Arcanum IC

The humming sound was drawing closer but there was still no sign of its source. Kitaru looked around eagerly awaiting any hint of the Pokémon's approach, while Mischief had his ears open and his mouth shut, for once. The humming grew louder and soon Kitaru was able to make out the cry of the approaching Pokémon.


"Yaaaaaaannnnnn!" The cry rang through the air in a continuous hum. A blue and green dragonfly like Pokémon appeared from the gloom it was heading towards the light of the fire.


"Right Mischief hit it with a Vine Whip!" Kitaru shouted to Mischief who shot out two vines and whipped the Pokémon twice.


"Yan! Yan!" The bug Pokémon hummed angrily, the Pokémon was annoyed at being attacked and prepared it's self to retaliate. Kitaru really wish that he knew what Pokémon it was. "Yaaaannnn!" It screeched as it flung its self into Mischief.


"Paaannnsssaaaggee!" Mischief screamed as he flew through the air. The flying Pokémon had Tackled him and sent him on a short flight of his own. Mischief landed and bounced up again once as he hit the ground. He pulled himself onto his knees and then pushed himself up onto his feet. He scowled and then leapt at the bug Pokémon As he neared his enemy he began to claw at the air in rage.


"Pansage! Pansage! Pansage! Pansage! Pansage!" He yelled as he slashed away. Kitaru realised that this must be Fury Swipes. Wasn't it an attack where the Pokémon clawed wildly at it's enemy, in theory it was quite a powerful attack but the way it was individual strikes often missed lowering the overall damage of the attack.


"Well done Mischief!" Kitaru congratulated his Pokémon on learning a new move. Before Kitaru or Mischief had chance to think the bug Pokémon had ploughed into Mischief with a Quick Attack. A little dazed Mischief got up again, he was starting to tire, Kitaru hoped that he could hold on a bit longer. "Attack with another Vine Whip!" Kitaru yelled and Mischief attacked, lashing out with his vines. The attacks hit the bug Pokémon that quickly recovered and charged again with another Tackle. Mischief was sent flying into the air.


"Yanma!" The bug Pokémon yelled rapidly changing direction mid flight and charged back at Mischief, who was still in the air. It struck him with a Quick Attack in mid air. Mischief landed in a heap already knocked out. Kitaru recalled his Pokémon and took another Pokéball form his belt, this one empty. The bug type was focusing its attention on him now and was charging head on towards him. Kitaru waited until it got close and then threw the Pokéball right at it. With a startled cry the bug Pokémon was drawn inside. The ball began to wobble and Kitaru hoped that this one would stay shut.

Soul listened anxiously as the buzzing sound grew louder, it seemed to be coming from some bushes in front of him and the man. Soul and the man just stared at the bushes for a while, eventually, Soul let his curiosity take over his actions. It wasn't like him to approach something head-on, but rather to carefully examine things to see if they posed any threat at all. The buzzing seemed to grow louder and louder the closer Soul came to them, he reached his hand out to move away the twigs and leaves to see what was happening behind them…

As he gently came in contact with the foliage, Soul was sent back by the force of a clay-red stream buzzing angrily. He hit the ground hard and the man quickly hurried to him,

"Wildboy! Are you alright?" he asked with a worried look on his face as he held out his hand to Soul. The young boy just slapped the helping hand away. He got up and dusted himself off, he then gently started to rub his back. This was the SECOND time that he had landed on his back this day and frankly, it was starting to piss him off.

"I'm fine!" he growled at the man. He then turned his gaze at the clay-red flash that was flying angrily around the air,
"What is that?" he asked.

"Oh, that is-" the brown-haired man began, but he was interrupted by a hard gale of air showering him and Soul. Both of them found it hard to breathe in the strong wind current that enveloped them, Soul looked up to see if his suspicions were right. They were. In the air, Soul could see that the angry cloud emitting buzzing sounds started to spin around like a gyro, creating the gust that made it difficult for the boy to breathe.

"Crap." Soul said under his breath. If Bolt wasn't knocked out he could've used his Thunderbolt to attack this thing, whatever it was…
"Hey you!" Soul shouted to the man

"What?!" the man yelled, he couldn't hear what Soul said.

"WHAT?!" Soul heard about as little as the man. He then picked up one of his Pokéballs and pointed at it. The man seemed to have caught on to Soul's idea immediately and took out a Pokéball of his own. He pressed the button in the middle of the catching device and with a white flash of light, a figure appeared beside him. This figure was completely different to the one he called "Mushie", this one was also completely unknown to Soul. It was white and shaped sort of like a torpedo, red and blue spots covered it's body and it had two large, magnificent wings.

"Air Slash!" the man yelled to his Pokémon. The white creature nodded as it's wings started to glow in a light-blue shine, it then jumped up in the air and slashed with it's wings rapidly. The slash created a wave of air in the same color as the Pokémon's wings had just glowed in. The Air Slash traveled quickly and cut through the strong wind with ease, it hit the buzzing cloud and splitted it in half.
"Good job Togina!" the man praised and petted the Pokémon as it landed on his shoulder. The white creature cooed with delight and blushed slightly, it probably thought that it wasn't worth THAT much praise for so little.

