the front door slightly opened where the blue and red lights were coming from.

An ambulance? Police? Police! That makes more sense, he thought, since Team Rocket were here. If the police were here, then that would mean those Team Rocket people were caught. He then remembered his Team Rocket hat. He was not going to wear it again though. ...Or maybe he will. He'll trouble himself with that later.

He then felt his wings to be a bit weird. Wincing, he lifted a wing up, and saw it wrapped with bandage. The same with his other wing. One of his legs. His chest. And also his stomach. And if he was feeling it right, his head as well. Bill must have patched him up while he was out cold, he thought.

He tried to pull himself up, but found himself too weak to do so. He tried again, and again, but gave up with a sigh. He closed his eyes, and decided that he'd take a little more rest. It wouldn't hurt him nor his plans anyway. "Jay, you boring and idiot brother of mine," he mumbled to himself. "I'm not going to make you a boring and heart-broken brother, 'cause that'd make you an even boringer brother of mine!"

"How ya doin' there, youn' 'un?"

"Gah!" Sky yelped, eyes wide open.

Towering above him was a tall and dark figure, with white fluffs under it's scary, long and yellow beak, its red and glowing eyes staring right into the shivering bird's soul. At least, that's what Sky thought anyway. How he didn't notice that scary...thing, he wouldn't know. The big bird blinked, and tilted his, or her head to the side. "...I know I bring fear to my foes, but yer not my foe, are ya?"

"Er...no?" Sky said shakily. He took a breath to calm himself down. "Uh... Luis, right?"

"Ah, Luis..." the big bird said, her voice carried the tone of recollection as she looked up at the ceiling. "She and I were fierce battlers back in the days. We were teammates, but rivals as well. Never knew how much I'd miss that old bird brain after she got zapped by that big and yellow and spiky lightning bird..." she sighed with a sad frown.

Sky blinked. "...Birdkeeper Bill would like to battle... Huh..."

The big bird looked down, and blinked at the Taillow. "Oh! Hello there, young 'un! D'name's Lais. How're you feeling?"

"Lies?"

The Honchkrow nodded, ruffling her messy feathers. "D' one and only!" she said proudly with a squawk.

"Lais!" came Bill's voice from outside. He then came inside through the door, but didn't completely went in. Instead, he grabbed the door handle as he turned to his Pokémon. "I'm going with the police to the station. I won't be long, so..." he glared at her. "...properly keep an eye out, okay? Oh! And take care of our guest over there while I'm gone."

Lais simply nodded, then preened her wing.

Bill then closed the door.

Sky sighed. He closed his eyes and decided to take a res. He doubted that Bill would be back any time soon anyway, so it was best for him to rest, for both his mind and body, but mostly for his poor, aching body.

---

Outside, Bill went inside a police car, followed by a police officer who closed the door. The police in the driver's seat started the engine, and drove the vehicle towards the heart of the city, followed by another police car, an armored van, and a tow truck with a minivan in tow.

A Pidgey and a Hoothoot watched the vehicles go until taller buildings obscured their vision. Blinking, the Pidgey turned back at the house. The crowd started to walk away from the scene, either by their lonesome or by pairs talking probably about what just happened. She remembered them gasping two words however, 'team' and 'rocket'. She knew what the first word meant, but she was clueless about the second one. Well, at least she saw that humans also had ways to control those who causes trouble, if those black-uniformed humans were troublemakers. She didn't know. She didn't know the story of what happened anyway. She shouldn't be judgemental! What if those humans were good, and those wearing white uniforms were the bad guys?

She shook hear head. Why was she troubling herself with this anyway?

She looked around, trying to find that Taillow. "He flew this way, right?"

"Yes, hoot," the Pidgey's Hoothoot companion nodded, extending a wing forward, pointing at something. "There, hoot."

"There?" the Pidgey turned to him, blinking. She followed where he was pointing. He was pointing at Bill's house. "He's in there?" she asked, turning back to him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, hoot," the Hoothoot nodded again.

The Pidgey tilted her head to the side. "How do you know?"

"Hat, hoot," the Hoothoot replied. "Black hat, hoot."

The Pidgey blinked at him. "Nystl, what's a hat?"

The Hoothoot blinked, hopping and turning to face her fully. "Hat, hoot? It's...um...hoot..." he frowned. "Um... An item, hoot. For the head, hoot. Yes yes, hoot!" Nystl happily nodded, figuring out how to explain something to his friend.

"Ah, okay," the Pidgey nodded. Right. Humans and sometimes, Pokémon caught by them wear something on their heads. It was silly though, them wearing something on their heads. She had seem a couple of events where wind gusts would blow those garments off of their heads, and sometimes, never to be retrieved again. But that got her thinking... Was Sky wearing something on his head all this time? She swore she never noticed... She shook her head again. She shouldn't trouble herself with that. She turned and stared at the house.

"Innotui."

"Hm?" the Pidgey turned to her friend, who was smiling at her.

"We hunt Rattatas now, hoot?"

The Pidgey blinked. "Er..."

---

"I dunno..." a Rattata said, shivering and falling behind as she and her friends walked through the dark and chilly forest. "But something is really, really, really telling me not to go there..."

A Pikachu shook his head, ducking to avoid a low-hanging branch. "Fay, that's nonsense. We've been there before." His cheeks were glowing and sparking a bit, providing him and his friends some light to see where they were going.

"I know, I know," Fay said, catching up to to them. "But, I dunno how to explain it. It's just a feeling, ya know?"

"Whatever," the Pikachu rolled his eyes, walking on. "I just can't believe we're going there again, and not sleeping, again," he grumbled.

"It's probably just the cold," a Bulbasaur walked beside the Rattata, smiling at her.

"Well, I don't see you shaking up from it," the Rattata frowned at him. "And you don't even have fur!"

The Bulbasaur chuckled.

"It'll be alright, Fay," a Vulpix said, smiling reassuringly at her. "Let's just stick together. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it," and she finished it with a long yawn.

Fay yawned as well.

Saur looked away in time.

"Remind me why we decided to follow him there again?" the Pikachu asked, walking ahead of them.

"Well," the Bulbasaur said, "if he's really Jay's brother, then we need to get there to help him."

"He did assured us to cause even more chaos that Jay did in there," Vixie added, and yawned again.

The Pikachu sighed. "I wonder if Jay caused that chaos, or chaos chaosed Jay while he was there."

"Half and half," Saur answered.

The Pikachu sighed some more.

---

"—an' there was that time where Bill an' I an' the rest of us went to this lone island in the middle of the sea. The sand surrounding the island had so many beautiful shells that I started collecting them all, but then this angry Kingler appeared with a horde of Krabbies! Now, I may bring fear to my foes, but if they were that many, that effect didn't work for some reason. But anyway, I flew away before that giant claw popped my head from my neck, and then—"

"I'll pop your head, if only I could," Sky grumbled to himself, covering his ears with his wings as he gritted his imaginary teeth. He couldn't remember how his brother managed to endure this giant piece of a blabbermouth, but it was quite obvious that he couldn't get any sleep any time soon.

"—an' that's when I started to fall in love with Mak. Oh, my lovely Mak, if only I told you how much I loved you back then..."

Sky rolled over and dug his beaked face on the pillow, wishing it'd swallow him up as he ignored the fact that he already made lots of holes on it thanks to his beak.

Chapter 9​

The quiet and sleeping city of Goldenrod was now full of patrolling police officers. Almost in every street, a police officer would be seen walking and looking around, trying to be alert and fighting the sleepiness off of them at the same time. Citizens who were still awake were asked to report anyone who they find suspicious. A few of them were curious of what was going on, while a few felt a little scared and rushed back to their homes for safety. A few however decided that this would be a nice little adventure and decided to patrol the city as well. The police tried to talk them out of it, but their words fell on deaf ears.

Inside a quiet home in the southern residential area of the city, a Taillow sighed tiredly and happily as he lied down on a tortured pillow on a couch. A large and old Honchkrow was perched on the couch's armrest, snoring quietly.

Sky felt his eyes were starting to get too heavy and keeping them open was starting to become difficult, so with a calm breath, he let his eyes close and started to embrace the silence and sleep.

Outside the house, across the street, two bird Pokémon jumped off the roof and glided towards Bill's home, careful not to be spotted by any humans. The Pidgey wondered if it was common for these white uniformed humans to be wandering around the city at this hour. She'll ask her Hoothoot friend about that as soon as they land...

...which didn't really take them long. The two landed on the roof of Bill's home in seconds.

"So," the Pidgey began, turning to face the road and the alleyway. "Is this a common occurence?"

"Occurence, hoot?" the Hoothoot blinked curiously at her.

"Erm... I mean," she pointed at a uniformed police officer, being followed by their loyal Pokémon partners. She covered her beak with a wing as she yawned. "Haaa... S-sorry about that."

"Innotui sleepy, hoot?"

"I'm fine, Nystl. Don't worry," she smiled at him. "So... These humans?" she asked, staring at two other officers who were trying to calm their Houndoom and Arcanine down. "Isn't it kinda late for this many humans to be walking around?"

"Yes, hoot," came Nystl's simple reply.

She turned back to him. "So... This isn't usual?"

The Hoothoot shook his head.

"Hm..." Innotui hm'ed, thinking. She remembered that one incident in Ilex Forest where the strong Pokémon living in the area were up and alert when...she honestly forgot what it was all about. Then again, she was still a chick back then. Shaking her head, she instead thought of ways to get inside Bill's home as she tried to assure her young friend that they'll go hunting later.

...while she shoved the question of why she wanted to go inside.

---

Beyond the city walls, four Pokémon watched the city behind the trees on a hill. They were on the edge of a forest. Fighting drowsiness, they observed the city and thought of ways to get there undetected by humans.

They judged their distance and estimated that it would take them two more hours to reach the city. They couldn't see the many patrolling police in this distance however.

The Pikachu's ears twitched once, and after a few seconds, he turned and faced his three other friends. "Nothing sounds out of the ordinary...I think..." he said as he sat down and joined them in eating a few berries they collected along the way.

A Vulpix turned her head away and yawned long and hard. She rubbed her eyes afterwards.

The Pikachu stifled a yawn. "M-maybe we should rest up for a little while..."

The Vulpix shook her head. "No... There's no need for that." She gave him a determined, albeit tired look. "We should go there and find him soon."

The Pikachu shook his head. "Vixie, you're tired. We're all tired." He gave her a soft glare. "We should rest."

Vixie countered his glare with her own. "No." She stood up. "We're going. Now."

"And what makes you think that he's still there?" the electric rodent asked as the vixen walked pass him. "He could have flown elsewhere already. Vixie. Vixie! Gah..." he turned to his other friends, fuming. "Do something!"

The Bulbasaur and the Rattata looked at each other, blinked, and turned back to the Pikachu.

"You two are useless," the Pikachu sighed in frustration. "Hoopa's earwax... Fine!" he threw himself on his feet and followed the fire fox, his two friends following him from behind.

---

"I'm winning! I'm winning!" a young boy cried in joy, smiling wide as he stared at a small GameBoy screen that he held with both arms.

His foe's Girafarig fainted, and another young boy tsk'ed in annoyance, selecting another Pokémon to send out. He already had three fainted Pokémon. His eyes suddenly fell on his Sandslash. Smirking, he chose the ground type.

The boy who claimed victory gasped. "A Sandslash?" he asked, turning to him with a small grin. "You're sending out your ace already, big bro?"

His big brother said nothing, only smirking as he chose an attack.

"Well, you can't beat my Blissey! This thing's gonna destroy yo—" his words died in his throat as the Sandslash attacked first with a slash attack, and immediately knocking out his Blissey who was still in full health. "W-what?!"

"Hahah," his big brother laughed quietly. His smirked turned upside-down as soon as his younger brother sent out his Kingdra. "Ah, poop..."

His younger brother snickered. "Mom would scold you if she were here, Jay." He selected an attack, and blinked in surprise when the Sandslash attacked first instead of his Kingdra. "Wha—?" At least his Kingdra survived the Slash attack. But Jay's Sandslash survived from his Kingdra's Surf attack. "H-how can that slow shrew be faster and survived my attack?!"

"...Missingno," was his big brother's reply.

"What?!" he gasped. "No way! You cheated!"

"No I didn't. I just made my Sandslash strong, just like how a trainer would before a battle!"

"By cheating infinite Carbos and other stuff!" he huffed, eyeing the link cable attached to his handheld console.

"Don't you dare," Jay said, glaring at him.

He smirked at him.

His glare intensified.

---

The evening sky slowly welcomed the waking sun, its soft and warm rays poking through the horizon. The city of Goldenrod welcomed the new morning, although some early birds were wondering why there were police officers walking around the streets.

A police car quietly stopped in front of a house in the residential area, where two birds were perched on the roof, sleeping.

Bill sleepily stepped out of the car, thanked the officers, and closed the door. He watched the vehicle go for a few seconds before turning to face his home. He noticed the two birds on his roof, above the front door, and he smiled sleepily.

He suddenly remembered his younger days, where he would chase after birds and try to catch them and compare them to his other bird Pokémon. He exhaled, suddenly feeling warm inside.

"Ah, those were the days," he whispered to himself as he walked towards the front door. He pulled out a key from his pocket, unlocked the door, opened it, and went inside. He looked at his couch and saw his beloved Honchkrow on the armrest, sleeping peacefully. Close to the armrest was a pillow...that was full of holes for some reason, where a Taillow was sleeping with his beak wide open, snoring loudly.

Shaking his head, he quietly closed the door and went to the kitchen. It was time to prepare breakfast, he thought.

Outside, breakfast was also something a Meowth had in mind as his eyes locked on two birds on the roof of Bill's home across the street. Licking his lips, he quickly ran towards the end of the alleyway. He stopped, checking if it was safe for him to go out in the open.

There were a few cars on the road, and even a few humans walking on the street. Then again, it was still too early anyway, so he should be safe to cross.

"And then," he said, grinning hungrily at the two sleeping birds. "Breakfast." He suddenly blinked, and brought a paw on his chin, thinking. "Hm... Wonder if I can catch two birds with this one cat..."

---

Sounds of something being fried echoed all around the house, and the delicious scent of meat struck the nostrils of a sleeping Taillow.

Although asleep, his nose seemed to have woken up as he sniffed the air, a smile forming on his beak. After a few more sniffs, his eyes slowly opened, tiredness and sleepiness immediately thrown out the window as he hopped on the abused pillow.

His beak watered, and he gulped as he stared at the door towards the kitchen where the sound and the smell were coming from.

He stretched his wings, which felt weird for him. Looking at them, he frowned as he remembered that his wings and a few parts of him were wrapped in bandages. Whatever, he thought. He could still walk towards the kitchen anyway.

Carefully, he hopped on the cushions of the couch before hopping down to the floor. With a smile, he began to walk towards the kitchen.

The Honchkrow, who was already awake but simply busy preening herself, blinked as she stared the retreating Taillow, wobbling towards the kitchen.

She shook her head and went back to preening. "Weird bird," she muttered to herself.

"Yo!" Sky announced as he walked inside the kitchen. "What's cooking?" he asked, eyeing Bill with glittering eyes.

"Huh?" Bill was a little surprised to see the injured bird walking towards him. He blinked. Yep, he was walking, which was strange for a bird like him. "Er, good morning?"

"G'morning yourself, bud!" Sky chirped cheerfully. He turned and looked at the closest chair. "Huh..."

"Let me help you," Bill said, scooping the bird up gently and carefully put him on the table. He then went back to his cooking.

Sky blinked, and saw a glimpse of meat being fried on the pan. He smiled. "A heavy meal in the morning? Sweet!"

Bill chuckled. "For a bird, you sure can talk like one of us."

"Details, details," Sky waved a wing in the air. "Is it cooked yet? I'm starving!"

"Well, I have some bird food with different fla—"

"Pfft," Sky interrupted. "Bird food? Seriously dude? Give me meat!" He puffed his feathered chest. He can't believe that even Bill has insulted him! But he's willing to let it slide, because, food takes priority anyway. "I'm a growing bird, ya know!"

"Er..." This was the first time Bill has encountered a bird who really talks like a human. "C-coming right up?"

Sky huffed, feeling his tummy growling a bit, but whatever. Well, food takes time to be cooked anyway. He didn't want it to be half-cooked. That'd be gross. Shivering slightly, he looked around. The first thing he noticed was the fridge. He vaguely remembered his brother getting meat there and cooked it with Bill's oven. Speaking of the oven, there it was, sitting quietly right next to the toaster, and what the heck was taking Bill so long? "Hurry up or I ain't tipping ya!"

"This isn't a restaurant, you know," he chuckled awkwardly. "...and restaurants even take time for your order to be ready."

"Yeah, and while you wait, you battle annoying trainers that try to take your seat." Sky shook his head. "Just hurry up already! Sheesh... I can't handle being teased with food!"

Bill awkwardly blinked at that, his mind crashed momentarily. "R...right..."

A crashing noise echoed in the house. Both of them looked up as the sound kept on going. It sounded like something was...doing something on Bill's roof.

"What's going on?" he asked, running towards the living room.

"Oi, oi, oi!" Sky called, looking at him and the fried meat and vice versa. "W-what about the food?!"

Bill ignored him. Or maybe he didn't hear him. Either way, he was feeling nervous yet curious as to what was causing that noise. "Lais! Let's go."

His Honchkrow squawked at him as she flapped her messy wings, flying after him.

Sky looked back at the frying pan, looking horrified. He quickly looked around, searching for a way to get there to save the meal. "Oh geez, oh geez, oh geez..!"

---

"Innotui!" the Hoothoot shouted in panic, tears welling in his eyes as he helplessly watched his friend fighting for her life against a hungry Meowth.

"Gah!" she screeched after getting pinned by the grinning feline. She shot her head up, glaring at the sobbing Hoothoot. "Fly away, Nystl! Go!"

"B-bu-but—"

Ka-chiing!

Both the two birds' pupils shrunk to dots.

"Well, that was too easy," the Meowth grinned, aiming his sharp claws at the helpless Pidgey. "Or maybe I'm still good at it. Either way..."

Innotui slowly looked at him, breathless. Is this where her life was going to end? There were still so many things she wanted to do with her life. She didn't even manage to evolve yet! Life was cruel, she thought. It always has, and it'll always will be.

A large and dark figure suddenly flew above the roof, its red, glowing eyes casting fear to the startled Meowth. Not a second later, and the huge bird's large claws grabbed him, lifting him off of the injured Pidgey.

"Good job, Lais!" Bill called as the Honchkrow flew back to him.

"Let me go!" the Meowth snarled, scratching the huge talons to set himself free to no avail.

"Wait..." Bill blinked at the struggling cat. "Aren't you that Meowth in that alleyway?"

The Meowth only growled at him, annoyed that he and his bird-brained of a Pokémon interrupted his breakfast.

They heard movement above. Bill looked up and gasped when he saw a bloodied Pidgey dragging herself towards the edge of the roof. She fell, but the ground didn't caught her.

"Got'cha!" Bill caught the injured bird before the ground did. He hurried back inside to treat her.

"Let. Me. Go!" the Meowth snarled, glaring at— "Ahh-oof!"

"Okay," came Lais' late reply, landing in front of him.

The Meowth glared at her, and then past her. The door was open. Moving quickly, he dashed towards the opened door, passing through the startled Honchkrow. He was getting back his meal, even if it was the last thing he'll d—

"I'll give you some 'karp fillet if you promise not to hurt this poor Pidgey," Bill suddenly said without looking at the Meowth by the door. He was busy treating the injured bird on his couch.

He licked his lips as he calmed down. Yeah, the fillet sounded tastier than a bird anyway.

Lais suddenly hopped inside, almost bumping on the feline.

Bill blinked, looking at the two of them. "Er... Lais? Who's cooking?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" came Bill's answer from the kitchen, followed by thick smoke.

---

Just outside the city perimeter, a Hoothoot sat on a branch, sobbing. He couldn't believe how helpless he was. He couldn't believe he flew away instead of helping his friend out. Then again, she did told him to fly away.

He shook his head. Even so, she was his friend, and he abandoned her! He won't be able to see his friend ever again. And that cruel thought made him cry again.

"What's the matter?" a voice suddenly asked from below.

Sniffling, Nystl looked down, blinking to clear his blurry vision.

A Rattata was looking up at him, frowning in concern. "Aw, what's the matter, little guy? Why are you crying?"

The Hoothoot simply blinked at her.

Fay blinked, and tilted her head in mild confusion. "Er... You okay there, little guy?"

The Hoothoot slowly, slowly nodded. "...Hoot." Whatever was troubling him a few moments later were gone now, except for one thing...

The Rattata smiled curiously at him. "Hey, I know! I bet you're hungry!" she said, smiling wider now. "Come on down and I'll give ya something to eat!"

Nystl slowly, slowly nodded. "Yes... Hoot..." he slowly replied as his stomach growled quietly. Yes, something to eat sounded really wonderful right now.

Chapter 10​

"We interrupt this program for this flash report."

Every radio and television sets echoed the same voice in Goldenrod City, catching the majority of the people's attention who were preparing for this new day.

"Last night, the well-renowned inventor Bill almost got kidnapped by a group of men that we all thought had vanished years ago. They were Team Rocket, and—"

Whatever the reporter was saying next was muffled by a choir of worried and excited gasps.

"—police have arrested three Rocket members and are currently interrogating them. Every town in Johto and Kanto have been alerted by this event. Dear viewers, if—and listeners, if any of you have sighted or have any information about Team Rocket, please let the police know."

---

A television set was turned off, it's black and flat screen reflecting the sighing Bill who was seated on his couch in his living room. Opening his eyes, his gaze landed on a Taillow on the table a few feet in front of him.