"What is that?" Soul said and pointed at the cloud who had now reassembled and was buzzing even more angrily.

"Look closely." the man said. Soul intensely fixed his stare at the cloud, when it was still and not swooshing around he could see that it was made up of Pokémon. They were relatively small, were clay-red colored and had three heads organized in a formation that looked like pieces of honey walls. They also had small fast-beating wings, some of them even had markings on their lowest head.

"What are they?" Soul asked. Well whatever they were it was clear that they were angry and not to be taken lightly.

"They are Combee, the Tiny Bee Pokémon. Combee are mostly social among their own kind, they are generally harmless and will run away when threatened. BUT, if they are with their queen they will be incredibly aggressive and protective. They can even kill anything if they see it as a threat towards their queen. Combees live in deep forests but can also be found in certain caves, they are often found collecting honey for their hive." the man said with a serious look on their face, "Seeing how they are formed like a cloud I would guess that their queen is with them. But I do not know why this is however."

Soul was a bit terrified of what the man had said, Combees were really THAT protective of their queen? But he was also astonished by how much this man knew about Pokémon,
"Who exactly ARE you?" he asked.

"Me? I haven't introduced myself? How rude of me, I'm Ma-" the man was cut off by another blast of wind from the Combee swarm. He looked up, "If we could just scramble them somehow…" he said quietly. Then, his face lit up as if he had gotten an idea. He reached into one of his many pockets and took out something that looked like a small, white crystal.
"Wildboy! Catch!" he yelled and threw the crystal to Soul.

The young boy caught it,
"What is this?" he asked with suspicion in his voice as he looked at the weird crystal.

"It's a Revive!" the man yelled, "Use it on your Pokémon, it will heal them from fainting!"

Soul would normally not trust this man at all, but he was currently in a pretty dire situation so an exception had to be made. If he wanted to survive that was. He took out Bolt's and Cecilia's Pokéballs and let out the two Pokémon, they were out stone-cold. Soul broke the Revive in two pieces, this proved a bit difficult though since the item was so small, he stuck the crystal-pieces in Bolt's and Cecilia's mouths. After a quick moment they both opened their eyes and stood up. They were still a bit woozy but managed to keep their balance pretty well. Soul then handed them both a Sitrus Berry each that he took out from his pockets, the Pokémon quickly and greedily gobbled the berries up. They looked at the Combee swarm while slowly licking their mouths,

"Pour, pan."(So this is what we're facing eh?) Cecilia said,

"Teon, jol!"(Hah, these bozos have NO idea how deep trouble they're in!) Bolt arrogantly laughed.

Soul laughed, his Pokémon friends were up and at 'em again!
"Well then, Bolt hit 'em with a Thunderbolt!"

"You got it." The Jolteon said. His lime-green fur started crackling with electricity, he then fired off a bolt of lightning at the swarm. It traveled quickly through the air and easily hit it's target. The Combees gave off small sounds of pain an fluttered downwards for a moment, as they dissembled, Soul spotted a bigger Pokémon in the middle of the swarm. It had the same coloration as the Combees, it also had a large abdomen resembling a dress as well as a gemlike growth on it's head. When it noticed that all the Combees had temporarily left her, the queen gave off an agitated roar as she raised her head. The gem on the queen's forehead started glowing in a dark-brownish aura, she then lunged her head forward and fired what looked like shards of a rock at Soul.

Cecilia acted quickly and shot a Water Gun at the shards coming toward her trainer, the water attack made contact with the shards and successfully knocked them away. The queen was infuriated by this, and she quickly started to give off a loud buzzing sound which made the Combees gather around her like a wall again.

"What the…" Soul said, "I thought we knocked the Combees out, you said that they were pretty weak right?!" he gave a distrusting look towards the man, had he been fooling Soul this whole time? Was he getting revenge by making the boy anger the Combees and their queen to make them target him?

The man sighed, "Did you see that big Pokémon in the middle of the swarm?" he asked.

"Of course I did! It would be pretty hard to miss it." Soul said angrily, what was that guy getting at?

"That is Vespiquen, the Beehive Pokémon. Vespiquen are the queen of a Combee-hive, her job is to protect it as well as giving birth to new Combees. It rarely attacks unless her Combees are unable to defend the hive. If outsiders prove themselves worth to a Vespiquen, she will most likely reward the outsider as an act of respect." the man said. Soul was once again astounded by his knowledge of Pokémon, how did he know so much?

"I can tell why they are attacking…" Soul said, "Something has been stolen from them, and they're angry… I think that they need to be calmed down."

"Yes! Genius!" the man exclaimed. Soul gave him a questioning look, "If we knock out the Vespiquen then they won't have anybody to give them orders, they'll be so confused that they won't be able to do anything!" he smiled, this was an awesome idea, one of the better ones he had come up with in his life actually… "I'll create an opening, you take care of their queen!" he looked briefly at Soul to see if he had caught on to the plan, Wildboy nodded in agreement. "Okay, Mushie! Use Spore!" he yelled. The mushroom Pokémon behind him gave off a slight squeal, she loved putting people to sleep. It was just a fun little prank that she enjoyed to pull, especially on her trainer. The green spores emitted from her body traveled up in the air, "Now Togina! Use your wings to create a wind current!" the white Pokémon cooed in agreement and started flapping her wings. The gust created blew the spores towards their enemy at a rapid speed, they hit the Combee-swarm and Soul observed as the Bug-types slowly closed their eyes and drifted downwards towards the ground. Then, some Combees snapped their eyes back open instantly, they were the ones without a red mark on their lowermost head.