The said Taillow was crying as he held a small knife with a talon, slicing the burnt meat on a plate. After he managed to cut a chunk, he dropped the knife, grabbed the chunk with the same talon, stared sadly at the sad-looking meal, sobbed, and ate it, sniffling as he was reminded that he couldn't chew it.

Back on the couch, four sets of eyes blinked at him as the bird choked, either from the meat or from his sobs.

A Meowth shook his head. "Pathetic."

"Meat this delicious didn't deserve to be burned..." the Taillow sobbed, cutting another chunk.

"..." Bill scratched the back of his neck. "...You're one weird flying type... I've never seen a bird Pokémon crave for meat."

A patched-up Pidgey, who sat on a pillow on Bill's lap, and a Honchkrow who was perched on the couch's armrest, nodded in unison.

"Dude," Sky said, turning his tear-soaked face at the only human in the room. "How could you not understand how painful burned meat is?!" He sighed, turning back to his meal. "Oh, what's the use... You can't understand a single word I say anyway."

"Er... Actually," Bill said, "I...actually can understand you."

Sky turned back to him, sniffling.

Bill flashed a small smile. "I used to specialize in bird Pokémon when I was still a trainer. That was years of learning how to understand them." He leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Don't get me wrong. Each species of birds have different sounds, yes, but they use the same rule of communication with each other. They use different pitches and have different lengths on their cries to communicate."

"Must have been boring," Sky muttered, no longer interested in Bill's story as he went back to his meal, still sobbing.

"Yeah, it was," Bill sighed with a smile. He then opened his eyes, blinked, and stared at the Taillow with a frown. "I mean, no. It wasn't boring. That drove me to invent ways for us humans to be able to understand Pokémon better!"

"Meh," the Meowth meh'ed, jumping off of the couch and walked towards the door. "I'm done here. Thanks for the fillet, by the way," he said, stopping in front of the front door. He looked up, stared at the door knob, bent his knees, and jumped, throwing his front paws on the knob and turning it, opening the door in the process. He let go, grabbed the opened door, and turned to glare at the human. "But interrupt me in my hunt again, and I won't be forgiving next time."

Bill rolled his eyes. He didn't understand what the Meowth had just said, although he had an idea of what it was.

Kit, the Meowth, walked out the door and slammed it behind him.

"As long as I have fillets in the fridge, I can tame him," Bill grinned.

"S-Sky," the Pidgey finally said after collecting enough courage to talk.

The Taillow blinked, sniffed, and turned to look at her.

She quickly looked away, blushing. All that courage was gone in an instant, and she mentally cursed.

Sky shook his head. He then looked at Bill. "Hey, bird boy."

"Please don't call me that," Bill frowned at him.

Sky continued while pointing at the Pidgey, "Explain how I and everyone else can see that Pidgey's blush."

He noticed? He noticed! That made the Pidgey blush even more. She yelped when the human who treated her suddenly lifted the pillow so he could look at her at eye level. She tried turning away.

"Erm..."

"So yeah," Sky said, wiping his face with his wings. "Aren't our feathers covering our skin where the blush would normally appear?"

"...I studied bird's speech pattern, er, Sky. Not their biological structure..."

Sky shook his head. "Right. And you didn't care that this delicious meat was burned. I'm starting to wonder if I'm the true human around here."

Bill blinked. He furrowed his brows. "...That reminds me. You really do talk like one of us. Tell me—"

"Nope," Sky suddenly interrupted him, extending a wing to stall him. "You don't get to ask me questions, fail human!"

The human blinked. "...I didn't catch that last one."

"Fail human," Lais the Honchkrow repeated for him.

Bill shook his head. "Forearm?"

Sky ignored him as he continued, "So what did Team Rocket want from you anyway that I needed to kick their sorry asses and rescue you?"

Bill failed to stop himself from flinching that even the Pidgey stumbled and fell on her side on the pillow. The inventor helped her back on her feet before he turned to look at his Honchkrow, who was busy preening her messy wing. He sighed, then shook his head. "I...honestly don't know..." He looked ahead and locked his gaze on his reflection on the television screen. "They weren't talking during the questioning in the station."

"And why would they?" Sky nodded. "Anyway, didn't you have a psychic-type?"

He blinked at that. He looked at him. "...Why do you know about me so much?"

Sky shrugged. "Just answer my question."

"Well, yeah. Yeah, I do. He's inside his Pokéball in my room."

"Poor thing," the Pidgey muttered to herself, shuddering.

"Why do you ask?"

Sky blinked. "Well, isn't it obvious?" he asked, flapping his wings slowly. "Use it to, I dunno, enter their minds? Find the answers?"

"That's illegal."

"Gee, and them trying to kidnap you wasn't?"

Bill sighed. "Touché. But it's not my call. But the police are going to interrogate them though."

Sky shook his head. "Sorry, but from where I'm from, the police are mostly unreliable. Even in the movies. They always arrive late when they're mostly needed."

Bill was really confused. Part of it was because he didn't understand most of what the Taillow was saying.

"But whatever. If you don't want to find out why they were after you, then that's your choice," Sky nodded. "But, I came here not to rescue you, no matter how awesome it was to kick their balls."

"Er..."

Sky puffed his chest, smiling. "I came here to ask for your help."

"Help?" he blinked, already sensing a strange familiarity of this event. "Help with what?"

"Oh, don't worry," the Taillow waved a wing. "I'm not going to ask for anything big or impossible like helping me to go back to my world or something along those lines. Besides, you owe me for helping you out."

"...Nnnnooo..." Yes, there was that familiar headache again. "Don't tell me you're—"

"Le gasp!" Sky suddenly gasped, and slapped a wing over his head, turning around. "I almost forgot about my hat!"

"Your...hat?" Bill was now lost as he and the Pidgey watched the Taillow ran towards the kitchen.

Seconds later, they saw the running bird coming out from the kitchen and headed straight to the front door. He looked up and jumped, flailing his wings to reach the doorknob that was too high for him to reach. After a few more attempts of reaching for it, he grunted, and threw a glare at the human whose mind was busy rebooting. "A little help here? And before you ask, no, this isn't the help I wanted to ask from you earlier."

---

Outside the city, a few meters from the tall wall, three Pokémon were leaning on each other, sleeping soundly under the shade of the trees. The tall bushes shielded them from any human eyes that would be passing by on the main road meters away, however, a bush wasn't made to stop the sounds of a Rattata's questions and a Hoothoot's desperate dives in an attempt to catch his first meal of the day.

"You know," the Rattata said, jumping to the side with a frown as she kept her concerned eyes locked on the Hoothoot who was flying up again after diving at her. "This was fun for the first one hundred times we did this, but I'm starting to worry about you..."

The Hoothoot ignored her as he once again dived at her, claws at the ready to snatch her. However, despite his accuracy and speed, the rat somehow slips out of his path milliseconds before he could catch her. Grunting in annoyance, he flapped his wings again, both to not crash on the ground and to gain altitude again. He glared at the nimble Rattata. The rats back in the city were far easier to catch. However, competition there was fierce. Here, it seemed like he was the only Hoothoot around, but prey were too difficult to catch! It was frustrating.

Fay jumped away in time again, frowning in concern at the Hoothoot. "Please!" she begged, jumping away in time again. "Just tell me what's wrong! Are you hungry? Are you hurt? Are you lost?" She dodged again. "Why are you so angry?"

Behind the bushes, a Pikachu's ear twitched from the sound of the angry Hoothoot's grunts after another failed attempt of catching his prey. The Pikachu slowly opened his eyes, cursing that he lost sleep's embrace.

There was that noise again. Sighing, he pulled himself away from his slumbering friends. He stretched his arms up, gritting his teeth. Afterwards, he yawned as he stood up. If he wasn't so sleepy, he wouldn't have walked out of the safety of the bush that easily. He thought how stupid he was for doing that. If there was a trainer out here, he would have been easy to capture. Thankfully, it was only his annoying friend doing some exercise or something.

"Fay," the Pikachu said, rubbing his eyes as he approached her.

Fay jumped away to avoid the Hoothoot again, bumping on the approaching Pikachu.

"Oof—!" the electric rodent fell on his back, blinking in surprise. Eye twitching, he rose up and glared at the Rattata. "What in Suicune's mane are you—whoa!" He was surprised to see his friend dodging in time before that fast blur of...something hit her. He quickly turned his head towards the blur and saw the Hoothoot making a u-turn and diving back towards Fay. Thinking fast, sparks flew out of his cheeks—

"W-wait! Shockie! No—!"

—and he let out a quick bolt of electricity at the fast-approaching bird. He didn't have enough time to charge a more powerful bolt, but he hoped that a quick one would be enough to immobilize the bird.

Blinded by hunger and rage, Nystl didn't notice the threat until it struck him...literally. Mere seconds ago, his vision was filled with that delicious rat. Now, he was staring at the waking sky, and he couldn't feel his anything.

"You hurt him!" Fay cried, running towards the twitching bird.

"..." Shock blinked. He furrowed his brows. "You're welcome!" he shouted after her, rolling his eyes.

Shaking his head, Shock turned and stared at the large entrance to the city. He blinked, noticing that there were white-uniformed humans standing at the entrance, where some were busy inspecting other humans who were both going in or heading out of the city.

"...That's new."

"What's going on?" a Vulpix asked as she and a Bulbasaur were sleepily walking towards him.

---

Sky walked through the opened front door, closing it behind him with a victorious smile. "Yes!" he chirped, the small hat slipping down and covered his one eye. "The hat lives!"

"You're one of them?" Bill asked from where he sat.

The Taillow pushed the hat up. "One of who?" Sky asked, confused.

"Team Rocket."

Sky arched a non-existent eyebrow. "No? And I wouldn't beat their sorry asses if I were one."

"Point," Bill nodded. "So what's with the hat?"

"A souvenir, and a cool one, too!" Sky laughed as he walked towards the table.

"Oh boy," Bill rubbed his head as Sky climbed up the couch with his talons and beak. The Pidgey found it awkward yet hilariously cute at the same time. The latter made her blush and look away. "Krystal and Jay... And now, Sky? Ugh..."

"Stop blushing, girl!" Sky announced after he stood on the couch with a victorious smile. "Geeze! You keep on blushing like an animé school girl having a huge crush on me or something!"

What he just said only reddened her cheeks more.

Sky shook his head. "I really don't understand how a blush works on bird. Anyway!" he turned and smiled at the human. "About that little help I wanna ask you."

"You wanna ask me to help you go back to your world, right?"

Sky blinked at him. He sighed. "Goddamn it. Why does everyone keep on stopping me from making a dramatic reveal?!" he asked no one in particular. He shook his head, and adjusted his hat again. "Well, whatever. Anyway, no. That's not what I want you to help me with."

Bill blinked at him. That wasn't what he was expecting. He was now both curious and nervous to hear what the bird's request was.

"I wanna ask for your help in taking us to the Ruins of Alph."

"Ruins of Alph?" the Pidgey asked.

"Ah, the ruins of the alphabet soup," Lais suddenly said.

"No!" Sky suddenly interrupted her. "No, and shut up! No more of your stories!"

"Rude," both the Honchkrow and her trainer said at the same time.

"Anyway," Sky shook his head. "Yes. A ride to the Ruins of Alph. That's an easy request from a tiny, little bird, right?" he smiled at the human, who was arching his eyebrow at him.

"...Can't you just fly there yourself?"

"Ahem, I repeat my request..." Sky cleared his throat. "I want you," he pointed a wing at Bill, "to take us," he pointed at himself with one wing and waved the other, "to the Ruins of Alph."

"What do you mean by us?"

Sky beamed. "A predictable question, my birdbrained friend! Well, of course, me, Vixie, Shock, and Saur!" He then blinked and look aside. "Well, I suppose Fay could come along, too..."

"Wait," Bill said. "Vixie? And those other three? Aren't they Jay's friends?"

"Right you are, bird boy!"

Bill frowned at that. "I...suppose I can get you five there with my truck, but, why are they coming along?"

Sky frowned at him. "I don't remember you asking my bro the same thing when they decided to come with him in his epic journey."

"...Bro?"

"I prefer you call me 'dude,' since, y'know, we're not related by blood or anything."

Bill was rubbing his aching head again. "Wait... You're Jay's brother?"

Sky stopped, his mouth left wide open for a few seconds. "...And another dramatic reveal ruined..." Sky grumbled to himself.

Chapter Break - Innotui​

"You're leaving?" a small Pidgey asked with a sad frown.

Two mighty Noctowls were busy preening their wings as they and the small Pidgey stood on a mighty branch of a mighty tree where its thick and many leaves shielded them from the eyes of any passersby.

After she was done preening her wings, the female owl turned to face the little bird with a sad frown of her own. "Yes, Innotui. We must."

"But, why?" the little bird asked, sad eyes slowly falling down on their nest, where a little Hoothoot was looking down, feeling sad as well.

The mighty male owl stopped preening his wing and turned to face the sad bird. "Prey here has become scarce as of late, little one," he explained calmly. "We could, of course, move elsewhere in the forest, but that would risk the safety of our child."

Both the Pidgey and the Hoothoot said nothing.

---

Innotui woke up, slowly opening her eyes. She yawned, and stretched both her wings. Afterwards, she slowly shook one numb talon at a time. Even though she had been sleeping while standing up, the feeling of having numb feet was still mildly annoying to wake up to. She shook her head slightly, to shake off the sleep and that dream she just had. Ruffling her feathers, she inhaled and exhaled with a smile. It was another beautiful morning, she thought.

"Good morning," she whispered to the wind, hoping that her greeting would be carried by it and be delivered to her dear friend.

She looked around. The morning was still early. And her mother wasn't around, as usual. She frowned. She could never wake up early enough to fly and hunt with her mother. She sighed. Her mother would be returning soon, so it would be best for her not to go too far from their nest.

Her tummy grumbled a little. Sighing once again, she hopped and stood on the edge of their nest, scanning her surroundings. There were also different birds perched on branches and on their own nests, busily talking to one another. They weren't her focus though. Her focus was on berries, but there weren't any on the trees yet. She looked down, and stared at the bushes below.

"...and then she said, 'Well, Fay, I accepted him to be my mate because he had the size, if you know what I mean!'" a cheery Rattata's voice echoed as she and a few other earth-bound Pokémon walked closer to where the hungry Pidgey was.

The Rattata and her three other friends laughed merrily, while the other, an Eevee, who was walking behind the cheery group, didn't seem to pay them any attention, as he was busy looking around his surroundings, as if he was new to the area. He looked up, and he made a brief eye contact with her before he looked elsewhere.

"Oh! Good morning, Innotui!" the Rattata greeted the little bird.

Innotui looked back at her, smiled, and waved a wing at her and her friends. She shook her head. That Rattata... No matter how many times she asked her mother to explain it to her, the cheery rodent will never get it. She and her mother share the same name, and ever since the devolution happened, the Rattata always confused her as her mother. Her mother and the Rattata are friends, although they weren't really close friends anyway. More like acquaintances. Also, Innotui never really had the chance, nor the courage to go down there and talk to them. She wanted to, but maybe later.

As the Rattata returned to chatting with her friends, Innotui blinked. She didn't know who that Eevee was, but she does recognize the Rattata as Fay, as well as her other three friends: Shock the Pikachu, Saur the Bulbasaur and Vixie the Vulpix. She then stared back at the Eevee following behind them. She frowned. There was no sense of recognition no matter how long she stared at him. She no longer paid attention to what the earth-bound friends were talking about as they walked pass her tree.

She shook her head and returned scanning the ground for berries.

Seconds later, she heard a distant yet familiar flapping noise. Blinking, she looked up, and from the small gaps between the leaves, she saw a familiar Pidgey. Smiling, she hopped back to make way for her mother to land on.

The leaves above rustled as the Pidgey dove through. After she flew through, she flew up, flapped her wings a few times, landed on their nest, and spat a decapitated Caterpie on the middle of the nest.

"Good morning, Innotui," the newcomer smiled at the smaller bird. "I trust that my little hatchling is hungry?"

"Mooooom," the smaller bird whined, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Please stop calling me that."

Her mother only chuckled.

---

Having nothing else to do, the brown bird decided to fly to Celebi's lake after asking her mother's permission and arguing with her that she wasn't going there to find a mate. Her mother could be so silly sometimes. And besides, she was still too young to get a mate anyway.

She landed on a branch of a tree that stood on the edge of the large clearing, where a crystal-blue lake lay in the middle. Surrounding the lake were different species of Pokémon doing various activities.

Innotui smiled. She always loved this place for how peaceful it wa—

"For the hundredth time, no!" a familiar female voice snarled, making the brown bird jump in surprise, her head struck another branch above her.

Wincing, she brought a wing over her head, rubbing it to ease the pain as she turned her head to see what was going on. She saw Vixie, teeth gritting and eyes glaring at a Growlithe who had a sly grin on his face.

Innotui groaned. She would have loved this place even more if that Growlithe wasn't around. She knew that thinking like that wasn't nice, but she couldn't help it if he always acted like a big meanie.

"Oh, com'on, Vixie," the Growlithe's voice echoed around the clearing. Only then did Innotui noticed that the noises from the other Pokémon in the area were no longer present.

"Lithe," a Pikachu said, he and his other friends stood behind the Vulpix. He crossed his arms before saying, "I'm actually getting tire of you and your insistence of getting our friend be included in your circle of mates."

Innotui shuddered. She knew that some males have many mates, but Lithe so far has the most!

"I'm not talking to you, Shock," Lithe said. "Stay out of this."

Her attention shifted to a startled Fay after a Bulbasaur wrapped a vine around her mouth for some unknown reason.

"Look, Vixie—"

"I said no," Vixie cut the Growlithe off. "And I mean it! Now scram!"

Innotui sighed, shaking her head.

"Could you let me finish?" the Growlithe asked with a frown. "You've been playing hard-to-get ever since I first asked you out. I'd walk away when you say no." He suddenly grinned. "But I'm actually feeling lucky this time! So I'm not gonna stop asking until you say yes."

She saw the Bulbasaur asking something, but his voice was too low for her to hear.

"'Cuz I got my twelfth mate earlier today!" Lithe suddenly announced. "And twelve is my favorite number!"

The Pidgey blinked. She couldn't believe it. Twelve mates? She suddenly shivered.

She stopped paying attention when said attention caught an Eevee by the lake, who was looking around the area. Wasn't that the same Eevee who followed Fay's group earlier?

"Fine!" Vixie suddenly snarled loudly, making the bird jump in surprise again. And hitting her head, again. "But on one condition!" the fire fox said with a grin.

"Oh? Anything, my dear number thirteen," Lithe grinned back.

"Beat me in a battle," Vixie announced.

Her friends behind her gasped in unison. Fay started to squirm to set her mouth free from the binding vines.

"Vixie, that's crazy!" Shock shouted.

"Totally crazy!" Fay chimed in.

Innotui blinked. She couldn't believe what she just heard. Sure, she and Vixie weren't close friends. They were more like acquaintances, but still! She saw the Bulbasaur walking towards the Eevee by the lake. Saur didn't care?

---

Vixie lost. She knew Lithe was strong, but she also knew that Vixie was strong, too, but seeing her defeated so easily was—

Electricity sparked on the ground in front of a startled Lithe, who stopped approaching the fallen fire fox.

"I clearly won," Lithe snarled at the Pikachu after recovering. "And now I claim her as mine!"

Shock was glaring daggers at him, sparks flying out from the glowing red pouches on his cheeks. "The only thing your claiming will be your sorry roasted arse, Lithe!"

"Who in blazes are you to try and stop me from claiming my prize, huh!? What!? Are you her mate or something!?"

"She's my friend and as her friend, I will protect her from the likes of you!"

Innotui and a few Pokémon in the area gasped when Lithe suddenly blasted Shock's face with a fiery train of flames. He quickly stopped and dashed towards the electric rodent, but Shock suddenly disappeared from where he stood.

Before Lithe could recover his momentum, Shock reappeared beside him and shocked the both of them with bright electric shocks.

It only lasted for a few seconds before Lithe roared and managed to tackle Shock away from him. He then turned and saw Vixie walking away while being assisted by Fay. Gritting his teeth, he was about to run after them when he got struck by another bolt of electricity. Snarling, he turned around and breathed out a fierce torrent of flames.

Shock countered it with bolts of electricity.

The two elements met and exploded, creating a thick smoke, making both battlers unable to see what their foes will do next.

As the fight continued, the Eevee ran towards the two females and helped Vixie walking away from the scene. The trio stopped when their friend Shock flew and landed beside their Bulbasaur friend.

The Eevee pushed the Vixie back on Fay, turned around, and gasped when he saw Lithe was already in front of him. The Growlithe tackled him, throwing the Eevee back but still managed to land on his four paws beside the Bulbasaur.

"I won't let anyone get in my way! Not even you!" Lithe snarled, flames starting to swirl around him.

"Hey!" the Eevee shouted back. "You need to cool off! Who said anything about m—"

"Shut up!" Lithe roared, and dashed towards the Eevee as a vortex of flames swirled around him.

The Eevee quickly dug a paw on the ground and threw grass and dirt at the fast-approaching Growlithe. With no time to run, the Eevee instead dropped himself on the ground.

Lithe tripped on the Eevee's paws, slamming himself on the ground and skidded towards the lake.

---

Innotui was glad that the fight was over. She even laughed a little when Saur fished Lithe out of the lake, dropped him back there, and fished him out again. Saur could be silly at times, although she still wasn't sure why he didn't help Vixie. Fay and Shock helped her, and so did that Eevee, but why didn't Saur do anything?

She shook her head. No, she shouldn't think of bad things about him, or any of Fay's friends for that matter. Saur probably had his reasons. She nodded. Right, Saur probably had a reason for not helping his friend.

...It didn't make sense.

She sighed. She probably should go back home now. She wanted to spend time here to just...relax, but instead she witnessed an intense battle, and it stressed her a little. A little nap could fix this up, she hoped.