"What? What happened?!" Soul said, why were those Combees hardly fazed by the attack?

"They are male Combees." the man said, "Only Combees of female gender evolve, the male ones stay Combee for their entire life. Their primary objective is to protect the queen at ANY cost, so they are technically sleeping, but their instincts tell them to stay by the Vespiquen's side."

Soul sighed, this was going to prove more difficult than he thought. Although he admired the male Combee's determination to protect their queen, it was almost too bad to beat them up. Sigh, he had to, or else this wouldn't end pretty.
"Bolt, use Thunderbolt and Cecilia use Water Gun!" he exclaimed. The two Pokémon nodded at each other and fired their respective attacks, the Thunderbolt chocked the Combees and made them wake up. They turned their heads around in confusion and before they could remember what they were doing before they got put asleep Cecilia's Water Gun hit a small group of them. Soul asked for her to fire it multiple times at all the Combees, she did so, temporarily stunning most of them. Soul smiled, he then took a few steps back, got into a running position, and sprinted off.

The man watched with a confused look as Soul started to run,
"Quick use your Flying-type to carry me for a bit!" Wildboy exclaimed. The man started to see what this boy was trying to accomplish,

"Hah, you're crazy, you know that?" he chuckled, "Okay Togina! Give him a lift!" he smiled. Togina cooed in agreement, this boy was fun, he sure had his own ways of battling Pokémon that was for sure. She swooped down and picked up Soul as he ran, giving them both a bit of momentum. The Combees was starting to awaken now and noticed the incoming assault, they sent a blast of Gust at Togina and Soul. The white Pokémon yelped at the sudden impact of air, Soul looked at her,

"I can take it from here." he said. The young boy then jumped off from the white Pokémon heading towards the nearest Combee. Soul landed on the Bug-type and then jumped to another one, slowly but steadily making the jumps he headed towards the Vespiquen. The queen noticed this and quickly fired off the Rock-type attack she had used earlier, as the shards closed in on Soul he jumped in a zig-zag pattern to avoid them since they were going in a straight line. Getting closer and closer, jumping on Combee after Combee, Soul was beginning to tire out a bit. He eventually reached the last Combee before the Vespiquen, she fired another set of shards at the boy. Crap. Soul was unsure if he could handle this at all… As one shard closed in on him the young boy spread out his coat, he almost looked like a Gligar or an Emolga in full flight. Several of the shards passed through his coat making larger holes in it. Soul got closer and closer, he took off his mask revealing his face to the Vespiquen, and he opened his blind eye and stared at the queen. She flinched for a second. That was his chance.

"BONDING. HEADBUTT!!!"

Soul's forehead came in contact with the Vespiquen's, she felt an extreme pain as the boy hit her, a cracking sound could be heard. What was it? The Vespiquen's eyes darted around until she discovered where it came from, the jewel on her head, her precious crown had gotten a small crack in it. No.

Togina flew up and got ahold of Soul as the Vespiquen fainted, she then came crashing down to the ground. With the heavy thud that was produced when the queen hit the ground, all of the awoken Combees turned around to see what had happened. Their eyes met the terrifying sight of the Vespiquen on the ground, out stone cold. In a flash, all of them fell onto the ground unsure what to do.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeyy! What's goin' on over there?!" a relatively skinny boy, a bit older then Soul, came running. He had a red T-shirt, blue jeans with suspenders and a straw hat placed firmly on his head. Accompanying him was a blue, canine-like creature known as Elektrike, it gave off several barks as him and the boy arrived at the scene. "Wh-Whut the he…" the boy's jaw completely dropped. There he stood, facing two complete strangers who had just defeated an entire hive's worth of Combees PLUS their queen. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" he yelled at them both.

"I can explain this," the man began, "You see, we were just here minding our own business when we were suddenly attacked by a group of Combees along with their queen. Wildboy here deduced that they had gotten something stolen from them and that they were mad about it." he said. Soul got down on the ground, thanked Togina and quickly went off to find his mask.

"Well, they HAVE been troubled by a Mothim stealing their honey recently. It's been going on for quite some time now, I guess they got sick and tired of it…" the boy said, he made a small pause before continuing on, "And I guess that it's KINDA good that you calmed 'em down…"

Soul went up to the Vespiquen, he had found his mask and it was luckily still intact, so now it was covering up his face again. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Vespi… Quen…?"(What happened… You, you knocked me out right?) the Bug-type said. Soul stood there, confounded for a second. What did she say? He couldn't quite understand Pokémon whose language was foreign to him.

"She asks if you knocked her out." Cecilia said to Soul.

"Oh, then yes, yes I did." Soul turned to the Vespiquen.

"Ah, I see. I find you interesting, you managed to crack my precious crown-jewel. No one has been able to do that before." she said. Cecilia swiftly translated it to Soul.

"That honors me a lot." Soul said in a polite manner as he bowed down before the Vespiquen. She WAS a Pokémon royalty after all.