Turning towards the direction of her nest, she extended her wings and—

"Humans!" a few Pokémon below her gasped, running away.

She blinked, folded her wings back to her side, turned around, and gasped. There, on the other side of the clearing from where she was, were two young human trainers, a boy and a girl.

"Oh! Big brother!" the female one squealed, tugging the boy's shirt while pointing at the Eevee. "Is... Is that an Eevee?"

The boy gasped. "Oh, wow! You're right! Eevees are quite rare!"

The Eevee suddenly ran towards the trees and bushes, and the two humans chased after him.

Innotui just realized how fast and hard her heartbeats were. She was scared. She heard that humans capture Pokémon like her, and control her to fight her own kind! And some other scary stuff that she couldn't remember at the moment.

She quickly turned around and flared her wings to fly away. But she couldn't. She cast her gaze down as her mind screamed at her to fly away. But... But that Eevee! He was Fay's friend! She should help him!

But... What could she do? She didn't know.

"Run for it!" she heard Vixie's faint voice that echoed from the trees.

Those humans are after Fay and her friends now, too!

Breathless, she jumped off the branch and flapped her wings. Heart pounding hard in her chest, and barely able to see the many leaves and branches on her path, she flew towards the safety of her home, whispering a quiet apology to the wind.

Chapter 11​

A Hoothoot was eating berry after berry in a very impressive pace. The little owl Pokémon didn't even bother chewing on them, simply swallowing a berry whole and then picked another one and repeated the process.

Four other Pokémon stood before the bird. Three of them had looks of disbelief, while the other one was simply happy that the bird was eating.

"See?" the Rattata turned to her friends with a proud smile. "I told you he was just hungry."

The Pikachu blinked. He shook his head before facing his rat friend. "Right. Whatever." He glared at her. "That still doesn't excuse you for not defending yourself. What if you got hurt? Or worse?!"

"Awww...!" the Rattata suddenly threw herself towards the other rodent and hugged him.

"Gah!"

"I didn't know you cared about me so much, Shockie!" she chirped, nuzzling the irritated Pikachu's neck.

Shock was trying his best not to shock her. He instead tried to get the other rodent off of him with his paws. "Get off of me!"

The Vulpix rolled her eyes with an amused smile, while the Bulbasaur chuckled.

"Careful, Fay," the Vulpix said as the two rodents separated. "Keep that up, and he might fall for you."

"Zip it, 'xie," Shock hissed, glaring at the two females.

Fay grinned at him. "I wouldn't mind in the slightest!"

Shock blinked, and cringed.

Fay chuckled. "But eh, I don't think he wants me to be his mate, anyway." She stuck her tongue at him.

Shock rolled his eyes.

Saur chuckled and nodded. "He still wants to settle with another Pikachu."

"Or a Raichu," Vixie added with a grin.

Shock shivered. "Shut up, 'xie. All of you know how much I hate Raichus."

"I wonder if that line of thinking will change when y—"

"And I won't evolve! Ever!" Shock snarled at the chuckling Bulbasaur. Shock groaned. "I swear, I sometimes wonder why I still hang out with you guys."

Vixie patted the grumbling Pikachu's head. "There, there, little Shockie."

Shock slapped her paw off of him. "Don't do that. You remind me of my mother."

"Don't blame her for practicing," Fay chuckled.

Vixie shot her a glare.

Saur chuckled.

Shock managed to chuckle as well. He slightly shook his head, looked back at the Hoothoot, who was still busy eating, and turned to Fay with a frown. "I still don't understand why you didn't defend yourself, Fay..."

Fay blinked at him, then directed a smile at the bird. "Oh, but Shockie. Does he look dangerous to you?"

Three pairs of eyes blinked at her.

Fay nodded. "Exactly! Plus, he has Sky's and Innotui's scents! So he must hav—what's wrong?"

The Hoothoot, after hearing his dear friend's name, started to cry. He dropped himself on the ground as tears flowed down his face. How could he leave her there? He knew she was in trouble. He should have helped her. He could at least do something to help her. He was strong enough to catch his own prey. At least he thinks so anyway. But no matter how much he wished that he'd done something, his friend was gone, and nothing was ever going to change that.

He was stunned when he felt something gently binding him. Blinking, he saw himself being hugged by the one he preyed on. The hug was strange. Foreign even. But it felt safe. He felt safe. He closed his eyes and continued to cry.

Shock scratched his head. "...I don't get it."

Saur and Vixie threw him a glare.

Shock rolled his eyes, but kept his mouth shut.

"There, there..." Fay whispered. "It's all right... Everything's gonna be all right..."

Nystl, the Hoothoot, sniffed. "...No...hoot..."

Fay broke the hug and took a step back, smiling. "Of course it will!"

Nystl slowly shook his head. "N-no...h-hoot... Sh-she's...hurt...hoot..."

Fay blinked, smile slowly fading.

Nystl continued to sob. "...Kit...hurt her...hoot... Ate her...h-hoot..."

Saur blinked. "Kit? That names sounds familiar..."

"...N-Nys-N..." Nystl sniffed. "...I-I fl-flew away...hoot..."

"So..." Shock said, trying to understand what he just heard. "Does this mean Innotui's dea—"

"No!" Fay suddenly snarled, surprising the four Pokémon around her. She suddenly grabbed the startled owl and pulled his face against her angry face. "She is not dead! You hear me?! Innotui's a strong bird! Tell me, was she dead before you flew away?!"

Nystl was shivering in fright. Who knew prey could be scary?

"Answer me!" Fay snarled.

"Fay, calm down," Saur said, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"Well?!" Fay asked again.

"Wooooo boy..." Shock took a step back, looking frightened. "When was the last time Fay became this angry?"

"N-n-n-n..." the frightened owl stammered.

"Nnn? What in Giratina's ballsack is a 'Nnn'?!" Fay snarled.

Saur sighed. It was rare for Fay to curse like that. "Fay, he's still a child. Go easy on him. Secondly, I think he's saying 'no.'"

Fay blinked, letting the owl go, her angry frown turning slightly-not-so-angry frown. "...Makes sense."

"...Pl-please don't eat Nystl...h-hoot..."

"Then that means she's still alive!" Fay suddenly chirped and jumped cheerfully.

Nystl blinked at her. He gasped when her angry face was shoved on his again.

"Listen here, kiddo! You're gonna lead us straight to your friend Innotui and we're gonna kick this Kit's ass so hard he'll kiss Cresselia's moon! You got that?!"

Before Nystl could answer, Fay suddenly grabbed him and threw him in the air. With a yelp, he flapped his wings and had a hard time making himself stay airborn. He looked down, and winced when he saw the furious glare of the Rattata.

"Well?!" Fay said. "Don't just fly there! Lead us to them!"

"Fay, about that," Shock said, but Nystl was already flying towards the city's opened gates, probably in a panic, with Fay following close behind.

The two were heading towards the opened gate, where police officers were inspecting incoming and leaving people and vehicles.

Shock sighed and closed his eyes, his ears drooping. "We're going to follow her, aren't we?" He heard his two friends running after them. He sighed once again. "Jay... I'm going to kill you for this..."

---

Humans were scary creatures. They capture and force Pokémon to fight another Pokémon, whether they be wild or other captured Pokémon from other humans. What was even scarier was these captured Pokémon obeyed the humans without any problems whatsoever. It was like, once they were captured, the humans were their god. They would follow and obey their every command.

Innotui shuddered as the others inside the room were busy watching a gym match where a trainer was challenging the local gym leader, Whitney. After taking a breath or two to calm herself, she looked back at the magical box of moving images. She saw the gym leader's Miltank aggressively rolling towards a frightened Sentret.

"Get out of the way, Ellise!" the Sentret's owner shouted in panic, gripping her scarf around her neck tightly.

Innotui closed her eyes just before the Miltank got to the frozen Sentret. She didn't understand humans at all. Why would they capture and force Pokémon to battle? What was the reason? What was the cause?

Something must have forced the Pokémon to obey the humans. Most likely the Pokéball. She opened her eyes and turned to stare at the sunlight from the windows, ignoring the sounds of battle from the television. She made a mental note to avoid those balls at all cost. Or humans, if she could. But...

She slowly looked up and stared at Bill who had a dreamy smile on his face. This human healed her, and didn't capture her. Bill's probably one of a few humans who don't capture Pokémon and let them battle. At least, that was what she thought. She turned and stared at Lais, the old yet mighty Honchkrow. She's Bill's Pokémon, yet she seemed fine to be captured by him. She wanted to ask the questions that lingered in her thoughts, but Bill might hear her. After all, he could understand her, and any other bird Pokémon from what she heard.

"She's beautiful..." Bill said dreamily, watching as the television set showed a close-up view of a confident Whitney, who then noticed the camera was on her, and she smiled at it as she flashed a 'V' sign with her right hand. Butterfrees suddenly filled Bill's stomach.

"She is..." Sky said, standing beside the human, and also wearing a dreamy smile. "Damn... Look at those watermelons..."

"Yea—wait." Bill blinked, stared, blushed, and viciously shook his head. He glared down at the snickering Taillow. "You're a pervert. You know that?"

Sky shrugged, turning back to the screen. "Hey. I'm just saying. Anyway, I'm still waiting for the camera to show her backside so I can finally judge how good she'll be in bed."

Bill blushed further, and gently slapped the Taillow behind the head, making the hat cover his entire face.

"Ow ow ow," Sky winced, rubbing his head as a painful wave of pain waved through his brain before fixing his hat back. He shot a glare at the human. "For the record, I was judging her for you, not for me!"

"I don't need that kind of information, especially from a human-turned-bird, thank you very much."

Sky sighed. "Damn. It feels like you're a Jay version two point O." He shook his head. "Virgins these days."

The Pidgey blinked. Despite not really knowing what the two males were talking about, what Bill just said suddenly reminded her of her earlier question. Was Sky really a human? Once a human, at least. She looked at Sky, who was thankfully staring at the television with a critical eye. Or maybe he was still angry that Bill hit him. In any case, whatever happened to Sky? How did a human become a Pokémon in the first place?

...At least she was right that this Taillow was in fact interesting. Wait, no. That came out wrong. This Taillow simply caught her intere—her attent—her curiousity! Yes! Curiosity!

Innotui was already blushing fiercely before she could manage to tear her gaze off of the Taillow, heart pounding hard and fast and her breaths shallow. "Stupid mom," she mumbled quietly.

"—we interrupt this pro—"

"Aw com'on!" both males shouted in unison, startling the two females in the process.

Lais squawked angrily at them while Innotui squeaked in surprise.

"The camera was about to show her backside!" Sky yelled in frustration.

"—a group of Pokémon entered the city in a rampage," the reporter said as the scene changed to an aerial view of the southern residential area, where electricity and fire kept both humans and Pokémon at bay as five Pokémon were heading towards a direction.

Sky blinked, and smiled. "Oh, hey, look! It's my bro's friends plus waifu!"

Bill blinked, and facepalmed. "Great. More trouble coming our way then," he grumbled as he recognized the street the Pokémon were rampaging on.

Sky fluttered his feathers. Feathers that were free from bandages anyway. "Saves me the time to roost up and fly after them." He happily turned to the headache-suffering human. "Can you start that truck of yours?"

"It's in a shop under repair," Bill mumbled lamely.

Sky shrugged. "Well, I hope you don't mind if we party in here for a little while."

Bill groaned some more.

---

"This. Is. The. Most. Stupid. Thing. We've. Ever. Done!" Shock snarled as sparks flew on his sides, careful not to release bolts of electricity in front of him where his annoying friends were.

The four friends ran in the streets, keeping both humans and Pokémon at bay as they followed a fast and sobbing Hoothoot, who was leading them somewhere.

Nystl realized that they were getting closer and closer to Bill's home now. Just a little more. Just a little more! Nystl ignored the tears on his eyes as he flapped his wings harder, wishing that his dear friend was still fighting for her life, or that the Meowth hadn't eaten her yet. He simply hoped that Fay was right, that Innotui was still alive.

---

Bill was breathless as the five Pokémon were getting closer and closer to his home. The police were going to ask him about this, no doubt about that, and he was not looking forward to it.

Sky, on the other hand, was cheering them on, throwing a wing in the air and yelling, which confused Innotui.

Finally, when they got in front of his house, Bill braced himself, thinking that they'd break open the door. Oh, why didn't he just open it while he had the time a few minutes ago?

On screen, the Hoothoot turned left, instead of right, and both males blinked in confusion.

"Wait, what?" Sky blinked again. "Wrong way!"

The Rattata suddenly released shiny stars that forced a few vehicles to stop for the four to cross.

"Where are they going?!" Sky shouted in confusion.

---

A Meowth yelped in surprise when fire and electricity danced at the entrance of his little alleyway. Five Pokémon rushed towards him, and as quick as a blinked, an angry Rattata pounced on him, and pinned him on the wall.

Fay shoved her angry face at Kit's. "Where. Is. She?"

Never in his life did Kit thought that a rat would be the one who'll end him. He gulped. Life was ironically cruel.

Chapter 12​

Voices and noises filled a well-lit office as uniformed police officers scrambled to get themselves ready while some were already rushing out of the building, heading towards a certain area of the city either by foot or by car. Ringing telephones were mostly ignored, as well as a few fallen papers that were mostly stepped on.

A man in a black suit entered the building through the already open double sliding glass doors. He stopped and stepped aside before five rushing police officers could collide with him. He quietly watched them go, ignoring the quiet snickers of a small and slate gray fox-like Pokémon that sat on the man's shoulder. After a few seconds, the man turned back and started walking, heading deeper into the office while being careful not to bump on anything and anyone in his path. As he got further inside the station, the number of officers became less and less.

He stopped in front of two flights of stairs: one leading up and the other leading down. He looked up and read the sign, indicating where each flight of stairs were heading. A second or two later, he calmly and quietly went down the stairs. With his slow, careful and quiet steps, it took him almost a minute to reach the end of the stairs, where he found himself in a well-lit hallway. Each wall had iron doors, and each one were locked securely. At the very end of the hallway was a police officer, who appeared to be snoozing on a chair.

After a few seconds of staring at each door, he took a step forward. Suddenly, the hallway was filled with an angry and vicious growl coming from behind him. Turning, he saw a large and mighty Arcanine stepping out from the shadow under the staircase.

Calmly, he looked at his Zorua, who was glaring at the large fire-type for a second before eyeing the man. The two made a brief eye contact before the Zorua flashed a fanged grin. It looked back at the growling fire-type, eyes glowing in a dark purple hue.

Suddenly, the Arcanine took a step back as it clenched its teeth some more. Fire started to dance out of the side of its mouth, yet it couldn't prepare an attack as powerful negative thoughts filled its mind, making it dizzy.

"Hey!"

The suited man was startled, yet refrained himself from making any sound. He turned his head to look back at the hallway.

The police officer was rushing towards them, his footsteps echoing. Unknowingly, he ran passed the suited man and stood in front of the wincing canine. "What's wrong, big guy?"

The Arcanine, recognizing the voice it faintly heard, tried to open its eyes, but the hallway was spinning, shaking, and moving violently. It closed its eyes shut and viciously shook its head to try and ease the throbbing pain it was feeling. There was something there, it knew, but it couldn't see who or what it was. Yet it smelled something foreign. It needed to alert the officers, or at least its master.

The Arcanine was suddenly engulfed in a bright, red energy, and not a second later, the mighty canine became a red blob energy, absorbed into a tiny Pokéball that was held out by the worried-looking officer. "What has gotten into you, boy?" he asked, casting his worried eyes on the sphere on his hand.

Meanwhile, the suited man was already walking away, heading towards the very end of the hallway, with a snickering Zorua on his shoulder. Before he reached the end of the hallway however, which was only a few more doors away, he turned and stared at a door to his right. Quietly, he approached it and looked through the little glass window on the door.

Inside, he saw three familiar men wearing orange jail uniforms. He barely heard their hushed argument over something he couldn't care about.

He leaned his head back and took two steps back as he pulled out a Pokéball from his pocket. After enlarging the sphere, it opened with a loud noise, summoning a hovering, light purple, rounded and bipedal creature, with a pinkish mist seeping out from its forehead

"What the—?" the officer turned back towards the hallway after he heard the loud and familiar sound of a Pokéball, yet there was nothing to see in the hallway. "Who's there?!" he half shouted, furrowing his eyebrows as he grabbed a Pokéball attached on his belt.

Suddenly, the hallway was filled with loud and painful shouts and shrieks. It took a few seconds for the startled officer to snap back to his senses and run towards the source of the noise. He reached the door where the shrieks just died down. He fumbled with the keys a bit with one hand as he typed a security code with the other, but he managed to open the locked door. He threw it open, and gasped as he saw the three men inside were lying on the ground, unconscious. Their eyes and mouths were wide open, tears and saliva mixing on the small puddles each of them created unintentionally.

"W-wha-what in the world?"

"What's going on over there?!"

Three more police officers came down the stairs after they heard the loud noises. The trio, seeing their shocked-looking comrade ahead, immediately ran up to him to see what was going on.

Meanwhile, on the first floor, an officer was busy typing a report on his computer. His desk was close to the glass sliding doors that slid open. Blinking, he turned to look, but saw no one who either went in or out of the station. He shook his head and went back to work.

---

Electricity and fire danced out from a narrow alleyway. A crowd of onlookers began to flock from a safe distance, with police officers ushering them not to go any closer while a few officers tried to stop the "rampaging" Pokémon with little luck. They tried to send their Ground- and Rock-types, since they resist the flying elements from the alleyway, but they were blasted halfway through the road with a powerful solarbeam.

Inside, a Pikachu stood on his four limbs as he unleashed a large torrent of electricity towards the mouth of the alleyway to scare off any humans and their Pokémon from entering. It only lasted for a few seconds, where the Vulpix will unleash a torrent of flames as he rested.

Panting, the electric rodent looked over his shoulder. "Well? Any progress?"

"No idea..." the Bulbasaur replied in a whisper, his eyes trained in the sky to spot any flying-types that might enter.

"Shock," the Vulpix called, panting for breath.

"Right." The Pikachu looked ahead and unleashed another bolt of electricity.

Behind the solar-absorbing Bulbasaur, a Rattata tackled a Meowth, sending the feline back. He crashed on a pile of garbage cans, wincing. He didn't want to go down without a fight, so he decided to fight back. Only, he didn't realize how tough and agile this Rattata was. There was also this nagging feeling behind his head that he recognize these four Pokémon. The Hoothoot not included, who was flying in a circle above them, raining them with his sobs and tears.

"Did you eat her?!" the Rattata asked, eyes aflame.

"Tsk," the Meowth tsk'ed and winced as he stood up. He wobbled a bit, but regained his balance. He threw a pained glare at the rodent before him.

"Did you?!" the rodent asked again, taking a bold step forward.

The feline's eye twitched. He took a breath and—

"Isn't that Bill?" the Bulbasaur suddenly asked, his glowing bulb slowly dimming.

The Pikachu blinked, pulling himself to stand on his feet. "Oh, hey. It is."

Across the street, a house's door was pulled open, where a Honchkrow and a familiar human rushed out.

The Vulpix blinked, recognizing the human who stood out the door. Squinting her eyes, she saw that it was indeed Bill, and he was carrying two birds on each hand. She gasped, recognizing them. "It's Sky! And In...Inny?"

Outside, Bill went down the steps in front of his door and tried to force himself through the crowd to no avail, even if the Taillow on his hand was shouting curse words where no trained human ears could understand.

The Honchkrow, noticing her trainer's lack of progress, flew above their house's height and let out a long, loud and powerful squawk, which wasn't really loud and powerful, but it did the job to catch most of the humans' attention. She suddenly dove down, and the humans in front of their home suddenly scrambled out of the way, giving way for the Honchkrow to fly through and for Bill to run towards the alleyway.

"Wha-what...?" Bill stammered, gasping for air as he stood at the mouth of the alleyway, ignoring the police who asked him to run away.

"You need to exercise some more," the Taillow commented, who was looking up at the human before facing the Pokémon in the alleyway. "Anyway... What in Jesus bleeping Christ are you all doing here?!" he snarled at them angrily. "We're on the other side of the street and—"

"Innotui!" the Hoothoot suddenly gasped, flying fast towards the human.

Bill wanted to defend himself, but found it difficult with both hands unavailable. He closed his eyes and crouched a bit, praying that the tiny owl's speed wouldn't hurt...much. To his surprise, he only felt a slight push backward and his arm gaining more weight. Blinking, he looked down and saw the Hoothoot landed on his hand, his sobbing head on the injured Pidgey's head.

And then Sky gasped.

"Innotui! You're okay!"

"Oof!" Bill went cross-eyed as a powerful force pushed him back. He landed on his back on the street with a thud, where a Rattata hugged and nuzzled the stunned Pidgey.

The Taillow, who was accidentally thrown off the road, rolled and rolled, his hat falling off, until he bumped on a foot. With a groan, he clutched his head as he tried to stop the world from spinning around him. Closing his eyes, he shook his head, and opened his eyes again. That did the trick, at least somewhat. Blinking, he found himself lying on a shoe on his back. A shoe of a police officer. He blinked, pulled his head up and saw a few police officers approaching the fallen Bill. "Whu-oh..."

"Sir," one of the officers said as they stood above Bill with a serious expression. "Are those your Pokémon?"

Bill blinked at the two officers. "Uhm..."

"Yes!" the Taillow suddenly shouted, pulling himself up on his talons. "Bill, say yes!"

The Pikachu blinked. "We are?" He turned and looked at the Bulbasaur.

The Bulbasaur blinked.

"...Yes?" Bill replied, unsure why he said that in the first place as the Honchkrow landed beside him. "Wait, I mean—"

He wasn't able to finish what he was going to say when the two officers suddenly grabbed him and pulled him up on his feet as more officers rushed inside the alleyway.

---

Iron bars, throw ins, and locks later, the Taillow was smiling pathetically at his four 'friends' who were all glaring daggers at him while they were behind bars.

"Eh...heheheh..." the Taillow chuckled nervously at them as he sat on a small cushion. They were inside the Pokémon Control station...which was just beside the police station. "Um... Hey there, guys."

Sparks flew out from the Pikachu's red cheek pouches. "Forget Jay. I'm killing you the very moment I get out of here."

"He-hey now... Let's not get murderous here..." the Taillow nervously said as he tried to hide his nervousness with a nervous smile.

The Bulbasaur took a calm breath and sighed. "It was our fault, anyway..."

"Don't side with him," the Pikachu snapped at the grass-type.

The Taillow nodded his head. "Saur is right, you know." He winced after the electric rodent threw him a glare. "Er... We-well, I did tell you guys to wait for me to come and get you."

"But Innotui was in trouble!" the Rattata frowned. "We can't just sit by while our friend's in trouble!"

"Right. That's noble of you and all, but," the Taillow smiled brightly at them. "Innie Meanie is fine an—"

"Innotui."

"Whatever. She's okay, as you saw before...this," the Taillow gestured with a wing at everything. "...So there's nothing to worry about!" He finished it with a wide grin. He mentally cursed for not having any teeth for a toothy grin.

"If only we knew before we decided to 'rampage' in the human city," Shock sarcastically said.

The Vulpix sighed, lying down. "We're going to be captured by humans again."

"Aren't we already captured?" Fay blinked at her.

"Not helping, Fay," the Vulpix lamely replied.

"They won't," the Taillow shook his head. "I'll make sure of that."

"Really?" the Pikachu gave him an 'I don't believe you' look as he crossed his arms. "How?"

The Taillow smiled at him. "Shockie, my good friend. We have Bill! As long as he's here and claims he owns you guys, you'll be okay!"

"Assuming he'll help us...again," the Bulbasaur said.

The Taillow nodded. "Oh, he will." He winked at them. "I'll make sure of that."

Shock sighed as he sat down, ears drooping. He threw the Taillow a tired glare. "Whatever... I'm still going to kill you when we get out of here."

"I'll try to survive then."

"Please don't."

---

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on whose point of view it was, the Taillow survived the bolts of electricity the Pikachu gave him as soon as the humans opened their cage. Thankfully, or unthankfully, they were already wearing rubber gloves, so they were able to lock them back inside.

It was only the Pikachu who walked out anyway, so putting him back was an easy task.

With a sigh, Bill was forced to carry the heavy cage where the four Pokémon were kept. Fortunately for him, he was offered a ride on a police car and to take him back home.

The blazing sun was already at its peak when the police car, with a Honchkrow perched on top of it, stopped in front of Bill's home. Bill got out of the car and pulled out the large cage from the vehicle.

A Taillow, a Pidgey and a Hoothoot jumped out of the vehicle as well.

After a few words were exchanged between the humans, Bill closed the door, and the police car left him with a Honchkrow that landed beside him, who then busied herself by preening her wing. Bill sighed before turning and walking towards his door.

The ride from the station to his home wasn't long, yet he felt really worn out now and just wanted to sleep the day off. If only he wasn't stuck with this blabbering Taillow and his four troublesome friends.

The said Taillow was already by the door, impatiently waiting for the human who was sluggishly dragging his feet forward.

The Pidgey stood on the pavement, who gazed south where the Ilex Forest, her home, was. She felt the need to fly there. To fly home, where she could be safe and spend each day normally again. She didn't even realize that she was stretching her wings until a painful wave of pain shot through her brain. Wincing, she folded her wings back.

A Hoothoot hopped beside her with large, sad and sleepy eyes. He gently nudge her wing with his own, catching her attention. He then looked and stared at the few humans walking pass them.

The Honchkrow was simply standing on the pavement close to the two little birds. If it weren't for her being there, the humans would have either stepped on or kicked the two tiny birds by accident.

With a sad sigh, the Pidgey closed her eyes and nodded. Together with the Hoothoot, the duo hopped after Bill who was already inside his home, his door left open.

The Honchkrow took notice of the duo. She hopped after them, and once the trio of birds were inside, she nudged the door close with her beak and went back to preening her wings.

Bill set the cage on the floor and opened it. The Pikachu was quick enough to rush out and sighed in relief. "Finally, freedom...again..." he sighed with a tired smile as he slowly fell on his stomach, his tiredness finally setting in.

The Taillow, who was on the table, chuckled at him as he busied himself with the meat and the knife. "Well, technically, you're inside a house. Which kinda is like a cage, but larger."

Bill grunted, taking offense to that, but decided not to voice it out as he lied down on his sofa.

The Rattata, as soon as she got out, was busy sniffing the air with sparkly eyes and watering mouth. "Wha... What's that smell?"

"Burnt meat," the Taillow frowned, setting the knife down before turning to them. "Well, I already had my fill, so any carnivores down there, help yourselves."

He divided the leftover meat into three, and those were gone in an instant as the Pikachu, Rattata and Vulpix occupied the table.

The Taillow just smiled at the trio before he turned around and looked down at the Bulbasaur who was sitting on the floor. "Hey there, Saur."

Saur nodded with a gentle smile. "Hello, Sky."

Sky smiled at him some more. "So... You want some bird seeds?"

Saur blinked, smile fading.

Sky went cross-eyed. "Wait. No. Eewww...! I didn't mean it like that!"

Saur blinked at him once again. "I...don't follow."

"Oh, good," Sky sighed in relief. "Well, don't worry about it."

The grass-type blinked, and decided to nod.

"A-anyway!" Sky said a little too loudly as he turned towards the only human in the living room, who was currently in the journey towards subconsciousness and dreams. The Honchkrow was already perched on the arm rest, preening her wing once again. "Bill. Still awake there, bud?"

There was no response.

"Bill? Hello?"

Still no response.

"Want me to call Whitney over for dinner?"

"I'm up! I'm up, sheesh!" Bill said, suddenly sitting up with a groan. "Just...don't call her," he said, rubbing his face with both arms.

Sky snickered. "Yeah... As if I could do that..."

Bill groaned when he realized that realization.

"He can understand you?" the Vulpix asked through a mouthful of chewed meat.

Sky glared at her. "Vixie, my lovely and future sister-in-law, don't talk when your mouth is full. Jay wouldn't like that."

"Got that right," Shock chuckled.

Fay and Saur chuckled along as well, while Vixie frowned at the frowning Taillow.

"I'll...keep that in mind," Vixie said after gulping down the food in her mouth.

"You better," Sky replied. "I don't think Jay would want your kids to turn into 'uncivilized barbarians with no manners' or whatever they call it these days."

Vixie blinked at him. "I'm...not sure if I should be angered, concerned, or to ignore that..."

"Ignoring him sounds good," Shock said.

Sky shrugged at her before returning his attention to the bored-looking Bill. He smiled warmly at him. "So! When will your truck be ready to take us to the ruins?"

Bill lamely shook his head. "I don't know. I'm going to have to call them."

"Then why don't you do just that?" the blue bird said, waving a wing at him. "Go on! We don't have all day, you know."

"Since when did you start telling me what to do?"

"Since the very moment I saved your sorry ass from the men in black. Now hop to it!"

Bill groaned in defeat as he pulled himself to stand. He went towards the telephone on a small side table by the flat-screen television.

The Pidgey hopped away from Bill's path and settled beside the sleeping form of her Hoothoot friend by the front door. She looked back and stared at the Pokémon over the table. On a certain bird, to be more specific.

She couldn't help but wonder how...loud and carefree that Taillow was. Sure, there are birds back home who were also loud, funny, talkative and carefree, but this Taillow had something in him that really made him different from the rest of the birds back home. It was probably because he was a different species of bird, and maybe that was just how Taillows were?

Whatever it was, he really caught her intere—there she goes again. She shook her head and took a breath before her cheeks started to burn again.

She heard the human started talking to himself. She turned and stared at him, who was staring at a curtained window in front of him while he held a weird device on his ear.

Bill changed Innotui's impression towards humans. If only slightly. She still didn't understand why humans capture Pokémon and make them fight against other Pokémon. That thought alone was enough for her to still keep her distance from any humans, barring Bill. He did save her life, from what she could tell. Plus, he healed her. Well, she wasn't completely healed yet, but she was thankful that he patched her up. She didn't know when she would be able to fly again, but she hoped that it would be soon. She wouldn't want her mother to worry about her...

"By the way, Sky," she heard Vixie's voice, and she turned back at the table. The Vulpix and the Taillow were facing each other. "You said something about the ruins?"

"He sure did," Fay chirped.

"Fay, no talking when you mouth's full," Sky scolded him, but the Rattata stuck her tongue out at him. "Don't 'bleh' me, young lady! If you wanna come along to our world, you need to start practicing good manners!"

"I'm going to kill you now if you don't shut up," Shock threatened him with a glare.

"You tried but you failed," Sky rolled his eyes at him before turning back to Vixie. "Where were we? Ah, right! Ruins! Well, here's my plan. Well, half of my plan, at least. I'm going to save the other half for my very first successful dramatic reveal yet!"

"...What?" came Saur's simply question.

"Hush, Saur. Don't ruin my train of thought."

Shock and Saur rolled their eyes.

Innotui didn't pay any more attention as she remembered something about Sky. He and Bill said something about this other world. His world. She wondered what they meant by that. Also, that Sky was once a human? How was that possible? Is that why he was so different from any of the birds? Attitude and charism—er, cheeriness. If Sky really was a human, shouldn't she be avoiding him? Yes, maybe she should. But, somehow, she didn't like the thought of her avoiding him. Or him 'going back to his home world.' She took a breath and sighed quietly, ignoring her Hoothoot friend who suddenly leaned on her for balance as he slept.

"You want us to go where?! Are you mad?!" Shock shouted, startling the Pidgey. He glared at the Taillow who was giving him a poker face.

"I'm with Shock on this one," Vixie said, shaking her head. "We've been there before, Sky. And we almost died if it weren't for Jay to save us."

"Oh, but we did had awesome dreams back there," Fay happily pointed out, making the fire-type and electric-type to shiver violently.

Sky chuckled at the uncomfortable looks the two were having.

"See?" Fay chirped. "Even Sky thinks so, too!"

"He wasn't even with us that time," Shock hissed at her.

Fay blinked. "Huh... You're right!"

"Shocking revelation..." Shock sighed.

Fay blinked, and chuckled.

Shock rolled his eyes.

"But not as shocking as the other half of my plan!" Sky smiled brightly. "So yeah. We're going back to the ruins. Don't worry, we're not going to let those flying letters of doom to give us drug-high dreams and hallucinations."

"Letters of doom?" Saur smirked, rolling his eyes.

Vixie blinked. "Dru-what now?"

"Doesn't matter," Sky said. "We're going there, and I'll bring all of us back to my bro. I'll make sure of that. Now what the hell is taking Bill so long?" He turned and saw Bill was still on the phone.

"...Yeah, pepperoni and cheese. And make that two." He turned and stared at the Pokémon on his table. They were mostly staring back at him. He blinked, and turned back to face the window. "Actually, no, make that three. ... Thirty minutes, right?"

"Whoa!" Sky whoa'd, eyes growing wide. "He's ordering pizza!"

"What's a pizza?" Fay asked.

Sky turned to her with a dreamy and almost drooling smile. "Mm... It's...heaven."

Vixie blinked. "What's heaven?"

Sky blinked and arched her a non-existent eyebrow. "You're kidding, right? Seriously, you jest."

"Just answer the question," Shock said impatiently.

The Taillow blinked at him. "Which one? Fay's or Vixie's? Wait, no. Don't answer that," Sky said, pointing a wing at the Pikachu. "How can you guys not know what heaven is if you often times use the word hell?"

"Hell is a curse word, right?" Fay asked with a smile. "Jay used that word all the time when he's cursing."

Sky blinked at her. And blinked some more. "...Right."

Fay grinned brightly at him. "So! What's pizza?"

Sky shrugged. "Meh... You guys will know soon," he said as he heard Bill hanging up the phone. He turned and stared at Bill who was walking back to the couch. "So," Sky said. "I asked for a truck update, and I get pizza?" He smiled, ignoring the human's glare as he sat down on the couch. "If only I was staying here a bit longer, then I could drown myself with pizza."

"The mechanic who was fixing my truck was out for lunch. And your welcome," Bill said, glaring at him.

"That reminds me," Vixie said, turning to Sky. "You didn't answer my question earlier."

Sky blinked curiously at her.

Vixie gestured at Bill with a paw. "How is it that he understands you? I don't see that...thing...around your neck."

"Ah, right," Sky smiled. "Well, to make it simple, it's because Bill's a birdbrained human."

"...I'm cancelling those pizzas."

"No! Bill's a great guy who loves birds and that's why he understands me and other birds because I'm a bird who's begging for him not to cancel the pizzas!" Sky suddenly shouted in one breath. He quickly shot the grinning human with a half-glare, half-pleading set of eyes. If he had a lip, he'd pout for added effects.

"Yep. You're human. No doubt about that," Bill said, chuckling to himself.

"And you're evil for using food against me," Sky retorted.

"At least I know you can be tamed."

"I can still go to Whitney and write her how much of a creep and a perv you are for loving her watermelons too much."

"Ha! You don't even know where she is!"

"I know where the gym is."

"I meant her home."

"The Hoothoot over there showed me where it was."

"You're bluffing."

"Try me."

And the two went into a glaring contest.

Vixie blinked, turning her gaze from the human to the used-to-be-human and back. "What are you two doing?"

"Staring contest!" Fay exclaimed as she suddenly grabbed and turned a yelping Pikachu to face her. She then focused her gaze on the other rodent's eyes. "Mmmmmmmm—"

Shock pushed the Rattata away from him. "Not in the mood, Fay. Go bug Saur instead."

"Good idea," Fay chirped back before hopping down the table and scampering towards the grass-type. "Saury! Staring contest, now!"

Saur sighed.

"Eep!" Sky suddenly jumped with a yelp when Shock touched him with tiny bolts of electricity on his paw. He stumbled, uselessly flapping his bandaged wings for balance, but he fell off the table. He landed on the carpeted floor with a soft thud. "Shock! Why'd you do that?!" he shouted, glaring at the Pikachu on the table who was giving him an impatient look. "I was winning!"

"Of course you were," Shock replied, rolling his eyes as Bill scooped the bird up and brought him back on the table. "Now then. This plan of yours—"

"We're going to the ruins and I'll make sure we get through safely," Sky said, rolling his eyes. "And no, I'm not going to tell the other half of my plan. Geez... How many times do I have to repeat myself? I'm saving it for my dramatic reveal!"

"About that," Bill said, who was already back on the couch. The four friends, Sky and Innotui all turned to him. "I'm...not sure if going there's a good idea..."

Sky blinked. "What?"

Shock nodded. "Right." He turned to the Taillow. "You heard the guy. We're not going back there."

"But why?" Sky asked, ignoring the Pikachu. "But you owe me!"

Bill sighed. "I know. But..." He bit his lip.

"Just spit it out," Sky said, unable to hide his impatience.

Bill sighed again. "Team Rocket..."

Fay's ears twitched, and Saur noticed it.

Sky arched a non-existent eyebrow. "Yeah, so? We'll kick their asses if they get in the way again." Sky huffed. "Com'on, dude! There's nothing to worry about, I swear!"

Bill frowned at him. "While I was in the station earlier—"

"The police station or the Pokémon whatever-it-was-called station?" Sky interrupted.

Bill frowned further. "The police station."

Sky nodded. "Right. Go on."

"...Those three men. Who tried to kidnap me? They—uh... They're..." Bill sighed for the umpteenth time. "They're...gone."

Sky blinked. "What?" He shook his head. "Elaborate, please. Are they dead? Did they escape?"

"They...lost their minds."

Silence.

Bill turned and looked out the window behind him. "...It looked like they had a mental breakdown. Only, it wasn't natural, nor was it self-inflicted. An outside source attacked them." He turned back and looked back at the shocked blue bird. "Their memories. Everything that they know? It was all wiped out. They didn't even know how to talk anymore... Not even the police's best psychic-types could help them..."

Sky wasn't aware of his beak that hung open, for he couldn't believe what he just heard. His mind was still processing the information that Bill gave them.

"Can't they trace the source?" Lais, the Honchkrow, suddenly asked, looking uncharacteristically serious.

Bill slowly shook his head.

Silence.

"..." Sky looked down on his talons. "...Barrier..."

Bill blinked. "Huh?"

Sky looked back at him. "You said you have a psychic-type, right? Kadabra? Alakazam?"

Bill nodded. "Yeah. An Alakazam." His eyes suddenly grew wide. "Wait..."

Sky slowly smiled at him. "Alakazams are powerful psychics, right? He can set up a barrier as we go to the ruins! Problem solved."

"She," Bill corrected him with a sigh. "You're really adamant to go there, aren't you?"

"Obviously," Shock sighed.

Sky's thoughts, meanwhile, turned the other direction. "Do I want to know what you and her are doing in your alone time?"

Bill blinked at him. "What...do you mean?"

"You said your Alakazam's female, right? Are you two—" he couldn't finish his question, for a tortured pillow had suddenly tackled him off the table.

Chapter 13​

"—we're here with the president of the Modern Silver Productions, Mister Rolf, to interview him about the latest gadgets and gizmos his company will be showing in the upcoming Tech Convention."

The television's light as well as the tiny slitters of sunlight that poke through the blinds were the only light source of the dark room, enough to see the silhouetted frames of two humans who sat by each end of a table.

"Hm..." said one man, after he lowered the volume of the television with a remote control. "Status report on Operation Gold?"

"Failure, sir," the other man said quickly.

"I see," replied the other. "Was it recoverable?"

The other shook his head. "Negative, sir. We've already sent The Walker to terminate the operation."

The other nodded. "Hm... How many do we need to replace?"

"Three, sir. Should we recruit to replace them, sir?"

The other man began tapping the table with a finger as he thought about it. "...Do we have any on standby?"

The other man nodded. "A few, sir."

"Hm... And Operation Gold?"

"Latest report says that our target went to a mechanic shop, drove a pick-up truck, stopped at the police station, and just left the city, heading east north-east."

The tapping stopped. "...Oh? He's making this easy for us, I assume?"

The other nodded. "Yes, sir. That appears to be the case. But his visit to the police station is a concern to us."

The other started tapping the table again. "...He brought police escorts?"

The other man shook his head. "No, sir. There aren't any police following him either."

"Then he's definitely making this easy for us. Anything else?"

"May I suggest that our men to avoid wearing our uniform in the field, sir? That would greatly increase the success rates of our operations if they could draw less attention to themselves."

"...I'd rather like it if they wear their uniforms. It sends a clear message to the masses that we're back, don't you agree?"

The other man kept quiet.

The other sighed as he stopped tapping. "...Fine. Make it happen."

"Thank you, sir. Will that be all, sir?"

"Hm... ...He's heading towards the ruins, isn't he?"

The other man shook his head. "I am not certain, sir. His sudden decision of leaving the city was beyond logic. We would have thought that he would be smart enough not to leave after Operation Gold failed. Nevertheless, we've already sent a group to monitor his movements."

"...Those who're following him aren't equipped to capture him, yes?"

"No, sir. Unfortunately, they need to carry less for them to move swiftly."

"I see."

"Will that be all, sir?"

The man began tapping again. "I might as well ask for the status reports on Operations Species and Alpha."

"The group dispatched for Operation Alpha arrived in the target location eleven hours ago, sir. Their latest report came in not an hour ago. They are still figuring out how to access the chamber, if there is one."

"There is," the man nodded. "And if they're going to access it, they're going to need a little creativity."

"Sir, with all due respect, it would help us greatly if you tell us anything that you know of the place."

"Then what's the purpose of me sending them there?"

The other stayed quiet.

"Besides," the other waved a hand before putting it back on the table and continued tapping it. "They are still trainers, no? I'd rather want them to experience the thrill and excitement of a new discovery. Even if it's no longer new to me," he said and finished it with a small laugh.

"Sir, I, ah..." the other stammered. "...Yes, sir."

"Operation Species?"

"...The Origin has been sighted in many locations, sir. But pinpointing its next appearance is difficult. The Created however, is still deep beneath the mountain cave north of Cerulean."

"I like how you implemented the codenames I suggested," the other said. "Except for The Walker... I'll have to come up with a nicer codename for him. Anyway, I take it that capturing The Created has not yet happened, since he's still there. Correct?"

"Uh, y-yes, sir. The capture team are currently waiting for further instructions on how to accomplish their task."

The other man sighed. "Our scientists have yet to create something to capture him, I see. Very well, I'll see what I can do about it. You're dismissed."

"Ye-uh... Yes, sir," the other stammered. He stood up, bowed his head in respect, turned around and left the room, closing the door behind him.

The man left in the room leaned on his chair with a long sigh. He brought up a hand to rub his forehead as he stared at the television screen, where the female reporter was interviewing a middle-aged man who wore a suit.

"...Right," he said as he stood up. "Time to visit an old friend."

---

"Woo-hooooo!!!" Sky cheered as the fresh and hot afternoon air rushed on his face, standing over the large, metal cage as he dangerously leaned over the edge on the back of the moving pick-up truck, where his brother's friends were on as well.

Bill ran over an exposed rock, rocking the truck violently and throwing the excited Taillow back in the truck.

"Oof!" he fell on his back and giggled.

"He's gone nuts," Shock sighed with a shake of his head as he sat beside the Vulpix. "Him being Jay's brother was crazy. Him taking us to Jay was crazier. And now him laughing from pain is the craziest."

"Oh, hush, Shock," Vixie said with a nervous smile. "I'm sure—oof—sure that things will turn out okay." She was getting a little dizzy from how bumpy the ride was, occasionally leaning on Shock to recover if she couldn't handle the dizziness.