"Though I find you to be strong and strategic and I would like to accompany you, I cannot do so. I have a kingdom of my own that I need to rule. So in my place, I will send my daughter with you. She is a young princess who needs experience if she is going to inherit the throne from me one day. Would you be so kind to help me with this task?" the Vespiquen said. Once again, Cecilia translated it all for Soul.

"I agree to the fullest my dear queen!" Soul said.

"Good." the Vespiquen said. She called out a certain tone, and in a second, a small female Combee appeared. "Honeycomb, you will be traveling with this man."

"What?! With him?! Mother I simply object, this ruffian-" Honeycomb started protesting, but she was quickly cut off by her mother,

"No, you will do as I say. I am your mother and if you EVER want to inherit the throne, you must gain experience. I have concluded that this man is more suitable than the others you usually see roaming around here." the Vespiquen's voice was strict and determined.

"Fine, I'll go with this ruffian!" the Combee sighed. She floated over to Soul and blasted him with a small gust of air to prove that she was superior to him.

When Cecilia was about to protest, the man showed up,
"You did a good job today Wildboy. You deserve these." he held out his hand. In it was six Pokéballs. Soul stared at them, was the man giving him these? "Aren't you gonna take them?" the man smiled. Soul gave off a loud sigh and quickly took the capture devices, normally he wouldn't have accepted anything from a human. But this one seemed so persistent, so he would probably never leave until Soul took his gift. "No, thank you?" he laughed,

"Don't push your luck human." Soul grumbled. The man just laughed,

"Well, I should be going now so that my girlfriend isn't worried about me. I hope we meet again Wildboy, the one of the Pokémon." and with a smirk on his lips, the man walked away. Soul enlarged one of the Pokéballs he received and tapped Honeycomb with it. The princess was absorbed by a red light and sucked into the device, it was left rocking in Soul's hand.

Kitaru went to retrieve the fallen Pokéball after it had successfully captured the bug type Pokémon Azura watched him with mild interest. He picked the Pokéball up and returned to his tent where he sat down. Then he released the Pokémon from its ball.


"Hello." Kitaru said to his new Pokémon he felt a bit weird talking to it and didn't know what to say. "I don't exactly know what kind of Pokémon you are so if you could tell me that would really help." He didn't know if the Pokémon would understand but he hoped to get some kind of response.


"Yanma!" The bug Pokémon hummed ecclesiastically. It stretched its wings and flew a few feet into the air before landing again.


"Well I guess that your a Yanma then." Kitaru said studying the Pokémon carefully. Azura came across form where she had been laying as well to study the new member of Kitaru's team. It or rather she was a female Yanma. "Well I guess I need to give you a name now. This is Azura." Kitaru said motioning to his Glaceon.


"Eon." Azura cried softly.


"The Pansage you fought was Mischief and I'm Kitaru." Kitaru finished, while the Yanma looked at him. "So now for your name..." Kitaru started.


"Yan!" The Yanma called, Kitaru looked at the Pokémon a little surprised.


"So you want to be called Yan. Well I think it sounds a bit too muck like Yang and that is a symbol of masculinity. So how about Yin? It's the very opposite it means femininity." Kitaru offered the Pokémon a suggestion while he pulled up his sleeve and stared at the mark on his wrist.


"Yanma! Yanma!" The Yanma cried jumping into the air and fluttering back down with excitement.


"I guess that's settled. Hello Yin." Kitaru said smiling at the Pokémon. Yin's stomach growled. "Are you hungry?" Kitaru asked as he went into a pocket of his bag and pulled out the bag of berries normally reserved for Mischief. He pulled out one of the smaller berries and held it in his hand so that Yin could eat it. She floated into the air and plucked the berry from his hand, wafting Kitaru a little with her wings.


***



Kitaru fed her several more berries until he spotted a light on the road bellow where he had set camp.


"Hey down there." He called at how ever was travelling past, as it was obvious that the light came from a torch.


"Hey, your self!" Came the reply, in a male voice, from not too far away. The voice was close enough so that Kitaru could hear a light hearted chuckle from the person who had just shouted. The person approached climbing the hill until he was in sight of Kitaru. Well not quite, his flash light was aimed at the ground but Kitaru was only able to make out the man's silhouette in the gloomy woods. "Hello friend." The man said, as he approached the fire light, his voice betrayed him as a foreign, his Arcanian was good but it had an accent that Kitaru couldn't place. The man came into sight and gestured at a near by log. "May I?" He asked and Kitaru nodded. To which the man drew the log closer to the fire and sat down. On closer inspection Kitaru could clearly see that the man was foreign he didn't have the look of a Arcanian he was also a lot older that Kitaru. A nearby sound startled Kitaru, a Growlithe presumably belonging to the man had approached. Kitaru had been so focused on the man he hadn't even noticed it. "So kid what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" The man asked as he picked up a stick and poked the fire.


"I'm setting off on a journey." Kitaru said. "Are you a trainer?" He asked the man.


"Yes, the name's Flint Watson." The man replied, with out looking up from the fire. "I don't think I need ask you. Many a kid your age set off on journeys don't they." Kitaru nodded.