As far as the Vulpix remembered, the first time they rode on Bill's truck was in Kanto, and the trip towards Green Forest was comfortable, physically at least. She had an awkward time with Jay and Krystal being there. The second time was when after Latios sent the two back to their world. Bill was outside the cave and was nice enough to bring them back to Ilex Forest. The trip was bumpy, yes, but it wasn't going as fast as they were going now, where the trees were almost a blur to them.

Something must have made Bill to get to the ruins in a hurry. The human was sluggish when he was walking towards the mechanic's shop with Lais carrying the four friends inside the large cage. But he suddenly changed when Bill and Sky exited the police station after their quick visit there. His look of worry also became worse. She asked Sky about it, but the Taillow simply shrugged her off.

There was another bump, making the Pokémon on the truck to jump a bit, breaking Vixie's train of thought. The route they were on wasn't suitable for vehicles. Patches of tall grasses and large, exposed rocks made the road trip uncomfortable for everyone, except for Lais who glided above the truck.

"Yeah, Shockie," Sky said as he started climbing up the cage again. "Don't stress yourself too much! I've promised—whoa!" he barely grabbed hold on the side of the truck with his wings for balance as the truck bumped on another rock again. "Whew... Rocky road. Heheheh..." he shook his head and looked forward, enjoying the rush of air on his face. "My bro loved that before he suddenly became lactose intolerant. Anyway, I've promised you guys that I'll be taking you to my bro. And I'm going to make that happen, no matter what happens."

"No matter what, huh?" Shock arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I'm gonna miss the pizzas here though..." Sky sighed with a frown. "They're tastier here than back home. Or maybe that's just this Taillow's taste buds?" He shrugged.

"That reminds me," Vixie said. "Whose body does that belong to?"

Sky shrugged. "Dunno, or maybe I do, but he's not important, as far as I can tell. Don't worry. He's not a psycho like Shadow, and I'm giving it back anyway once we get back to the—whoops! Almost revealed my dramatic reveal!" He turned and glared at the fire-type. "Bad Vulpix! No spoilers for you!"

She blinked at him.

"And no amounts of cute is going to make me spoil you!" He turned back at the road ahead, the rushing air making him smile. "Besides, that's my bro's job." He took a glimpse at the side mirror of the truck, and saw Bill's Alakazam sitting on the passenger's seat, her eyes closed and a spoon levitating in front of her.

On one corner of the truck, Saur held a small smile as he watched his friends talking about something. He could barely hear what they were talking about from the sounds of rushing air and metallic noises from all the bumps in the road. He took a breath and exhaled through his nostrils before turning to Fay, and his smile faded the moment he saw her.

Fay has been quiet the whole time, and Saur had a slight idea why. The grass-type pulled out a vine and gently patted Fay's back, making the rodent turn to him with a small yet fragile smile, and with a pair of teary eyes.

Saur smiled back. "Hey... You don't have to think about it..."

"I-I know," Fay frowned as she wiped the tears off of her eyes with her paws. She sniffed. "I... I guess I couldn't help it. Bill said it... Two words that I've never heard in a long time, and the memories just...rushed back into my head." She hung her head with a sigh. "I...didn't wanna worry anyone, so I just stayed quiet."

"You being quiet worried me, though."

Fay threw him a small glare. "Geez... I even fail at trying not to let my friends worry about me..."

Saur chuckled. "That's what friends are for, right? We can tell that the other's in trouble, and we are always here to help you feel better."

Fay smiled at him, sniffed, and rubbed her nose. "Heheh... T-thanks, Saury."

Saur's smile faltered. "...You're never going to drop that nickname, aren't you?"

"Nope!" she replied, and stuck her tongue out at him.

Saur rolled his eyes as he pulled his vine back.

Fay chuckled. She shook her head, took a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and exhaled with a gasp after the truck rocked violently again. "Whew... I'm okay now."

"Huh?" Shock's ears twitched as he turned to look at them. "Something wrong?"

"See, Saury?" Fay grinned at the grass-type. "I did a good job at hiding it! From Shockie, at least."

Shock blinked at her as Vixie turned to look at them as well. "Hide what, Fay?"

"And from Vixie, too!" Fay chirped.

Saur rolled his eyes. "Congratulations..."

"Yay!" Fay cheered.

Shock and Vixie looked at each other. The former shrugged. The latter cast another look at Fay before the two of them turned back to Sky.

"Huh," Fay blinked, looking around, and above. Her gaze lingered on the old Honchkrow for a short while before looking back at Saur. "Where's Innotui and Nystl?"

Saur blinked at her. The only time Fay wouldn't notice anything around her surroundings was when if she'd be in deep thought about her sad past. "Lais took them both to the Pokémon Center."

Fay blinked again. "What?"

Saur shrugged. "Bill's order. He couldn't bring along an injured bird."

Fay arched an eyebrow before turning her gaze to Sky, who still had bandages on his head, wings and torso.

Saur chuckled. "Well, he's not really a bird, is he?"

Fay sighed. "It would have been nicer to have them around."

"Well, if it's any consolation, Innotui really wanted to come with us."

Fay sighed once more before slowly nodding her head.

"So," Vixie said, staring at Sky. "We're going to the ruins, and then you'll be leading us through it?"

"Not saying anything!" Sky smirked at her.

She glared at him. "I'm starting to side with Shock each time you say nothing about your plan..."

"Just trust me, girl," Sky chuckled. "After we get there, it'll be smooth sailing to Jay!"

Vixie shuddered. "...We're gonna cross that lake again, aren't we?"

Sky didn't seem to hear her.

"Vixie," Shock turned to the sighing Vulpix. "A moment, please?"

The Vulpix nodded and the duo walked at the rear-end of the truck.

Shock turned back and stared at the happy Taillow for a few seconds before turning back to his curious friend. He frowned. "Vixie, even if we do manage to get to Jay, what are we going to do next?"

She blinked at him. "What are you—"

"What are you going to do next when we get there?" he asked, looking serious.

Vixie furrowed her brows in confusion. "Shock, you're not making sense."

The Pikachu shook his head. "Vixie... Jay told us before that Pokémon don't exist in his world. And he's definitely a human now back there. Are you trying to tell me that you want to be with a hu—" he shivered momentarily. He shook his head and took a few breaths to collect his bearings.

Meanwhile, Vixie already understood what her friend was trying to tell her. It was a good question. Jay was already a human back in his world. While she's a Vulpix. Or she could turn into a Ninetales if she wanted, but that won't change the fact that he's a human and she's a Pokémon. Never in her life did she ever consider settling down with a human. Or maybe she did when she tried to pester Jay in their early days? She couldn't remember, but if she said it, it was just probably her trying to make him fall of her. It did work at least.

She didn't care who she would end up living the rest of her life with, as long as she loves him and he loves her, but her dream was to settle with another Pokémon. And Shock just now reminded her that going to Jay was not the dream she had always wanted in life. How could this simple yet obvious fact slipped from her mind?

She loves him. She still loves him. And she longs for him. But that was when she still knew him as a Pokémon: an Eevee. Would she still feel the same way when she sees him as a human?

Her ears drooped as she hung her head. She was confused. No, conflicted.

"I think you broke her, Shockie," Sky said, waving a wing in front of Vixie's field of vision.

"Don't call me that," Shock hissed, glaring at the bird beside him.

The truck already stopped by a large lake where a few Pokémon sat by and flew above and around. Fay, Shock and Saur remembered this lake, and on the other side, they could already see the trees and small hills that covered the ruins.

Sky pulled his wing back and looked curiously at the Pikachu. "What did you do to break her?" He suddenly furrowed his brows. "I told you not to hit on her! She belongs to Jay and no one els—EEP!" he jumped back after Shock touched him with an electrifying paw. He bumped on the side of the truck, and he hissed in pain. "...ow."

"I thought you laugh from pain?" Shock stifled a snicker, and as the electric rodent and the blue bird exchanged words, Fay and Saur jumped off the truck as Bill and his Alakazam stepped outside. Lais landed on the roof of the vehicle as the three Pokémon and human stood on the edge of the lake.

Fay happily turned to Saur. "Are we using Saur as a boat again?"

Saur frowned.

The Alakazam blinked and looked at the smaller Pokémon. "Huh?"

Saur sighed. "Don't ask."

Fay snickered.

Vixie and Shock jumped out of the truck as Sky removed the bandages around his wings. He stretched them and did a few test flaps. Smiling that they no longer hurt much, he jumped off the truck, spread his wings and flew above the group in a slow circle. "I can fly again!" he cried happily. "Woo-hoo—ouch!" he winced as he felt a powerful shot of pain from his left wing. He fell but caught himself and steadied a slow glide towards a frowning Bill as he bore the pain from his wing. Bill caught him and brought him on the ground with his friends. "Yesh... Still hurts but at least I can fly a bit," he said, smiling at the four friends before turning to the lake. "Hm... Are you guys going to use Saur as a boat again?"

Saur's frown went further down.

Bill blinked and looked down on him. "Saur as a what now?"

Sky turned back to the four friends. "Trivia time! Did you know that my brother couldn't swim?"

The four blinked.

Sky chuckled before looking up at Bill. "So! I just had the most awesome idea of how we're going to cross the lake!"

"We're going to use you as a boat?" Shock guessed.

"Nope," Sky shook his head. He extended a wing and pointed it at the Alakazam beside the human. "She'll use her awesome psychic powers to create a psychic bridge for us to cross!"

The two blinked down at him before turning to each other. Bill shrugged. "You've got a creative mind. I give you that."

Sky frowned. "So... No awesome psychic bridge?"

"I can't do that," said the Alakazam.

Sky frowned further. "But you can create a barrier, right?"

She nodded. "But I can't create one long enough for crossing over a lake."

"Can't you just create a small one, we step on it, you create another one, we step on it, you cancel the one behind us and pop it back in front of us?"

"Veeeeery creative mind," Bill chuckled.

Sky shot him a glare. "Gee. Let's see what you can come up with, genius."

Bill simply rolled his eyes before facing the quiet lake. He inhaled and brought two fingers in his mouth, and he whistled a long whistle. After the whistle died down, everyone stared expectantly at the lake. Sky was hoping that maybe a magical bridge made out of rocks would come out from the depths of the lake, but as the seconds flew by, he was starting to doubt that anything could happen. But he kept that idea aside for later. Maybe the Alakazam can float rocks for them to use to cross the lake.

A few more seconds later, a spot on the center of the lake started to darken, and soon, a large, blue body emerged. Red spikes stood on its back, and its golden eyes shimmered in the afternoon light. It's mighty tail swivelled slowly, the red spikes on it poked above the water as the large, bulky and bipedal crocodilian Pokémon lazily swam towards the group, where smaller aquatic Pokémon swam away from its path.

"Whoa!" Sky whoa'd, eyes growing wide. "Your starter's a Totodile? So was mine in Silver!" He blinked. "Well, that was before I grew a liking to Chikorita, but still, Totodile was my starter from my first playthrough!"

Bill ignored him as the Feraligatr's body slowly emerged from the water the shallower it got, and soon, it stood on its hind legs, walking slowly towards them. Shock, Saur and Vixie took a nervous step back. Fay's eyes were wide and sparkly as she smiled in amazement at the approaching predator.

Lais flew and landed beside Bill. "You're uglier than the last time I remember you."

"The same to you, girlfriend," the Feraligatr said with a grin before turning to the Alakazam. "Still trying to be toothpick's bride, Perla?"

Perla groaned and rolled her eyes. "That joke has been rotten for a long time. And it's still not funny."

Sky had been eyeing the three tall Pokémon during their exchange. "Wow Bill. Were you having a harem during your journey?"

Bill didn't seem to have heard him as he held a proud smile, eyeing his former starter Pokémon who still wore a necklace made out of black string and a small Pokéball attached on it. He turned and stared at the five small Pokémon. "Everyone, meet my starter, Lyore."

Lyore rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Ugh... I still think that's a stupid name."

"And I still think it fits you," Perla said with a grin. "The stupid part, at least."

Lais snickered as Lyore glared at the psychic type.

Chapter 14? (April Fools, 2015)​

The group sat on the mighty Feraligatr's back as she ferried them to the other side of the lake, with Lais quietly gliding after them. Bill's three Pokémon kept exchanging words and insults, resulting to Sky and the four friends to snicker and giggle at their exchange.

After they reached the other side of the lake, Bill asked Lyore if she wanted to come with them, but she declined with a sad frown on her shaking head. Earlier, before she resurfaced, she promised her husband that they'll be having another seventy rounds of love making under the lake because Bill's whistle broke their streak on round sixty-nine.

With a few final insults thrown at the other tall Pokémon, Lyore dove under the lake, leaving behind a mortified Bill who was awkwardly waving his hand to no one in particular.

Perla, the Alakazam, shook her head, grabbed Bill's hand and dragged him towards a direction where the smaller Pokémon were headed. She liked holding his hand like this, and hoped that she could hold it forever.

Sky and Fay were having a cheerful conversation, while Shock and Saur quietly followed behind. Vixie was on the tail of their group, alone with her thoughts. Jay being human and her being a Vulpix...just wouldn't work. But she loves him... Yet he wasn't a Pokémon. Her thoughts were in a loop, and she hadn't realized that they already reached the familiar entrance of the ruins until she bump her nose on Shock's back.

Shock was too busy shivering to notice, his eyes glued on the darkness of the ruins ahead.

"Well," Sky said, fluttering his feathers. He carefully flapped his wings and hovered in the air, looking ahead. "What are we waiting for?"

"Something that will suddenly close the entrance so we can go back and pretend we never came here," Shock said, trying to calm himself down.

Sky chuckled before turning around in mid-flight, facing Bill who stood behind the group. "Well, thanks for bring us here, Bill."

Bill blinked. "Wait... This is goodbye?"

Sky rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Well, duh! Obviously." He turned back at the mouth of the ruins. "I only brought five tickets for home with no extra baggages." After a moment, he sighed and turned to him again. "But, um... Thanks...again. Seriously though, thank you."

Bill blinked once more, uncertain how to react or what to do next.

Sky quickly killed the awkward silence before it got the chance to see the light of the afternoon. "Well! Let's get a move on, little friends! Jay awaits!" He flapped his wings and made a u-turn, gliding into the ruins.

"Heheh," Fay chuckled as she chased after him, prompting Saur to chase after her. "I wonder if we can see those weird Pokémon again."

"You just have to mention them," Shock groaned as he and Vixie slowly followed after them.

After a few seconds, they were gone, and Bill along with his two Pokémon were left outside the mouth of the ruins.

"Well," he said, scratching his nape. "Good riddance, I guess?" He took a few more moments to stare at the darkness inside the ruins before shrugging and turning around. But before he could take his first step, a thick, black and heavy net fell on him and dragged him down on the ground.

Alarmed, his two Pokémon quickly turned around and unleashed a torrent of dark and psychic attacks at the white-uniformed man and woman, and a Meowth and Wobbufet who were stupid enough to think that jumping out from their hiding place was a good idea.

"We didn't even a chance to say our lines!" cried the Meowth as he and his fellow team mates flew away and finally twinkled with a 'ting!' in the distance.

"What just happened?" Bill asked as his Pokémon removed the net on him.

---

Inside the Ruins of Alph, the four friends found themselves inside a familiar chamber, and they, minus Fay, became nervous as they stood and looked around. In front of the group, Sky remained quiet as he stared at the wall in front of him.

"So, uh," Shock quietly said, looking around. "Now what?"

Silence.

Shock, Saur and Vixie looked at each other before turning to Sky. Fay blinked at the trio before turning her attention to the quiet bird.

"Sky?" Vixie called. "Is...is something wrong?"

Sky slowly, slowly shook his head.

Saur arched an eyebrow. Shock kept an eye out on the exit, in case it disappears again. Vixie furrowed her brows. Fay tilted her head in confusion.

"Any time now, Sky," Shock nervously hissed.

"..." Sky kept his back on them. Suddenly, he quietly chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Vixie asked.

Sky once again slowly shook his head. "Nothing, nothing..." he said as his body suddenly began to glow faintly in white and bluish light.

"W-what are you doing?" Shock asked, his heart pounding hard from nervousness.

"I'm about to make my dramatic reveal, silly!" Sky said as he slowly turned around to face them. He smiled a manic smile, making his 'friends' flinch in nervousness, even Fay. "I did promise you that I'll make a dramatic reveal, right?" he asked slowly and quietly as the chamber suddenly began to echo a familiar otherworldly sound.

"Woo boy," Shock gritted his teeth, taking a step back. "Sky. I swear I'm going to fry you if you won't quit the creepy act."

His other friends nodded.

Sky grinned manically. "Oh...? But where's the fun in that...?"

Shock's eye twitched. Tiny sparks flew out from his cheeks as he took a bold step forward. "I'm not kidding, birdbrain! Stop the act or else!"

"Nope!" Sky chirped manically as the white and bluish glow that surrounded him intensified. He suddenly levitated into the air without the aid of his wings as the walls in the chamber began to glow.

Shock suddenly released a torrent of electricity towards the levitating bird, but an invisible barrier blocked his attack. Suddenly, the ceiling erupted into a swirling cloud of white and blue, and beyond it was a starry world in hues of the same color. Gravity started to weaken, and the four friends struggled to keep themselves down by clinging on the ragged edges on the ground.

"And finally!" Sky shouted through the otherworldly echoes. "My dramatic reveal!"

"...You're an Unown," Saur said.

As soon as those words left his mouth, everything became still and quiet. The four friends, confused, looked up and saw Sky, whose mouth hung agape in shock.

The bird took a deep breath, unknowingly breathing in a few sleeping spores that Saur released. "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo—" Thud! Sky, now an Unown, unconsciously fell on the ground, and everything in the chamber finally went back to normal.

---

"The End!" a human male happily said. He was sitting on a chair inside a small room, and on the floor in front of him, five little cubs—three Vulpixes and two Eevees,—were listening intently to the human's story.

"Whoa!" the five whoa'd in unison, their eyes growing wide.

On the bed behind the cubs, another human male and a Ninetales sighed in frustration.

"That was not how it happened," Vixie, a Ninetales, said with a glare.

"And how would you know how it happened?" the guy on the chair asked, faking seriousness.

Vixie rolled her eyes. "Maybe because I was there?"

"Aw, com'on, mom!" a female Vulpix cub said, smiling at her parents. "It was just a story anyway!"

"And besides," a male Eevee cub said, rolling his eyes. "We're not dumb enough to actually believe what uncle says all the time." He earned his parents' chuckles.

"Hey!" the guy on the chair pouted. "Are you calling me a liar?"

"Maybe?" the male Eevee cub said, feigning innocence, and earning his siblings chuckles.

"Well," a female Eevee cub said. "It is April Fools today. So..."

"Wait," the guy on the chair said. "You guys know about April Fools Day?"

"Duh," the five said in unison.

The guy groaned. He then threw a glare at his brother, who was smirking his way.

"I wonder what Auntie Fay's up to," asked a Vulpix cub.

"Wanna find out?"

"I'm afraid to leave this room."

"Yeah. The whole house could be booby trapped for all we know..."

Silence. Ever since Fay learned about April Fools, she'd been pranking anyone and everyone every year.

Everyone then turned to the human on the bed.

Jay blinked.

The cubs smiled. "Daddy should go out first!" one cub said, followed by the others humming in agreement.

Jay paled. Vixie chuckled and whispered 'good luck.'

Chapter 14​

Nurse Joy was wearing a gentle smile as she hummed a quiet yet happy tune while cleaning the wounds of a small Pidgey who was lying on a small bed. It took her a few minutes before the task was done. She took a roll of bandages from a metallic tray and she began to cover the bird's wounds.

Innotui was too nervous for being inside a human building and to be with an unfamiliar human, even if the said human was kind to her and was helping her heal. Still, she did her best to stay calm and cooperative as possible.

She and the human nurse were inside a small and well-lit room on the second floor of the Pokémon Center. It had large and open windows, thin curtains, and several potted plants. It also had a number of tables, where small beds were on top of each. A few small and wounded Pokémon were lying on each bed, either sleeping or chatting with one another.

"There," Nurse Joy said as she leaned back, admiring her expert nursing skills. "Now, I know you're eager to go back to your home, little one, but I suggest you rest a bit so your wounds would heal completely. Okay?"

Innotui said nothing. She kept her gaze on the open window.

The nurse smiled as she gently patted the bird's head. "Oh! I almost forgot." She took a small and black hat from the tray and carefully placed it on the quiet bird's head. She smiled before she grabbed the metallic tray and went over to another Pokémon in need of her attention.

Innotui sighed, feeling a little better now that the nurse wasn't touching her. She returned her longing gaze on the outside world beyond the windows, where tall buildings mostly obscured the rolling hills and towering mountains beyond the city's walls.

"I want to come with you!" Innotui frowned as she suddenly remembered her conversation with Sky in the mechanic shop. He and Bill were talking about leaving the two brown birds behind while they were waiting for the mechanic to finish double checking the truck. It took her a lot of minutes to gather enough courage to talk to him, and that was when the mechanic called Bill's attention, probably to pay the bill.

"Wazzat?" Sky turned and blinked at her.

Him simply looking at her almost drained all the courage she had gathered. And damn, she was certain she said those words loud and clear, so why didn't he hear her the first time? "I-ah-uhm... I wan-uh..."

Sky smirked at her. "Speak up, girl!" he chirped, turning to fully face her.

It only made her blush some more. "Uh... Um..."

Sky rolled his eyes with a big grin. "Damn, girl. I didn't realize you had a big crush on me."

"No!" Innotui squeaked as she hid her burning face behind a wing.

"Yes, you do," Sky teased, poking his grinning face under her wing, their beaks almost touching.

Innotui yelped and jumped back, bumping on a stack of rubber tires. She was breathing hard and fast now.