"Do you want a battle?" Kitaru asked, he didn't know why but it just seemed the natural thing to say to another trainer.


"You are joking right?" The man asked staring at Kitaru like he was out of his mind. "Yes, trainers do battle each other for sport, but sometimes in this world there are more pressing needs. For example look around you. It's the middle of the" The next word Kitaru didn't recognize as Arcanian. "night. Excuse me but I don't know any Arcanian curses." The man said in response to the Kitaru's funny looks. "And by the way, how long have you been a trainer?" The man asked.


"Well I set of this morning and I only got my Pokémon the other day." Kitaru said, the man nodded.


"So you've been a trainer all of one day and you think that you can just challenge anyone you meet? Not yet lad. Now I've been a trainer for over ten years already, the time I've spent training just the Pokémon I've got with me is likely longer that your entire lifetime. Do you think that you would stand a chance against my Pokémon." The man said, Kitaru was starting to get a little angry with him and it was showing. "I'm not trying to offend you. You've got spirit and guts that's a lot for a start but until you've got experience. Until you and your Pokémon have trained together for tireless hours you'll still be rookie. Even then there'll be thousands of people better than you. So if one day you want to be able to just go up to anyone you meet and challenge them to a battle you had better work hard kid." Kitaru nodded what Flint said made sense. "Now how about offering me a name kid?"


"Oh. I'm Kitaru Chida." Kitaru said, bowing his head slightly.


"Nice to meet you Kitaru." Flint said, then his Growlithe growled. "Yes Fido, I know you hungry me to." He said to the Pokémon. "Kitaru you eaten yet?"


"Yes I have." Kitaru nodded.


"Mind if I cook on your fire?" Flint asked.


"Go ahead." Kitaru replied gesturing towards the fire. Flint put down the twig he had been poking the fire with and got out some tins and cooking equipment. Kitaru watch transfixed, as Flint prepared his meal. He began by opening a tin of minced beef and pouring it into a pot. Next he took a tin, a board and a knife. He unscrewed the top from the tin and took out a number of berries. Amongst them was a few plump juicy Tamato berries, a hot and spicy looking Touga berry and a number of Rindo Berries. There were other berries and root vegetables that Kitaru associated with his mother's cooking. Firstly Flint tended to the Tamato berries he cut them up and chucked them in the pot. Followed by repeating the same process on the Touga berry but he only used half putting the rest away for another time. Next he prepared the other berries and vegetables and added a little water. He then put a lid on the pot and placed it in the fire to cook. Kitaru had time to study Flint more carefully while he cooked. He had short stubble across the lower part of his face and parts of his brown hair were starting to turn grey. His face was weathered and his clothes looked just as worn, Kitaru noted several patches in his jeans.


***



When the food was done Flint dished up a bowl and offered it out to Kitaru. Kitaru just looked at him, should he really be accepting food from this guy, he though to him self.


"It's safe to eat." Flint said sensing Kitaru's hesitance. Kitaru took the bowl and looked at it's contents, it was some kind of stew or something. "It's chilli." Flint said dishing himself and Fido up a bowl. "It's a recipe I picked up on my travels." He said as he and his Pokémon began to dig in. Kitaru took a spoon full and ate it. It was good, a little on the hot side which made Kitaru happy that Flint had only used half a Touga berry.


"This is really good." Kitaru said with a mouthful of chilli. "Thank you."


"Your welcome." Flint replied.


***



They all finished eating in silence. Kitaru was the first to finish he had already eaten and so didn't manage the last of his chilli, instead Flint had given it to Fido.


Flint took a small kettle from his bag and filled it with water, he prepared a hot chocolate drink and made a cup for Kitaru and himself. They sat drinking their hot chocolate and talking.


"Flint, why did you become a trainer?" Kitaru asked after a long silence.


"Why I did isn't important. Why am I still a trainer is." Flint began. "Being a trainer can be a hard life. You won't get rich easily and there is a lot you have to sacrifice but it has its rewards." He gazed into the fire. "You get to see the world. To sleep below the stars. And to train alongside friends who will be with you for a lifetime. But ultimately you do have to give things up. I travel from place to place spending a few months here or there working for money never settling down or getting to know anyone in depth. The thing is that you never stay in one place long enough to really get to know that place. It's like staring at a pool of water from a boat. You can see the surface but as you row the ripples hide what's under the waves." Flint said, his words were poetic but tinged with sadness. Kitaru pitied the man. "Kitaru do you know what you want?" Kitaru open his mouth to talk but Flint stopped him. "I don't need to know, as long as you do that's all that matters. Well go out and get that thing and once you have it go back home. Go back and be with those who care for you. Your family and friends." Nothing more was said after that until Kitaru said a short good night and retired to his tent.


***



In the morning Kitaru awoke to the buzzing of bug Pokémon. He opened his eyes and immediately noticed that his bag had been emptied and that Mischief had gotten out of his ball. Kitaru put two and two together and got up to search for the Pokémon of whom there was no sign of in the tent. He had barely gotten out the flap of the tent when he spotted the small green monkey rooting through Flint's bag. Flint was still asleep so Kitaru went over to Mischief and grabbed the Pokémon, dragging him back inside the tent.


"Mischief! That was wrong!" Kitaru scolded the Pansage in a hushed voice but stern tone. Mischief looked like he was going to cry but Kitaru ignored him. "I'm going to put you back in your Pokéball now. I want you to think about what you've done." He returned the Pokémon to it's ball and set to cleaning up his stuff. There were no berries left so Yin was going to have to go with out. Kitaru was a little annoyed that Mischief had eaten all the berries and Yin had none. Only Azura had slept out of her ball the night before it comforted Kitaru to know that she was there. She was still asleep, so Kitaru went outside to get breakfast.


***



When Flint woke Kitaru went over to him he wanted to apologize.


"I'm really sorry but when I got up this morning my Pansage had gotten out of it's ball and was digging it's way through your bag." Flint said nothing at first he just went away to check his belongings. Kitaru wouldn't have blamed him if he didn't want to speak to him again after this. He returned just after Kitaru had finished his breakfast, which had been a simple bowl of oats, a far cry from his usual breakfast. "Was anything missing? Can I offer you any compensation?" Kitaru asked.


"No and there's no need to." Flint said but his face looked concerned. "Let me take a look at that ball." Kitaru hesitated again, was he trusting this guy too much. "Well then." Flint said and Kitaru handed Mischiefs ball to him. He examined it very carefully and then said. "This Pokéball has been damaged some time in the past and it's a little faulty now. I can fix it for you, prevent any repeats of this morning happening."


"That would be great!" Kitaru said, it would be one less thing to worry about. Flint nodded and took a screw drive to adjust the Pokéball. Five minutes later it was fixed. Flint packed his stuff to leave with out having any breakfast and released Fido. He was about to set off for the day while Kitaru was packing his tent away but then he turned back.


"Kitaru do you happen to know which way it is to Januvale?" Flint asked.


"It's my home town." Kitaru said laughing and gave him gave him general directions to it.


They said their good byes and Flint set off. Kitaru set off half an hour later.


***



It was mid-morning and Kitaru was walking along a fast flowing river. Up ahead there was a bridge crossing it that and a sign post saying that Feborough Town was over the bridge. As he neared the bridge he could hear a panicked Pokémon cry.


"Dian! Ledian!" It cried, but Kitaru couldn't make out where it was coming from. The Pokémon continued to cry as Kitaru stopped and looked round. The cry was getting near and the Pokémon sounded like it was in trouble. Then Kitaru spotted it. A Ledian had fallen into the river and was being washed down stream by the fast flowing waters. Right now it was the other side of the bridge. Without wasting a second. Kitaru grabbed a long stick and sprinted to the wooden bridge. The bridge was only low and with the stick he could reach the surface of the water. He positioned himself to catch the Ledian on the stick. As it was swept under the bridge the Ledian grabbed hold and clung on. But the current was too strong and it washed the Ledian off and down stream. Kitaru was help less as he watched the bug type bob in the water it's wings too wet to fly. Fly that was it it would be risky but it was worth a shot. Kitaru released Yin.


"Do you think you can rescue that Ledian?" Kitaru asked, if Yin didn't want to go she didn't have to after all there was a chance she would end up in the same situation if her wings got wet. With out even responding to the question Yin set off flying along the river. She dived low along the surface of the river where the water splashed up around her but her good eyesight and fast reflexes meant that she could avoid getting too wet. She reached the Ledian and it grabbed hold of her. Straining under their combined weight she flew back to the back where Kitaru raced to meet her. She set down the Ledian and Kitaru congratulated her before returning her. He looked at the Ledian and it at him. It shook off the water. Quite out of the blue, in one smooth motion it jumped into the air and while Kitaru was watching, it delivered a sharp uppercut under his chin. Kitaru was almost knocked off his feet and bit his tongue.


"Ah! What was that for!?" He exclaimed.


"Ledian! Ledian!" The Ledian insisted that she didn't need any help. But then she bowed sighing deeply. "Led, Ledian" And she stood their looking at Kitaru expectantly.


"Oh so you think you owe me and you want me to catch you. Is that right?" Kitaru asked after a few seconds contemplating what she could mean.


"Ledian!" The female Ledian responded, which Kitaru took as a yes. He took a Pokéball and threw it at her hoping that he had interpreted the meaning behind her words correctly.

"Yes!" Kitaru jumped into the air and did a little dance upon landing to celebrate his victory. He fell over while doing the dance and hastily got back on his feet. Then looked round to make sure no one had seen his mistake before picking the Pokéball up and rushing off just in case anyone had been about. He continued on the road for a while longer with out his Pokémon walking along side him, he hoped to rest Azura until he reached Feborough Town and Mischief was still grounded. As for Yin, he was allowing the comparatively weak member of his team to save her energy, she had done well earlier but she was a little tired from the effort. And his newly acquired and as of yet unnamed Ledian well he was keeping her in her ball to avoid receiving another punch. He wasn't far from Feborough Town now, maybe it would be within sight soon. As he walked he passed more houses than he had earlier on the route which suggested he was nearing the town. Quite a few of them had gardens or small ponds, there were also quite a few larger communal ponds. Kitaru was passing one of the larger communal ponds with stepping stones and a bench on the far side under a tree that hung over the water. There were two bridges that crossed the small rivers at either end of the pond, one where the stream ran into the pond and the other it ran out.