Sky chuckled for a few seconds before he shook his head, took a breath, and sighed with a calm smile. "Hey, I know I'm a hot and irresistible gu—er, bird." He winked. "And you're a good-looking bird, too." He sighed as he walked beside her and wrapped a wing around her, pulling her to his side, eliciting an 'eep!' from the red-faced Pidgey. Sky took another deep breath and sighed as he stared at his brother's group of friends on the other side of the shop who were busily talking with Lais the Honchkrow and Perla the Alakazam. Except for Fay. What's her problem? Sky shrugged as his smiled faltered. "But I'm sorry, Innie."

"I-Inno—"

"You'll have to find some other bird," he said, and she swore that her heart felt heavier than normal, yet she didn't know why. He pulled his wing away so he could face her properly. "'Cause, you know..." he said, slightly gesturing with a wing.

Innotui kept staring at him.

Sky frowned as he 'scratched' the back of his head with a wing. "...Damn. I've never said no to a girl before who had the hots on me," he muttered under his breath. He took a breath and sighed once more. "I guess I'll just be blunt about it, like Jay." He shrugged before looking at the other bird in the eye. "Innie. You need to go back...from where you came from. I don't really know you that well. I appreciate you liking me and all, but you need to—you have to find someone else. Someone better." He shrugged again. "I'm going back home soon. And I think you already know I'm actually a human. So yeah... I'm not really into birds. That'd be weird. Also, I'm not gonna tell you how I became a bird, because spoilers, so please, let me go and move on with your life." He smiled.

---

Or at least, it felt like he was smiling at the time. Sky sighed for the umpteenth time as he stood on a rock, waiting for the rest to reach the other side of the lake. The event happened a few hours ago by now, but the scene kept on replaying inside his head, especially now that he got nothing to distract himself. "So, uh, please don't be sad... You have Nestlé over there that can keep you company. He's your, um, friend, right? Right!"

He could remember Innotui's eyes were starting to water. He knew how shy the bird was, and although he couldn't voice it out, he was glad that she learned how to speak her thoughts out, if only a little bit. That took guts, especially from shy people...or bird. But, he just crushed her heart. He remembered 'scratching' his head again, bumping his small black hat with his feathers and making it slide to the side, covering one of his eyes.

"Um..." He slowly grabbed his mini Team Rocket hat, stared at it, sighed, and slowly placed it on the Pidgey's head. The hat's size was just right for her. Maybe it was specifically made for Pidgeys? He smiled at her momentarily confused face. "Consider that a parting gift from me!"

"What's wrong?" Fay asked, looking up at him.

Sky sighed a heavy sigh. "...I miss my hat. I really wanted to bring it along with me..."

Fay blinked at him.

Sky looked at her, then at the lake. He saw the rest of Fay's friends were walking up to them while Bill, Lais and Perla were talking with Lyore.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't cramp up and fell into the lake," Shock said as he and the rest reached them. "And why the long face?"

"Someone's lovesick," Vixie teased.

"Yeah," Sky grinned at her. "You."

Vixie frowned.

"He misses his hat," Fay chirped at her friends.

"His hat?" Saur asked.

"Well, good riddance then," Shock said. "From what I hear, you kept forgetting it even exist. Now you're not going to freak out about it."

"I don't remember a hat," Saur said, confused.

"Exactly," Shock said.

"What's a hat?" Vixie asked.

Sky shrugged. "It's a cap."

Vixie blinked.

Sky frowned. "You don't know that either, do you?"

"It's just a stupid piece of cloth that humans wear on their heads," Shock said, annoyed. "And I don't even know why we're talking about it."

"Someone's nervous," Sky smirked.

"I am not!" Shock growled.

"Yes, you are," Fay chirped.

Shock growled at her. It had no effect.

"Anyway," Sky chirped as Bill's group got closer. He turned and eyed the earthy pathway that would lead them to the ruin's entrance. "We should get going." He gently flapped his wings and landed on Saur's bulb. "Aaand, march!"

"Please get off of me," Saur pleaded.

"Not happening. Now walk!"

The Bulbasaur sighed as he started walking towards the ruins, followed by a giggling Fay, a frowning Shock and a confused Vixie.

Bill and his Pokémon followed the group of tiny Pokémon. Bill and Perla took the front, the former shifted his gaze around while the latter focused her senses. On the back, Lyore lazily followed, her massive feet thumping on the ground with each step. Lais was perched on the crocodilian's shoulder, chatting merrily with the blue reptile.

"—an' have I ever told you the time when Bill an' his human friends first arrive in the ruins?" Lais asked.

Lyore rolled her eyes. "Girl, I was there. We were there."

Lais squawked happily. "I know, right? Fun times."

The reptile groaned. She eyed her ex-trainer as they turned around a curve. Up ahead, they could already spot the large and dark entrance of the ruins on the foot of a tree-infested hill, yet she paid it no mind. She slowed her pace. "Lais, dear."

"—so we went inside and tried to—huh? You called?"

The crocodilian Pokémon failed to hide her smirk as she eyed her ex-trainer and the psychic type walking side by side. "I can't help but notice that our Toothpick's acting nervous." Her smirk grew wider. "Any ideas why?"

"Ah," the large crow said, ruffling her feathers. "Bill didn't want to come here."

The large reptile blink, her smirk fading. That wasn't the response she was expecting from her. Then again, it was Lais that she was talking to. "Why's that and why's he here now?"

"That blue bird asked for our dear trainer's help," Lais said, pointing at the Taillow on top of a Bulbasaur with a wing. She pulled her wing back to her side. "An' why he's nervous is probably 'cuz the Rocket gang tried to kidnap him last night."

Lyore kept a straight face even after hearing what the large bird on her shoulder just said. "...Is that why Toothpick asked me to come along?"

Lais shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

Lyore went quiet as she kept up with the group.

It took everyone a couple more minutes until they reached the mouth of the ruins. Shock, Vixie and Saur stood a few inches away in front of the entrance's shadow, staring at the eternal darkness ahead with dread. Fay and Sky, on the other hand, were cheerfully talking about the first time the four friends were here, unknowingly making their three friends feel even more nervous.

Bill and Perla stood behind the group of tiny Pokémon. The human had a small smile on his face as he eyed the old ruins. "Wow... It's been a while since the last time we were here..."

Perla slowly shook her head. "I don't remember this place."

Bill turned to her with a frown. "Oh, right. We haven't met you yet before we came here."

"You mean you haven't caught her yet when we got here," Lyore said as she stopped behind the group, earning a soft glare from the psychic-type.

"Oh, hey," Sky blinked as a thought came to his mind, and unknowingly stalled the two tall Pokémon's second round of insults. The blue bird turned and looked up at Bill. "Bill, buddy," he said with a small smile. "It was nice of you for taking us all the way here, but this is where we part ways."

Bill blinked at him. "...Buh?"

"Yes. Buh," Sky nodded. "I'm only taking these four with me to the other side. So uh, yeah. Thanks and all that stuff, but you can go and continue drooling over Whitney now."

"Whitney?" Perla asked.

"Who?" Lyore asked.

Bill furrowed his brows, ignoring his two Pokémon. "Wait... That's it? You're just going to leave me here?"

Sky blinked. "Well... Yeah!" He shrugged. "As I said, I only brought enough tickets for us five to get back to my world."

Bill shook his head. "I get that. As fascinating as that sounds, no, I'm not gonna cross over worlds or whatever." He looked ahead, staring at the dark shadows of the ruins. "I've never really solved the mystery behind the ruins when I first got here." He looked down at the Taillow with a smile. "Since you sound like you know your—"

"Ap ap ap ap!" Sky interrupted him with a raised wing. "All right. You wanna come along, fine." He glared at him. "But don't spoil the surprise to everyone else. I don't care if you figured something out from my grand and epic reveal, but don't take out the fun from everyone else!"

"What are you talking about?" Shock asked, confused if he would rather be feeling nervous from the ruins or annoyed from the annoying bird.

"He's talking about his dramatic reveal that he promised us!" Fay chirped at the electric rodent.

"Riiight..." was all Shock could say.

"And trust me," Sky said happily as he took flight. "It'll blow. Your. Minds!" He made a quick u-turn and flew inside the ruins. "Now let's stop wasting more time!"

"B-but," Fay hesitated. "I don't want my mind to be blown! Hey!" she chased after Sky after the shadows swallowed him. "Wait up!"

"If you don't want your mind to be blown," Shock shouted after her, "then don't run after him!"

Saur chuckled, pushing his nervousness aside as he walked inside the ruins.

"You can't be serious!" Shock said, eyeing the Bulbasaur.

Bill and his team followed after them.

Shock shook his head before turning to his other companion. "Vixie," he began, "think about this for one more second."

"... ... ..." Vixie turned to him. "...If Fay was here, he'd tell you that a second already flew by."

"I'm being serious here," Shock said through gritted teeth.

The Vulpix sighed, ears drooping. "S-sorry..." She hung her head and stared on the ground. "I just...don't know, Shock..." She looked up at him. "I...want to see him again... B-but..." she turned to the mouth of the ruins. "...he's...human. I just...don't know."

"Oi!" Sky's voice echoed from inside the ruins. Seconds later, he emerged from the ruins and flapped his slightly aching wings a few times as he landed in front of his two friends. "What's the hold up?"

Vixie looked at him and opened her mouth to respond, but Shock cut her off.

"We're having...second thoughts..." Shock admitted. "We... Well, I still don't trust you..." He glared at him. "What if you're one of those Unown that tried to kill us before?"

Sky blinked at him. "...Huh. You know," he said, rubbing his feathery chin with a feathery wing. "That sounds like a good story-joke for April Fools."

"...What?"

Sky shook his head with a smile. "Heheh... Eh, never you mind about it. Anyway..." He ruffled his feathers. "No. I'm not an Unown. They're not shape-shifters if I remember correctly."

The trio became quiet for a while. Sky was smiling at the duo. Shock had a lot to say but couldn't pick one, and Vixie was looking elsewhere.

Sky looked over his shoulder, staring at the ruin's entrance for a short while before returning his attention back to his friends. "So!"

His two friends' ears twitched.

"Shall we?"

Shock sighed. He turned to the Vulpix with a frown. "...Vixie?"

Nothing.

Shock took a breath and exhaled through his nostrils before turning back to the bird. "Sky... No offence, but if Vixie's not coming, then I won't either." He looked behind the bird, glaring at his two other friends who just emerged from the ruins. "...and my other friends won't either."

Fay looked confused.

Saur blinked. "Is something the matter?"

Sky turned to him. "Shockie and Vixie are having seconds thoughts." He shrugged. "I couldn't blame them though. Shockie even thought I was an Unown."

"Don't call me that," Shock hissed.

Saur blinked again. "...Why would he assume—"

"Oh! I know!" Fay chirped. She suddenly created a large shadow ball and instantly launched it at the startled Taillow. The ghostly orb flew through him and continued sailing away until it faded into nothing. The Rattata grinned wide. "Nope! Not an Unown."

"Fay!" Vixie shouted at her after she recovered herself. "Why would you do that?!"

"Well duh," Fay rolled her eyes. "To make sure he's not an Unown, silly!"

Everyone stared at her.

Fay looked at each one of them, confused. "...What?"

"...Eh-eheheheh..." Sky chuckled nervously. He cleared his throat. "Ahem, right. Uh... Can we go now?"

Vixie took a deep breath to calm herself down. She sighed a heavy sigh and stared at the Taillow. "...Sky?"

"Yeah?"

"What's...your world like?"

Sky blinked. "Uh... Ruled by stupid humans who ruin nature for their own greedy cities to expand while leaving deadly toxic thrash that ruins the environment. Oh, and Pokémon don't exist outside of the manga, games and monitor screens." He shrugged. "Nothing major. Why do you ask?"

"Uh..." Shock blinked. "Could you repeat the toxic thrash part again?"

"Is..." Vixie hesitated. "...is Jay...one of them?"

Sky raised an eyebrow. "...I've been out for months while he was adventuring here with you guys. So you tell me."

"What do you mean by that?" Shock asked.

Sky shrugged once again before he turned to him. "Had an accident back home that put me in a coma for a looooooong time. I'm yet to wake up though." He shrugged again. "I'll probably wake up as soon as the five of us get there. Wouldn't be fun to have you guys there with my bro while I'm half-asleep half-dead in a hospital bed. Besides," his smile faltered for a bit. "...I'm... Well, hospital bills aren't cheap..." He looked away, his smile gone. "...I think... No, I know our parents, despite their age, are working twice as hard now just to keep me in the hospital to recover. I know my brother is too..." He took a slow and deep breath and sighed a heavy sigh. "...You guys are my bro's best friends." He turned and looked at each one of them. "I guess... I just thought that bringing you guys with him would be like...I dunno, my way of paying him back?" He shrugged. "I know that you guys mean a lot to him," he said as he turned to Vixie with a smile. "Especially this certain sexy fire fox," he said with a wink.

Vixie blushed. Shock rolled his eyes with a small smirk. Fay giggled. Saur smiled a calm smile.

"So...yeah," Sky said as he ruffled his feathers. "Shall we get going?"

Shock stared at him for a few seconds before he sighed. He turned to Vixie. "... ... ...you going?"

"I...think so," Vixie said, turning to him. "...Sky's right, I suppose. Jay has been with us for a few moons, and I don't think he's a bad Eevee."

"Human," Sky corrected her.

"R-right... Human..." Vixie said, ears drooping.

Sky blinked, confused.

Shock frowned. "Are...you sure?"

"Ah," Sky said after he realized something. "Lemme guess. Human eks Pokémon problem?"

"No," Shock arched him an eyebrow. "If you could stop being blind and stupid for one second, 'Xie is having trouble dealing with the fact that Jay's a human while she's a Pokémon."

Sky deadpanned. "That's what I just said." He shook his head before turning to Vixie.

"Huh," Fay whispered, leaning to Saur. "Wouldn't that be weird..."

Sky ruffled his feathers once more. "I believe you guys have heard about a human and a Gardevoir?"

"Ugh..." Shock ugh'ed, slightly turning green. "Arceusdamnit! Thanks for reminding me."

The blue bird rolled his eyes before it settled on the fire fox. "Look, if it's not taboo here in your world, then what's the problem?" He blinked. "You still like, er, love my bro, right?"

"Yes," Vixie replied all too quickly. She blinked. "Well, yes..."

Sky smiled. "Then I don't see a problem!"

"What if Jay doesn't love her back now that he's a human?" Shock asked.

Sky shook his head. "Nah. That's not possible. I know my brother well." He smiled. "When Jay loves someone, he'll be loyal to her." He looked away. "And I think he's a furry now, thanks to Vixie..." he muttered to himself.

Shock blinked. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Sky chirped all too suddenly. "Anyway, I think we've wasted enough time," he said with a frown. He turned to look at the ruins' entrance. "Bill hadn't notice us back yet. He's either busy studying the walls or the Unowns already Bill-napped him." He turned back to the four friends with a smile. "So come on!" He grinned. "I wanna reveal my dramatic reveal already!"

"That's gonna blow our minds, right?" Fay asked.

"Yes!" Sky excitingly chirped back. "So, what? You coming or what?"

"Vixie?" Shock turned to her.

Vixie took a deep breath and sighed with a small smile. She still was having second thoughts, but Sky has told them some information: about him, about Jay, and about their world. Jay was a human now. But, she loves him, and she knows that he loves her too, and that's all that matters. At least, that was what she thought. She took another breath before she nodded her head. "...Alright. Let's go."

"Awesomesauce!" Sky flapped his wings and flew in the air. "Alright. Last one in's a rotten egg!" he shouted behind him as he flew inside the ruins.

Chapter 15​

Sky led the four friends inside a familiar chamber in the ruins, where Bill was busy studying the prints engraved on the walls.

"Hm..." Bill hm'ed, eyeing the Unown letters on the wall. "They still look like letters, no matter how many times I look at them."

"You said the exact same thing the first time we got here that many years ago," Lyore said as she looked around.

"That's because they are," Sky said with a smile as he landed on top of the Feraligatr's head.

"Get off," Lyore whispered harshly, the small Pokéball on her string necklace rattling a bit.

"Steady, godzilla," Sky said as he looked around, eyes blinking. "I'm trying to remember how to mrrfnotsayingit."

"How to what now?" Shock asked as he threw the bird a curious stare.

"Oh, hey!" Fay chirped as she skipped and stopped on an empty spot in the chamber. She leaned her face closer to the little wooden square tile on the floor. "It's that weird thingie that sucked us to dream world!"

"Yeah," Sky immediately replied without giving her a look. "Don't touch that."

"Don't touch what?" Bill asked, a finger hovering on a letter on the wall as he turned his head to look at the bird on top of his Feraligatr's head.

"Not you," Sky frowned.

As Saur pulled the curious rat away with a vine, Shock, Vixie and Perla approached the tile to have a better look.

"What is it, exactly?" Vixie asked.

"Hm..." The Alakazam extended her arms towards the tile, her two spoons slightly glowing. A few seconds later, the glow dimmed and faded as she brought her arms to her sides. "Strange... The ruins emit a strange yet calm psychic energy, but that little piece of wood contains a large amount of unnatural psychic energy..."

The smaller Pokémon blinked at her, confused.

"Think of it as a fisherman's bait," Sky said as he flapped his wings and slowly flew towards a wall. He hovered in front of the wall as he studied the engravings. "And this chamber as a lake, and we as the fishes," he continued to explain as he clicked an Unown letter with a talon, making it glow with a bluish-white hue.

"W-what are you doing?" Shock asked as he and the others eyed the flying bird who flew to another wall.

"Now, if we bite the bait," Sky continued, touching another letter on the wall before he flew to another wall, repeating the process before flying to another. "We alarm the fisherman, and he reels us in."

"...And the fisherman is the Unown?" Saur asked.

Bill blinked at the flying Taillow. "...What are you talking about?"

"Yep," Sky nodded with a beaked smile, ignoring Bill's question as he pressed one last letter on the wall. He quickly made a u-turn and landed on the annoyed-looking Feraligatr's head. He looked around, admiring his handiwork.

Six letters were glowing on the four walls of the chamber with a strange hum echoing around. Saur, Vixie and Shock were nervously looking while Fay was hopping excitedly in place. Lais was busy preening her wing, Perla was curiously looking around, and Lyore was glaring at the bird on her head.

Bill was beyond amazed. A few years ago when he and his team first came here, he knew that there was a big secret in the ruins. He just didn't know how to solve it or where to look for clues. He gave up after a few days and continued on his journey, despite a friend's insistence of solving it. Now, as the ruins shook and the wall opposite from the entrance started to move, his wide smile grew even wider, even if a foul smell escaped the new opening.

"Guh...!" Fay covered her nose when the foul smell struck her nostrils, as well as the rest of her friends, minus Saur who stepped in front of the group, the leaves that covered his bulb slowly opening, almost revealing a flower bud within.

"Fay," Sky said, his voice slightly muffled from covering his beak with both wings. "You fart all the time, if I remember correctly. Shouldn't you be immune to this kind—whoa!" he exclaimed, immediately removing his wings from his beak as he sniffed sniffed sniffed the air that now carried a thick and fragrant aroma.

"That's more like it," Shock said as he and the rest of his friends smiled at Saur.

"Huh," Sky said. "Oh yeah... Plants can convert fart air to tasty air. Hail science!"

"Saur's not a plant," Fay said.

"Doesn't he?" Lais asked.

"Well debate later," Sky said as the otherworldly hum suddenly became louder, yet not too loud for discomfort.

The wall stopped moving, and the chamber stopped shaking. Before them, a new entryway had appeared, yet the chamber was still glowing and dimming with a bluish-white hue and humming and quieting in an otherworldly hum.

"I don't like the looks of this," Shock said as he took a nervous step back. He turned and eyed the exit, in case it suddenly disappears like the last time they were there.

"S-Sky," Vixie called, looking up at him with a nervous frown. "What's going on?"

Sky simply shrugged. "Let's call it..."

Suddenly, a strange white light erupted quietly from the remaining walls, showering the small chamber with glowing white and dust-like orbs. The orbs were scattered and suspended in the air, unmoving. Soon, the orbs slowly 'flew' inside the newly-revealed hallway, gathering and forming into six shapes. After a couple more seconds, the 'transformation' was done, and soon, everyone saw translucent forms of six Pokémon: a Sylveon who was carrying a Rattata and a Vulpix on each feelers, a Pikachu and a Bulbasaur on its back, and a Zubat flying above the fairy-type.

"Flashback," Sky finished with a small smile.

"I-is that—?" Vixie asked but stopped herself after the translucent Zubat flew out of the hallway excitedly.

"Finally!" the Zubat exclaimed, flying in circles close to the chamber's ceiling. "Freedom! Thanks a ton for the help back there, big guy!"

"Mmmrfff..." the Sylveon's eye twitched as he gritted his teeth, his thin and weak body having a hard time walking while carrying four other Pokémon on him.

"J-Jay...?" Vixie called quietly as the translucent Sylveon slowly walked towards them.

Saur blinked and stepped aside to give way for the fairy-type. Fay and Shock did as well. The trio blinked and stared at the taller Pokémon's passengers.

Shock made a face. "Eesh... Is that me? I look horrible!"

Fay giggled. "So did I!"

Saur frowned. "...And why are we smiling?"

"Dreams, remember?" Sky reminded them with a smirk as Bill and his Pokémon also stepped aside. "Oh. Don't worry about touching my bro or him bumping into you."

Vixie stood in place, unsure of what to say or do as the Sylveon slowly approached her. "Jay?" she whispered. "I-it's me. Vixie. Rememb—!?!"

The Sylveon slowly walked through the stunned Vulpix.

Sky chuckled. "It's a flashback." He shrugged as the Vulpix shivered violently before she turned around. "At least, that's what I'd like to call it."