"Hey Chida! What happened to you? Did you get beaten up again or did a Feebas take offence at that face of yours?" A girl's voice came Kitaru looked out over the pond to where the voice had come from to see a Esumi Yagi, one of the few female friends he had sticking her tongue out at him, she was sat in the branches of the tree. They had been friends a long time, ever since they were kids.

"What are you doing out here Yagi?" Kitaru asked his friend remembering just how much of a tomboy she could be. She was dressed in jeans and a short sleeve t-shirt, more comfortable in boys clothes than girls. Her black hair was in two short pig tails and she was frowning slightly at Kitaru as though a little unsure of his presence.

"Not much just setting off on my own journey." She said swinging her legs and jumping down to her feet. She landed with quite a thump and ran round over the nearest bridge to meet him. She was barely out of breath when she arrived. Standing hands on hips. "And why didn't you tell me that you were starting your own journey?!" She interrogated.

"Umm..." Kitaru tried to think of a good reason, she was a fair bit shorter than him and a year younger but she could intimidate people. Then she laughed.

"You don't have to tell me I know these things kinda just happen. So how about this we have a battle if I win you tell me. If you win I'll forgive you." She looked at him with puppy dog eyes. Kitaru didn't know how a girl as tomboyish she was got away with trying to be cute.

"Great you're on!" Kitaru yelled enthusiastically.

"Oh! Before we begin how many Pokémon have you caught so far?" She asked quizzically.

"I've caught two!" Kitaru proclaimed proudly. Esumi started laughing. "What's so funny?" He asked confused.

"I've caught half a dozen in same time and here you are thinking that you've achieved so much!" Esumi said laughing even harder.

"Well... Well... Well the Pokémon I caught are stronger than yours!" Kitaru stated with confidence.

"Really?" Esumi eager to fight. "Right then we shall only use the Pokémon you have caught on this route and the battle will be a double battle."

"A what!?" Kitaru said confused.

"A double battle as in two-on-two. Seriously how are you ever going to reclaim your families honour if you don't know things like this."

"Well I thought all battles were one-on one!" Kitaru shouted at her, it was always like this they were good friends but their conversations always got heated. "Where shall we do battle?" Kitaru asked.

"Here!" Esumi gestured to the pond.

"What in the pond?" Kitaru asked confused again.

"Well no." Esumi said sarcastically. "The stepping stones are for Pokémon to stand on and the water is for them to swim in."

"If you were a guy, I would punch you, you know." Kitaru laughing.

"I would punch you back regardless." She replied joining his laughter.

***

They stood on bridges at opposite ends of the pond, there was quite a distance between them, maybe fifty meters. Esumi released her Pokémon first.

"Lotad!" A purple Pokémon with a blue lilly-pad on it's head appeared on one of the stepping stones. It dived with very little grace into the water where it began swimming around a lot more gracefully than it had on land. As it swam its body was under the water and only the lilly-pad was on the surface.

"Masquerain!" The moth like Pokémon said emerging from its ball. It skirted over the surface of the water darting about too an fro.

"I'll go next then!" Kitaru had to shout for Esumi to hear. "Go!" He yelled chucking both of the Pokéballs in his hand into the air.

"Yanma!" Yin called as she was released, instantly hovering in the air.

"Ledian! Ledian!" Kitaru's Ledian yelled as it flew face first towards the water. Kitaru flinched but when he opened his eyes he saw that the Pokémon had landed on a stepping stone. It fluttered its wings and flew back towards Kitaru as it neared it grew slower until it came to a standstill looking him in the eyes. If it had been an anime there would have been a red cross shaped vein bulging unnaturally out of one side of the Pokémon's head.

"Ledian!" It yelled delivering a punch that knocked Kitaru off his feet. It turned away. "Led. Dian dian." She muttered to her self as she flew back to her island. As Kitaru rose to his feet he could hear Esumi roaring with laughter.

"Let's get this battle started!" He shouted hoping to get on before much more happened but he was forced to wait until Esumi had finally calmed herself down. "Yin use Tackle on the Lotad! Ledian punch the Masquerain!" He ordered cursing the fact that once again he was missing important information. Yanma dive bombed the Lotad pushing the Pokémon under the surface of the water. While Ledian just looked confused.
"Do I have to give you a hint?" Esumi yelled. "Try Tackle, Comet Punch and Super Sonic."

"Thanks." Kitaru replied.

"Well I want you to have a sporting chance." Esumi boasted. "Lotad retaliate with Astonish! Masquerain Ominous Wind on the Ledian!"

Her Pokémon moved in unison. Her Masquerain skimmed the surface of the water, which went deathly still and a slight mist began to hang in the air above it. Then with two mighty flaps of her wings the Pokémon blew the fog at Ledian, the injured Pokémon had to rest on a stepping stone.. At the same time the Lotad submerged his self diving too deep for Kitaru or his Pokémon to see.

"Be on your guard." Kitaru warned his Pokémon, who both looked round to try to spot the Pokémon. The the Lotad reappeared. It jumped out of the water and dived at Ledian. He wasn't even trying to hit her but the shock was enough to make her reel back and fall into the water.