"A flashback?" Bill blinked as he, too, eyed the retreating Sylveon.

"Well, that twenty-seven minutes of walking and flying around in darkness is finally over!" the Zubat exclaimed cheerfully as he glided in a circle on top of the Sylveon who was slowly making his way towards the exit of the ruins. "You're welcome," the bat smirked.

A few more seconds later, the translucent duo began to disappear. Once they were completely gone, the chamber returned to its normal, gloomy atmosphere.

Sky ruffled his feathers. "Well, that's that!"

"Quite a show," Lais commented with an approving nod. "So bright and sparkly."

Vixie frowned and sighed, ears drooping.

Shock was immediately on her side, resting a supportive paw on her shoulder.

Sky flapped his wings and turned towards the new opening while hovering in the air. Frowning, he looked down and landed in front of the Bulbasaur. "Er," he said, smiling awkwardly. "After you?"

Saur blinked, shrugged, turned around and walked towards the hallway.

Sky smiled. "Alright, everyone!" he said as he took flight and turned to face the others. "Let's get going! This door's not opening forever, and I don't think I'm allowed to reveal how to open this place."

"Why not?" Bill asked.

Sky shrugged while in midair. "Meh. Reasons, obviously." He smirked and turned back to the dark hallway, where Saur was waiting for the others to follow. "Hm... Looks kinda dark in there than I remember..."

"Allow me," Perla said, walking after the Bulbasaur. She extended her arms forward, her spoons emitting a white light, revealing the other parts of the hallway ahead.

"Coolio!" Sky chirped as he flew after the two. "Let's move!"

"'Xie?" Shock whispered as the others started moving inside.

"If it's not going to open forever," Lais said as she hopped after them. "I wonder how are we going to get outside."

"That's a good question," Bill said as he looked at the walls in the hallway. Something caught his eye, and a smile formed on his face as he moved closer to the wall, stopping to get a better look at it. However, his light source continued moving forward, and it was getting darker on his spot. He frowned as he turned to the others. "Uh, guys? Wait! C-can we stop for a moment?"

The others stopped and turned to him.

Sky blinked. "Whatever for?"

Bill looked back at the engraved markings. "I...I wanna study this."

"Pffft," Sky pfft'ed, rolling his eyes. "No chance. Let's move!"

"B-but—!" Bill stammered, trying to figure out if he should stay or follow. "Ah, darn it," he cursed as he grumpily followed after the group of Pokémon. Maybe he can study it later.

Back in the chamber, Shock looked at the storming human who was slowly being swallowed by the darkness, until he could no longer see any of them. Sighing quietly, he turned back to the Vulpix. "'Xie?"

The Vulpix took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. "...S-sorry..." she said as she slowly lifted her head up. She gave him a strained smile before she turned to face the hallway. "Right..." she said with a nod. "We'll...see Jay again...through there, right?"

"...Hopefully," Shock whispered.

After a few more seconds of nothing, Vixie started walking towards the hallway with Shock following close behind. The electric rodent let out small electric sparks from his cheeks, enough for the two of them to see the dusty floor ahead.

The two continued walking through the hallway without saying a word for a minute or two.

"...Jay's a human," Shock suddenly blurted out.

Vixie nodded. "...I know."

Shock eyed her. "...And...that's okay with you, right?"

"Yeah..." Vixie said with a small smile. "I...think so."

Shock took a breath and sighed. "Alright..."

The duo said nothing after that as they continued moving forward. At one point, Sky flew to them, fearing that they decided not to continue, but after seeing the two, he sighed in relief and decided to join the duo as he slowly flew above them.

Outside the ruins, five tall and shadowy human figures took a peak inside.

"...Coast is clear," one of them whispered, and the others nodded.

Another one of the men pulled a radio out from his pocket and started making adjustments with it. He pulled it closer to his mouth and pressed a button. "Alpha team here. The Gold team's target has opened the secret door and already went inside, over."

"Bzzzt copy that, Alpha team. Hold your positions and wait for reinforcements. Over bzzzzt!"

"Roger tha—" he stopped when he and the others felt the ruins was shaking once again. They looked back at the chamber and saw the wall was starting to close the hallway. "Shit..."

"Bzzzt what's going on? Over bzzzt!"

"Sir, the door's closing as we speak! Should we still wait for reinforcements? Over!"

"Bzzzt do you know how to open it? Over bzzzt!"

"Uh, n-negative, sir. Over."

"Bzzzt then what the hell are you standing there for?! Go in there and do your work! Over and out bzzzt!"

The five black-uniformed men rushed inside the ruins. As they did, one of them unknowingly stepped on a wooden square tile on the floor. The five men got inside just before the wall closed behind them.

In the chamber, the wooden tile suddenly glowed in a bluish-white glow, and a second later, the glow disappeared, and the chamber was quiet once more.

Chapter 16​

The passageway's walls were filled with engraved Unown letters that blurred by as the group continued their trek towards the heart of the ruins. Perla, the Alakazam, provided enough light for them to see five or so meters ahead of them, illuminating the dusty floor and the old-looking walls and ceiling.

Saur led the way as he converted the foul-smelling air into breathable air for the others behind him. Sky was gliding lazily behind him as he talked while making sure that the grass-type was heading the right way, despite the fact that the passageway didn't have any forks yet. Perla held her glowing spoons in her arms as she followed the two tiny Pokémon ahead of her who were having a one-sided conversation. Lais, the Honchkrow, was perched on Lyore's, the Feraligatr's, shoulder, and was having an idle chat with the bipedal crocodile. Bill was trying his best to study the engravings on the walls while trying not to fall too far behind. Fay, Vixie and Shock were either staring at the walls or at Bill, finding mild amusement from the human's quiet cries of annoyance as he tries to catch up.

The group continued through the ruins until, after a couple of minutes, they saw the passageway's end ahead of them. Up ahead, they saw a very wide and spacious area that was illuminated by a faint bluish-white light from above. After walking out of the passageway, they looked up and saw the ceiling had stretched further up. A few of them gasped as they stared at the many, many swirling Unowns up above, circling and dancing around a number of glowing white orbs.

The air here was fouler than the passageway, mixed with Saur's Sweet Scent that did little help now that they were in a wide open space.

"Guh," Bill covered his nose with a handkerchief.

"Ew," Lais said, covering her beak with a wing and accidentally slapping the Feraligatr's head in the process. "Reminds me of that one time when a Snorlax farted on us..."

Perla groaned, rolling her eyes. Said eyes locked on something on the ground, her pupils slowly shrinking.

"Don't remind me," Lyore growled quietly. She ignored the smell as she looked around, noticing that the walls were stretched into a wide curve, like that domed arena in the Johto League's elimination rounds, but without any seats for an audience.

"Strange," Sky muttered through his wings as he stared at the Unowns. "They're quiet for some rea—"

"Eeeeeeeeeek!!!" Perla shrieked after staring at a bone for a few seconds. The white glow on her spoons dimmed as she lost her focus. She frantically took a step back, accidentally stepping on a bone and snapping it in half, as she looked around, seeing more and more bones scattered everywhere in the area. Horrified, she was about to shout in fright once again when her mouth was suddenly covered with feathers.

The ruins was suddenly filled with a low and otherworldly hum that echoed all around them.

"Shhh!" Sky glared at the panicking psychic-type. "Don't alert them!" he hissed, gesturing with his eyes to look up.

Perla and a few others looked up and noticed the Unowns were swirling a little different now, some even shivered and stopped in midair. Everyone held their breaths as they stared at the Unowns above who eventually returned to normal.

Shock let out a sigh of relief. He went cross-eyed and covered his nose with a paw. "Ugh... T-this smell is horrible." He, Fay and Vixie quickly and quietly approached the grass-type while they carefully tried not to step on any of the bones in the area.

"Wuss," Lyore growled as she walked beside the Alakazam.

Sky, after making sure that Perla was now slightly-calm-that-wouldn't-scream-anymore, freed her mouth and flew in the air.

Perla blinked a few times before she turned and glared at the Feraligatr. "Well, excuse me for being afraid of something scary."

"I don't hear you screaming from Lyore's scary-ugly face," Lais said, earning Lyore's annoyed growl.

Rolling his eyes, Sky glided in the air, leaving the bickering Pokémon behind.

"So..." Shock said as he and the rest of his friends watched the Taillow landing in front of them, creating a small dust cloud upon his landing. "What now?"

"Can we please hurry up and leave?" Vixie pleaded with a worried frown. "I... I don't like this place..."

"Hm," Sky hm'ed as he turned his back on them. He looked ahead, where the walls had a number of openings leading to other dark passageways around the ruins.

"Really?" Fay asked, turning to the Vulpix. "I kinda like it here," she chirped quietly.

"Of course you would," Shock said, rolling his eyes as Saur chuckled.

"Well," Fay blinked, "except for the smell, that is. Smells like a lot of Pokémon died in here."

"That's because it's true," Sky nodded. "This is the Unown's feeding ground, after all."

"The Unown's...feeding ground?" Bill echoed, looking up. "...how?"

"Meh," Sky shrugged, turning around to face the group. "You'll get your chance to study 'em later if you want." He smiled. "Just...try not to make your presence known to them. They might hook you up with Whitney," he said with a wink.

Perla blinked at the small bird before she turned to Bill.

Lais and Lyore pretended not to notice.

Bill groaned. "You're not going to let that go any time soon, are you?"

Sky didn't reply as he turned his attention to his four friends with a wide grin. "My big reveal's up ahead!"

"That'll blow o—"

"Yes, yes, that," Sky blurted out, cutting Fay off, his smile gone in an instant. "So yeah," he said as he ruffled his feathers. "Since, aside from myself, only one of you can fly, I suggest you try and not make too much noise, okay?" He turned around and frowned. "Since Saur can't remove this sticky smell anymore, I'll fly ahead." He flapped his wings and hovered in the air for a few seconds before he made a u-turn and flew ahead.

The four friends wasted no time walking through the bone-filled area as they followed the gliding Taillow that was heading towards the other side of the dome-like ruins.

Perla closed her eyes, and slowly, her body began to glow a faint whitish glow—

"What are you doing?"

"Quiet. I'm trying to concentrate," the psychic-type replied without opening her eyes. Slowly, she started to float in the air. She crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her legs, meditating with a calm smile.

The Feraligatr rolled her eyes before she followed the tiny Pokémon ahead, ignoring the bones she kicked and stepped on in the process.

"I thought we're supposed to be quiet?" Lais asked.

"You be quiet," Lyore grunted.

Bill followed after the water-type.

Perla, concentration broken from the noise the crocodilian Pokémon was creating, went back to her feet and blinked. "Well," she said as she followed the group. "No use wasting my strength if she's sweeping a clean path for me."

Sky hovered in the air in front of one of the few openings of passageways on the wall that led to other parts of the ruins. He could only see three or four meters inside before the shadows consumed the path. He shrugged in midair, almost losing his balance, before he turned around and stared at the group who were moving in a slow pace.

Suddenly, the area started flashing in a white light, startling the group. Murmurs of confusion erupted in each one of them as the white flashes of light continued to fill and vanish in the dome-like area that lasted for a couple of seconds.

Squinting his eyes, Sky tried to see what the Unowns were doing above. Three seconds later, loud noises echoed from the passageway where he and the others came from. They all turned their attention towards the entryway and saw a number of Unowns flying out of the passageway, some were looking injured and slightly smoking.

Three seconds after the last Unown flew out of the passageway, a Houndoom, a Crobat and an Arbok emerged from the passageway, followed by five black uniformed men.

"Oh," Sky oh'ed, blinking as the three fearsome Pokémon studied the area. "So that's why the Unowns were quiet..." he said as his friends hurried away from the new arrivals. "They must have took the bait. Too bad for the Unown that—"

"Could you shut up and tell us which way to go?!" Shock shouted as he glared at the hovering Taillow.

Sky blinked as he snapped back to reality. He looked down and saw his brother's friends all looking at him, except for Fay who was growling as she tried to pull herself away from Saur's hold. "What are you so scared about?" He blinked and eyed the angry and out-of-character Fay. "And what's her problem?"

"Find the target!" one of the Team Rocket grunts shouted before he turned to the other two. "You two," he turned and pointed at Bill on the other side of the ruins. "Capture the scientist!"

"I'm an inventor!" Bill shouted back.

The Rocket grunt shrugged. "I don't see a difference."

"There is!" Bill countered. "I invent stuff! Scientists research stuff!"

"Shouldn't they be called researchers then?" one of the grunts asked.

Bill blinked. "Huh," he brought a hand to his chin as he thought about it. "That's a good point."

"I can't believe you're having idle chat with them," Lyore asked with a shake of her head.

"Humans are weird," the Houndoom shrugged.

"Weird indeeeeeeeeed," the Arbok nodded his large head.

"I don't care about the difference of a scientist or an inventor or what-crap!" one the grunts snarled while the others were looking at the Unowns.

"Let me go!" Fay snarled as she glared daggers at the five grunts.

"F-Fay," Saur grunted, trying his best to hold the rodent with his vines. "Calm down."

"Grrrrr—!"

"You seem like a great guy, Bill," one of the grunts said as he grabbed a Pokéball from his belt. "But orders are orders." He threw a Pokéball in the air and summoned an Absol in front of him.

Sky suddenly attached himself on the startled dark-type's neck, cooing as he rubbed his feathery head on his white fur. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod—"

Shock blinked. "...Wow... He's fast."

"Very fast," Lais said with a nod.

"Very very fast," Bill agreed.

"Get off of me," the Absol said awkwardly.

"Squeee! An Absol! I can't believe it!" Sky squee'd. "You're, like, the coolest 'mon ever!"

"Weird bird," a grunt said.

"Yeah," another agreed.

After a few more seconds of feather and fur, Sky detached himself from the dark-type with a heavy sigh. He glided back to his group and landed on top Bill's head.

"R-right," the grunt said. "Bill, either you surrender yourself to us peacefully, or we'll force you."

"Hm," Sky hm'ed as Bill and his Pokémon tensed. "Weird how the Alakazam didn't feel their presence before th—"

"I was distracted," Perla quickly said as she eyed their foes far ahead. "I can take that bat and that snake down, but that dog might be trouble."

"Taking two foes to impress toothpick, eh?" Lyore grinned. "And which dog?"

"Grr," Perla's eye twitched. "Any of them."

Lais took flight, eyeing the Absol. "I'll take the fluff ball."

"Don't hurt him too much!" Sky yelled at Lais.

"That leaves me with the black dog," Lyore frowned. "How boring."

"You two, find the target!" the lead grunt said.

The other two nodded and ran close to the curved walls.

"Capture the scientist!" the lead grunt commanded. The other two behind him ordered their Pokémon to attack soon after.

"I'm an inventor!" Bill shouted, eyes ablaze. "Take them down!"

Lyore sighed as Lais and Perla rushed towards their approaching foes. Lais was the fastest of the team, and was quickly approaching the enemy's fastest, the Arbok. The giant cobra hissed as he prepared to jump at the old Honchkrow, but a gust of dusty air suddenly struck her face, stinging her eyes.

"Like old times," Lais threw a smirk at Perla behind her.

Hissing, the Arbok relied on his tongue to sense the bird's body heat, but the Honchkrow was too fast for him.

Lais flew pass the Arbok and expertly dodged a torrent of fire coming her way. Her wings glowed and she slammed one of them at the Absol, who parried her attack with his glowing horn. "Never battled one of your kind before," Lais commented as the two duelled.

The Absol smirked. "Oh? That makes the two of us."

Lais blinked and stopped attacking. "You've never battled one of your kind before, too?"

"What?" the Absol blinked in confusion.

"Does that mean you've never met your own kind before?"

The Absol bit his lip. "...C-can we just go back to battling each other?"

Behind the Honchkrow, Perla was fighting against the flexible Arbok and the agile Crobat with her eyes closed. She crossed her two spoons in front of her with her telekinesis, blocking the fast Crobat's purple-glowing wings. She pushed the bat back and created a powerful wave of psychic energy below her. She mentally made that energy explode, throwing her up in the air just in time to dodge the fanged jaws of the Arbok. The Crobat swiftly flew after her, but a much faster spoon struck his forehead, violently throwing him down on the startled cobra. A dust of smoke erupted, swallowing the two poison-types as Perla landed on a bone, making her slip and fall on her back.

"Graceful," Lyore smirked as she sat on a wheezing Houndoom, trying and failing to get free.

"Shut up," Perla spat as she got up. A giant jaw suddenly lunged towards her from the dust cloud, but a spoon uppercutted the cobra under his jaw, sending him flying.

The Alakazam and the Feraligatr heard a sob. They turned and saw the Absol lying on the dusty floor, crying his hearts out as Lais rubbed a feathery wing on the dark-type's back.

"I...I-I never even met my own parents!" the Absol cried.

"There, there," Lais said gently.

The four friends, even Fay, stared at the scene in a mixture of awe and confusion. Behind them, Bill smirked as he crossed his arms, eyeing the three grumbling members of Team Rocket.

Sky sighed in relief. "Whew... At least the Absol wasn't hurt." He heard faint footsteps which was getting louder, and he turned towards it. He saw the other two members of Team Rocket running towards them.

Shock noticed. Startled, he accidentally bumped on his other friends as he tried to control himself.

Vixie, noticing the danger, quickly ran in front of them and prepared to attack, but one of the grunts turned, entering one of the passageways. She eyed the other one, who also entered another passageway a few meters ahead of them.

"They took a wrong turn," Sky smirked. "I wonder if there's a sadistic murderer in there."

Snapping noises echoed around the ruins. The group turned and saw the three grunts summoning three more Pokémon in the battlefield.

"We're not done yet," one of the grunts growled as the three Pokémon—a Hitmontop, a Rhydon and a Magneton—glared at their opposition.

"I'm glad it's not," Lyore grinned as she grabbed the unconscious Houndoom by the neck. She stood up and swung the dog on her shoulder, treating him like a baseball bat as she eyed the metallic creature. "Dibs on the electric type."

"Lyore, you can't be serious!" Bill exclaimed.

"Oh, but she is," Sky nodded.

Bill sighed.

"I thought he could only understand birds," Shock blinked at Bill.

"TARGET-ACQUIRED," the Magneton said, its three eyes locking on the crocodile. "ACTIVATING-ATTACK-MODE."

"Stop talking like a robot," the Rhydon said, annoyed.

"B-but it sounds cool if I talk like that!" the Magneton whined, floating in front of the rhino. "And it suits my appearance!"

"Ugh..." one of the three grunts slapped a palm to his face. "Why do we have weird Pokémon on us?"

"You raised them, your own fault," Bill said.

One of them recalled the sobbing Absol back.

"Hey!" Lais frowned. "I wasn't done talking to him!"

"Stuff it, Lais," Perla said, glaring at the rhino. "I'll handle the rock."

"Get them!" a grunt shouted, and the six Pokémon went into battle.

Lyore swung and swung the Houndoom above her head as she ran towards the floating and sparking Magneton. Bolts of electricity flew towards her, but she quickly threw the dog at the electric-type to block the attack.

Startled at hurting its comrade, the Magneton immediately stopped its attack, but it wasn't quick enough to react to the fast-approaching crocodile, propelled with powerful torrents of water from its feet.

"Hello," Lyore greeted with a powerful punch that flung the electric-type towards the walls of the ruins. She grinned as the water vanished from underneath her. "Home run." As gravity took hold of her, she looked down and smirked when the Rhydon was below her. Tail glowing, she somersaulted and struck the Rhydon with a powerful tail attack.

The force violently threw the surprised rock-type towards the startled Alakazam. Perla quickly summoned a powerful psychic energy and immediately threw it at the rock-type, but instead of throwing him back, he pushed the energy forward, pushing the Alakazam back with a yelp.

Despite the powerful pain on his back, the Rhydon took this sudden turn of events to his advantage. As he unintentionally dragged the psychic-type back, he leaned his spinning horn towards her, grinning as he waited for the wall to stop the two of them. He started running forward and continued to push the invisible energy after he felt the dragging force from the crocodile's attack had faded.

Meters away from them, the Hitmontop was spinning fast, swirling around the floor.

Lais was hovering above the fighting-type, blinking in confusion. "...What exactly are you doing?"

"Get down from there and find out!" the Hitmontop angrily replied.

Sky sighed as the battle continued. "At first, it was fun to watch how an actual Pokémon battle looks like but," he frowned. "This is taking longer than it should."

Shock's ears twitched. He turned and looked up at Sky who just flew in the air. "What are you..." he trailed off as Sky landed on the air above them.

Beak frowning and wings glowing, Sky extended a wing, pointing forward. Suddenly, a group of Unowns flew down and circled around the bird.

"Sky!" Vixie gasped. "Wh-what are you doing?!"

"Ending this so we could be on our way," Sky grunted as he pointed at the Rhydon with his other wing.

"But it's only been like...four minutes?" Fay blinked. She squirmed a bit as she turned to the Bulbasaur. "And can you let me go now?"

"No."

Unowns immediately flew down and circled around the Alakazam and the Rhydon. Their presence didn't deter the Rhydon until a white sphere began to encase them. The Unowns slowly began to fly up with the sphere, trapping the Rhydon inside and leaving the sweating Alakazam on the ground.

Sky then pointed at the three Team Rocket grunts. Unowns flew down and circled around them and started creating a sphere to trap them. One of the grunts pulled out a Pokéball. Sky's eye twitched, and one of the Unowns who were circling around the three men pulled the Pokéball out of his grip with telekinesis. Sky then commanded the Unowns to trap the grunts' fallen Pokémon. He then pointed at the two passageways, and two groups of Unowns flew inside to chase down the other two grunts.

With the task done, the white glow on his wings began to fade and he then used his wings to keep himself airborn. The Unowns that were circling around him began to fly up to join the rest of its kind, humming in otherworldly voices that echoed in the ruins.

"No idea why I didn't do that sooner," Sky said with a tired smile as he flew towards the mouth of a passageway. He turned around and smiled at the dumbfounded faces of his group. He blinked, smile fading. "What? Is there something on my face?" After a few seconds, he frowned. "Ah poop... I revealed one of my big reveals..."

"...It was mind-boggling, at least?" Saur offered.

Chapter 17​

"How long is this...this..."

"...passageway?"

"Yes!" Shock shouted as he nodded his thanks to the Bulbasaur before he turned his glaring eyes on the flying Taillow ahead of them. "And how were you able to...control those...whatever-they-are back there?"

"Unowns," Saur offered once again.

The group were walking through another long and dark passageway for almost half an hour now after their battle with Team Rocket in the dome-like area of the ruins. Perla, the Alakazam, was providing them enough light with her two spoons for them to see their surroundings. The air was cooler and the smell—while still unpleasant—was more bearable now wherein Saur no longer needed to convert the air, yet he still did anyway.

"I am no longer saying nor doing anything!" the Taillow stubbornly replied without looking back at the Pikachu or any of them behind him. After his little 'show' with the Unowns, he ushered them to continue their journey while ignoring the group's questions. "I've already and accidentally revealed too much already! I am now clinging to hope that the remaining few of my reveals be still dramatic enough to bl—"

"Blow our minds!" Fay chirped.

Sky sighed a heavy sigh while Bill and Lyore rolled their eyes.

"Can't you give us a little hint?" Fay asked. She didn't receive a reply.

"This is strange though," Bill said as he turned his head left and right, staring at the old walls. He and his Pokémon had already given up trying to fish some answers from the Taillow fifteen or so minutes ago. "There are no engravings here..."

Sky kept his beak shut.

"Hey, Saur," Fay called as she looked at her grass-type friend. "Since Sky's not saying anything anymore until further notice, why do you think he was able to...uh...what's the word...?"

"Control?" Saur asked.

"Right. I guess that works," the rodent said with a nod. "So, how do you think Sky did it with the Unowns?"

Saur smiled a small smile as Shock turned his head to look at him. "Hm... Maybe he's Arceus?"

"Pfffffft—" Sky pfft'ed, failing to hold his laughter. "Hahahah! Oh, god, that's rich! Whew...!" He was a bit thankful that that lifted his foul mood a bit. He looked back and threw a smirk at his brother's four friends. "But Saury, Saur. You're wrong."

The Bulbasaur frowned, not because he guessed wrong.

Fay giggled. "Well," she chirped. "I think it's because you are possessing the mother of all Unowns!"

"..." Sky blinked ahead. "...wat."

"But he's male," Vixie pointed out.

"So?" Fay chirped. "I heard those blue female mousie Pokémon sometimes turn into male mousie Pokémon when they evolve."

Sky blinked. "...What? You mean Azurills?"

"Is that what they're called?" Fay blinked. "Cuz I'm not really sure..."

Lyore sighed. "Whatever he's hiding," the Feraligatr grumbled, "it better not be the death of us all."

"He could have done that back there if that was his intentions from the start, Lyore," the Alakazam said, eyeing the bird. "He could have possibly even done so when they were still in Bill's home."

"Oh?"

Perla nodded. "I sensed...great power from him back there during his little...performance... Too great of a power." She brought a hand on her chin as she turned her gaze on the dusty floor. "I'm surprised that such a small body could host such great power..."

"Hm?" Sky looked back, looking at the Alakazam. "Really? That surprises you?"

"Well," the Alakazam nodded. "Yes."

Sky arched a non-existent eyebrow. "Really? Have you never heard of Mew? Or Celebi? Or Jirachi? Or—"

"She gets it," Shock said.

"Bi has lots of power?" Fay blinked. "Really?"

Shock ignored her. "Can you at least tell us where we're going now?"

"To Jay! Where else?" Sky smiled before he looked ahead. "That's been the whole point of this little adventure of ours, right?"

"Huh?" Lyore blinked. "Jay? You mean that illusion back at the entrance?" She turned her head and glared at her ex-trainer. "That's what all this trouble's about? Chasing after a phantom?"

"Don't call him that," Vixie muttered under her breath.

Bill sighed. "It's a long story." He turned to Lais, who was perched on one of the bipedal crocodile's shoulders. "Story time," he said with a smirk.

Lyore blinked in surprise. "Oh no you're—"

"With pleasure!" Lais chirped happily, ignoring Lyore's groan. "Once upon a time—"

---

"—and they lived happily ever after!" Lais said after an hour or so of talking. "The end!" She blinked. "Well, actually, we still don't know if they have lived happily ever after yet, since we are still here."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Lyore grunted, rubbing her aching forehead with a claw.

"That story was highly exaggerated!" Fay said with a smile. "I liked it!"

"Of course you would," Shock sighed, letting go of his two ears that he held for almost forty minutes.

"It was a boring tale," Sky commented. "Then again, it was from Bird Bill's limited point of view, so eh..."

"Hey," Bill said, glaring at the Taillow. The next few words died in his throat after he and the rest of the group noticed the faint light up ahead.

"Whew! Finally!" Sky chirped. "We're almost there!"

"Almost where?" Vixie asked, eyes squinting.

"Oh! Oh!" Fay hopped excitedly. "What is it?! What is it?!"

"I'm guessing it's the exit," Saur said.

Shock groaned. "I would have never guessed that..."

The Bulbasaur chuckled.

"Saur, you guessed wrong again," the Taillow said. "Also..." Sky turned his head and looked at the rodent. "You're very weird, Fay. Two hours ago, you looked like you wanted to murder those Rocket guys back there. But after that?"

Fay frowned, her ears drooping.

Saur, Shock and Vixie all glared at Sky, making the Taillow close his beak.

"R-right..." Sky said with a wince, turning his head back at the light ahead.

"Wait," Lais blinked. "Weren't we supposed to avoid going into the light?"

"We're not dead, bird brain," Lyore grumbled.

"Well, what if we are?" the Honchkrow asked as the group walked closer and closer to the passageway's end. "Or what if we're all just fragments of a mightier being's dreams and imagination and—"

"Either you shut up or I'll rip your beak off!" the Feraligatr growled. "I've had enough of your babble!"

"Calm down, you two," Bill said with an amused smirk.

"That was a weird thing to think about," Shock shivered.

"Meh," Sky meh'd, flapping his wings. "Just put your hands in front of your nose, and once you feel your hot and stinky breath, then you'll know that you're still alive. Anyway..."

The group finally walked out of the passageway, squinting as they wait for their eyes to adjust in the bright light in whatever area they've stumbled into. A few blinks later, their eyes had finally adjusted for them to see what was before them.

The area was dome-like but much, much smaller than the previous one they went to. The white and polished walls were filled with small and large drawings and other engravings. In the middle of the black and smooth floor was a raised circular platform, surrounded by three marble statues of large Pokémon. The three statues' heads appeared to be looking up, where a large sea of Unowns calmly swam around the ceiling as they created the constant bright white light.

"Whoa...!" Bill gasped, his voice echoing in the room. He immediately threw his palms over his mouth as his three Pokémon shot him their glares.

"Relax," Sky said, landing—"whoa—oof!"—and slipping on the floor. "Tskdarnit," he grunted as he stood up. He dusted himself off before he turned around and smiled at the group. He extended his wings wide open. "Behold!"

The group stared at him.

...Seconds passed as they stared at one another.

Finally, Shock broke the awkward silence. "...Behold what?"

Sky's wings drooped, as well as his smile. "...Uh...I'm not exactly sure..."

The group raised an eyebrow.

The Taillow chuckled nervously. "...Damn... The events played differently in my head."

"Probably because they were in your head," Shock deadpanned.

"What is this place?" Bill asked, looking around again.

Sky sighed. "...As I said, I'm not sure."

"But you know what this place is, right?" Vixie asked.

Sky nodded. "Of course! I was here before I met you guys!"

Shock blinked. "Really?"

Sky nodded once again with a smile. He flapped his wings and flew in the air, looking around. "For those who are curious, Latios also came here to deliver the orbs." He winked at the four friends whose eyes were growing wide. "Yep! We're about to meet the god of all Pokémon! Dun dun duuuun!"

Bill gasped once again. This time, his three Pokémon didn't glare at him, for their eyes grew wide after what the Taillow had just said reached their ears.

"Whoa!" Fay whoa'd, eyes sparkling bright. "Really?!"

"Yes, really!" Sky said cheerfully.

"Can we each ask him one wish and will it truly come true?!"

Sky blinked at her. "...What?"

"Don't tell me you believe in that fairy tale," Lyore asked, eyeing the Rattata whose ears began to droop.

"B-but... Saur said so!" Fay cried, turning to the surprised Bulbasaur.

"E-er... Well..." Saur stammered. "In my defense, I've only r-read them from the books in the daycare..."

Lyore shrugged. "See? Fairy tales."

Bill smirked as he brought a hand on his chin. "That needs to be scientifically proven first."

The Feraligatr rolled her eyes. "...Of course you'd say something like that."

Fay pouted. "So...it's not true?"

"Maybe!" Sky quickly said, catching everyone's attention. He smiled. "Hey, you're all here now, right? So there's one way to know if that fairy tale is really true or not, right?"

"Ye-yeah," Fay frowned. "But...it could mean that it's not true, too."

Sky sighed. "Look, what does it matter anyway? I'm bringing you guys back to my bro. Except for Bill and his 'mons, of course. So whatever wishes you have will probably only stay here anyway." That didn't seem to cheer the Rattata up as Sky would have hoped.

Fay shook her head. "I don't care..." She sniffed. "I...just want it to come true."

"Fay," Saur said as he rested a vine on the rodent's shoulder.

Vixie stood on the rodent's other side and nuzzled her neck. "I'm sorry, Fay..."

Shock just sighed before looking back at the Taillow. "She'll get over it, eventually." He ignored Saur's and Vixie's glare.

Sky blinked. "I...don't get it. I am really missing something here."

"Sky," Bill called, catching the bird's attention. "Can I ask why those Unowns up there look like they don't care about us being here?"

Sky smiled at him. "Of course you can ask!"

Bill smiled, but after a few seconds of nothing, he frowned. "...Well...are you going to answer?"

Sky chuckled. "Next time, you should ask 'may I' instead of 'can I.'"

Bill rolled his eyes. "Yes, teacher."

"To answer your question," Sky said, looking up. "It's because they can't see nor hear us."

Everyone blinked at him, even Fay.

"...You're not making sense," Perla said.

Sky flew back and landed on one of the statues. "Space!" He flew and landed on the other one. "Time!" He flew and landed on the last statue. "World! ...Or Reality! Whatever!" He pointed up with a wing. "They're not really there. They're in a different space, time and world slash reality!" He flapped his wings and flew in the middle of the raised platform. "Arceus' domain is also in another reality, where the gate is located."

"Hold up!" Bill raised a hand up. "You're talking too fast. What? Different reality? I thought there were only two?"

Sky blinked. "Two?"

Bill nodded. "Yeah. Your world and ours."

Sky blinked. He shrugged. "Yeah, well, I know three, if Arceus' counts."

"Is this really happening?" Perla asked, confusion clearly plastered on her face. "Time? Space? Time is constant and cannot be changed—"

Fay's features drooped at that.

"—and there is only one world!"

"You need to get out of your Pokéball more often," Sky commented.

Lyore smirked. "I'm sure she'd love that."

Lais snickered.

The Alakazam shot the both of them a glare.

Bill blinked a curious blink at his three Pokémon. He still didn't get it, Sky noted.

As Bill and Sky went back to their questions and answers, the four friends decided to have their own Q's and A's.

"Well," Shock took a breath and sighed through his nostrils. "This is it," he said before he turned to his three friends, his gaze on the Vulpix. "You ready to meet him again?"

Vixie nodded with a nervous smile. "...As ready as I'll ever be."

Shock nodded as his ears drooped. "I...still have some doubts but...if you're going, then so am I." He turned to Saur and Fay. "What about you guys?"

Vixie turned her head to her other two friends.

Saur blinked.

Fay took a deep breath through her mouth and sighed. "Well, Sky said we're going to Arceus first, right?"

Shock blinked. "...Yeah. I guess so."

Fay nodded. "Well, first I'm going to ask if he does grant wishes. Or at least one wish. If not, well," she sighed with a shrug. "Oh well." She suddenly looked angry. "Yes. I'm going too. I'll at least be very, very far away from those Rocket meanies." Her angry face suddenly then turned into a cheerful one. "Besides! It could be fun over there!"

"You...do remember that Sky and Jay said that their world doesn't have any Pokémon back there, right?" Shock reminded her. "We could...be the first Pokémon there. Ever."

Fay nodded. "And that's if all four of us touch the ground at the same time!"

Vixie shook her head in amusement.

Saur chuckled.

Shock groaned. "You're not getting the point..." even though Shock does know she got the point, he still didn't know why he was playing along. He probably had already gotten used to it. "What I mean is that...it's...just us four there."

"It won't be four soon," Fay said with a wink.

Shock blinked.

Vixie blushed and looked away.

Shock opened his mouth, realizing what she meant. "Oooooh. Right. Almost forgot about that."

Fay giggled, ignoring Vixie's soft glare.

"I have a better question..." Saur suddenly said as he looked at the Pikachu, catching his friends' attentions. "Are you going to be okay there?"

Shock arched an eyebrow. "Yes? Why wouldn't I be?"

The Bulbasaur smiled.

Shock blinked, and a second later, his features drooped. "...Oh."

Fay frowned at the two males. "I...don't get it."

Vixie frowned a worried frown at Shock. "Shock?"

The Pikachu took a breath and sighed. "I'll...live." He looked at each of his friends. "...What's important is for me to see that you guys get there safely. With my own eyes." He nodded with a strained smile. "So don't worry about me."

Fay shook her head. "I still don't get it."

"Get what?" Sky suddenly asked as he landed on top of Saur's bulb. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Please get off," Saur asked, annoyed. He was ignored.

"Nothing," Shock quickly replied. "So...we're going or what?"

"Right," Sky smiled as he took off—Saur sighing in relief—and landed on one of the statues that stood around the raised platform. "Get ready, folks!" Sky chirped, grinning as he spread his wings wide as the group stood closer, watching him. "Get ready for another reveal that I'm going t—"

A loud snapping noise echoed in the chamber. Before everyone could get the chance to even be startled, a black and thick net trapped Bill, his three Pokémon and—

"Fay!" Shock shouted, pushing his surprise away as he rushed towards his fri—

A bright blue light glowed on each strand of the net as the chamber was filled with electric crackles and hisses and the trapped ones' shrieks of pain. A clicking noise managed to echo from all the noise as the net was dragged towards the passageway where they came, the blue glow illuminating three Rocket grunts running towards the bright chamber.

"Fay!" Saur shouted, snapping everyone else back to their senses as he ran after them. He pulled his vines out and whipped and slashed it in front of him to get the grunts jump out of his way.

Ignoring the lashing Bulbasaur, the three Rocket grunts emerged from the mouth of the passageway, and before them they saw a sparking Pikachu, a fuming Vulpix and a red-eyed Tai—

Three large metals suddenly struck the heads of the three grunts, knocking them unconscious in an instant. The three thin strips of metal hovered above their unconscious forms, each were glowing in three different colors. They hovered slowly back towards the center of the chamber, Shock and Vixie eyeing it wearily.

"They've gone from funny to troublesome to becoming a nuisance," Sky said in a low voice, his red eyes glaring at the dark passageway. The Taillow was glowing faintly as the three plates hovered and circled around him.

Shock violently shook his head all too suddenly. "Fay!" He turned to the passageway. "Saur!" he shouted as he ran and went through the passageway, the shadows swallowing him.

Vixie then kicked her hind paws to—

"Leave them."

The Vulpix skidded to a halt. Blinking back her surprise, she turned around and gasped as she saw the three plates were...inserting themselves to the glaring Taillow.

"We're going to Jay."

"B-but...!" she stammered, looking back. "Fay is—! And Saur...!"

"I don't need them to come with me anyway," Sky said quietly yet icily as he glared at the Vulpix. "You're the only one I need. The only one Jay needs." He spread his wings wide.

Suddenly, the raised platform began to glow with a strange symbol on it as thin wisps of translucent energy began to surge from the corners of the platform.

"Now," Sky said, "we're going home."

Vixie stared at Sky in shock and disbelief.

The Taillow grinned a manic grin. "...It blew your mind, yes? My reveal?"

The Vulpix furrowed her brows, her ears twitching from the faint sounds of battle she started hearing. "Yes. But can we talk about that later?" She looked back at the passageway. "We need to—"

"Get going," Sky interrupted her as he flapped his wings, flew and landed on the center of the glowing platform. "Now come. Jay awaits!" he said, grin fading.

"Are you crazy?!" Vixie snapped in surprise. "I...I-I can't leave them behind! You... You said we're all going!"

"Let me repeat myself for the last time," Sky said quietly with a frown. "I. Don't. Need. Them."

Vixie's eye twitched. "...Well... I do. And I'm not coming with you without them!" She looked back at the passageway again. "...Shock was right. And I should have listened," she muttered to herself as she ran towards the mouth of the passageway, but four metal plates struck the ground before her just a few centimeters away from one of the unconscious grunts. She gritted her teeth as she skidded to a stop, glaring at the four different colors of her reflection from the plates before her. She turned around and locked her glare at the glaring Taillow. "Sky?! What are you doing?!"

"Fulfilling my promise," Sky said as he gestured with his wings.

Vixie gasped when the four plates began to circle around her for a few seconds before the metallic strips stopped and trapped her like a cat inside a very tall box.

"Now then," the Taillow said as he began to command the plates to move towards him, the lower tips dragging on the floor.

A great torrent of fire suddenly erupted from inside the plates that lasted for a second. Vixie propelled herself up from the fiery energy and she landed on four paws a few inches away from the plates, glaring at the bird.

Sky blinked, glare gone momentarily. "Huh... That was cool, by the way."

"Taking me away from my friends is not cool!" Vixie snapped back before she released a large torrent of fire towards the Taillow, who easily blocked her attack by two more plates that emerged from his glowing body. She quickly stopped her attack with a startled gasp and kicked the ground, pushing herself back just before a plate struck her body.

"I'll bring you with me back to my brother," Sky quietly said as the six plates floated in the air. "This might hurt, but don't worry, I'm just gonna knock you out cold."

"Too bad!" Vixie shouted as she jumped to the side to dodge two plates that quickly flew to knock her. She blasted another approaching one with a blaze of fire, ducked one that flew just inches above her, jumped back, breathed out another torrent and continued to dodge the flying plates. She skidded to a stop in front of the entryway. She never wanted to back down from a fight, but she knew that she couldn't win this one, so with gritted teeth, she ducked another flying plate before turning around and—

Vixie stumbled on an unconscious grunt's arm, and she fell with a startled gasp. She quickly tried to kick herself up, but from the corner of her eye, she saw a fast-approaching plate that would hit her, and she didn't have enough time to dodge nor to brace herself.

A zigzaggy bolt of electricity suddenly flew above her head, zapping the plate just inches before it struck the bracing Vulpix. "Vixie!" Shock's voice echoed from the passageway. He jumped over the unconscious bodies as he released multiple torrents of electricity, zapping the other plates. "What's going on here?!" he asked as soon as he landed in between his friend and the glaring bird.

"S-Sky's gone crazy!"

Sky grunted as a few more plates flew out of him, startling the Pikachu. "Listen, Vixie. This is your last chance to come with me unharmed."

"U-unharmed?!" Shock shouted. A plate suddenly struck him from his side, sending him flying towards a wall. "Oof!"

"Shock!"

The Pikachu lost his consciousness just before he met the ground.

"You have ten seconds," Sky said, glaring at the shocked Vulpix. There were sixteen metallic plates floating in the air now, all aimed at the Vulpix. "...Seven."

Vixie mumbled something.

Sky furrowed his brows. "...Six."

The Vulpix turned her angry and tearful eyes at him.

"...Five."

Vixie hissed, fumes of fire escaping her lips.

"...Four."

The sixteen plates all stopped moving.

"...Three."

Vixie mumbled something again, but it was too quiet for Sky to hear.

"...Two."

The two Pokémon kept their glares on each other.

"...One!"

The Taillow's eyes glowed red as the plates all flew towards the Vulpix, whose eyes glowed purple. The plates all hovered merely a foot or so around her as she gritted her teeth, focusing her mind on the psychic energy that she surrounded around herself. As the seconds flew by, the plates crept closer and closer to her. Her paws started to tremble as she tried to keep up her psychic shield.

Sky sighed. "Vixie... I really, really do not want to hurt you." He frowned as he looked back at her. "Please... I...just want to see my brother happy..."

Vixie's eye twitched. "You're not Jay's brother!" she shouted, losing her concentration, and in a split of a second, she lost her consciousness as well.

Sky, startled, immediately pulled the plates away from the crushed Vulpix. "Sh*t!" he said, pupils shrnking to pinpricks. "Oh sh*t oh sh*t oh sh*t—!" he chanted as he flew towards her to—

A quick bolt of electricity struck the Taillow, shocking him for a number of seconds before the bolt died down. The hovering plates shook and fell on the floor with loud clangs along with the unconscious bird.

Shock was breathing deeply as he stood with a paw holding his side. He was still in a lot of pain, barely holding on to consciousness, but he forced himself up to help his friend, yet he was too late. "Nng...!" he gritted his teeth as he dragged himself towards the Vulpix. "V-Vixie... J-Jay, if...if she...i-if she..." he choked on a sob as he dragged himself towards her. "...I'm...I am g-gonna kill you..." He couldn't see any blood, but who knows how powerful or life-threatening that attack that she got from that...that... He threw a glare at the Taillow, but after he saw no movement from him, he returned his gaze on the Vulpix.