"Ledian! Ledian!" The Ledian screamed as she flapped her wings to pull herself out of the water.

"Right Ledian Super Sonic! Yanma Quick Attack! Both of you attack the Masquerain!" Kitaru ordered. His Yanma struck first hitting with a rapid head on tackle before retreating to the safety of Kitaru's half of the pond. Ledian let out a high pitched sequel.

"Ganging up on us are you? Lotad use another Astonish! Masquerain Bubble!" The Lotad dove under the water again and managed to knock Ledian into the water once again this time she expanded too much energy trying to get out and fainted. Kitaru quickly retreated his Pokémon to save her from the water. Meanwhile the Masquerain had managed to fly into its own Bubble attack in confusion and knock its self out. Leaving only Yin and the Lotad left. Kitaru was confident that he could win the Lotad looked as though it was tiring.

"Lotad Absorb!" The Lotad jumped onto a stepping stone and focused on Yin, it drew energy form the Pokémon and into its self. In shock Kitaru realised that the Pokémon had not just levelled the playing field it had tipped it in its favour. The next strike would be decisive.

"Yin Quick Attack!"

"Lotad Astonish!"

Yin dived at the Lotad but it pulled a really ugly face putting Yin off and causing her to lose control she splashed into the water and floated on it's surface knocked out.

"I won! I won!" Esumi yelled, acting the slightest bit girly in a long time, while Kitaru with drew his Pokémon. She dashed round to Kitaru who strolled round to meet her at the bench.

"Well then you better explain everything!" She said in excitement.

"You can't tell anyone." Kitaru said she nodded in reply and he went on to explain in detail the events of the past few days. He left nothing out even showing her the mark on his wrist. He wasn't sure if he should tell her but he felt a lot less tense for it. After he gave her a few minutes to take it all in.

"That's a lot to think about. The whole fate of a region is on your back if you believe Ja. Guess it sucks to be you."

"When an opponent stabs you in the back, running is wise. When someone stabs you from the front, stabbing him back is safer than you think."

Ethan had no illusions about his family. They were greedy, slightly insane, and quite possibly out to kill him. Of course the political web to go through to attempt that idea was so convoluted there'd likely a massacre before they reached his bedroom. Ethan wouldn't mind that happening. A few less elders and they might actually pose points worth considering. They were discussing something mundane, such as the herb shortage or possibly if Ethan's ears heard right, some fool breaking into the gardens. Of course productive days happened but Ethan never cared about them. Being a head of a family in healing was interesting when you actually had a gift in the art.

He glanced at his blood uncle's face, who winked conspiratorially behind a mane of black hair. Ethan turned away without a change in expression. He felt Blackie's ears twitch under his fingers almost in unison with his own. Blackie gnawed on a carrot as quietly as he could, growling under his breath.

A soft chuckle near Ethan's human ears made his inwardly sigh. Oh he hated his cousin. "Your pet seems discontent."

Without moving his lips, Ethan replied in mimicry of a teenager. "Blackie dislikes the idea of these old men breathing." Blackie barked in what had to be agreement. Because the Umbreon honestly did. These farts even smelled old.

The brunette laughed again, brushing at the sleeves of his shirt casually. "Don't we all... it'd be nice to get rid of a few."

"Get any ideas?" The problem with his cousin was not his sense of humor, that was something Ethan was beginning to grasp. No, what Kumiho hated was his ideas and his execution. It was clumsy and childish and Ethan knew that was simply him. Kumiho knew Daiki was as idiotic as his parents except with a tongue to counter it. Not to mention... "And you can answer this question with your hand away from my back."

Yeah... Ethan was quite certain that was illegal. And for all his disregard of society's laws, that was one he tried to keep following. Daiki almost pouted at him before scowling at the air.

"Convince your uncle to blow up that firecracker."

"He's your father. Tell him yourself." Before the older could reply, Ethan rose to his feet and caught their attention. Blackie pawed the tatami experimentally. "If this is all we are discussing, I shall retire for the night." He waited as he walked into the middle of the room toward the door. He knew the dramatics that were about to occur and it amused him greatly. Blackie hissed at the people he passed. This guy was related to some weirdos. Explained a lot.

"Wait young master." Oh his uncle was dead-set on something it seemed.

Kumiho paused at the doorway and turned his head slightly. "Yes? Is there a debate required of my opinion? Observation: You all have managed to settle yourselves without me. Do so now if you are truly debating so fiercely."

"It isn't that," the dark-haired man commented with the mischievous smile that Ethan knew from secondhand experience meant danger. "It is simply that you are neglecting to announce the news you left me with earlier this evening."

"Ah," Ethan sighed. "Yes that. Unfortunate for us to be certain but I am departing tomorrow morning for a trainer's journey."

To Kumiho's luck there was not an immediate outburst of disgust, which struck him as odd. Then he remembered that this could mean glory for the family. Fools sought out glory people said. "I believe it will beneficial and experience I require. The matter has been decided already." Kumiho waited the quiet out, almost able to envision the murmurs going around from them. Finally one of them, likely one of the people adopted into the Marx, responded.

"That is a wise choice young master," he began in a tone that in any other man would sound timid. "However... we must impose regulations upon this if it is done."

"Such as?" Ethan asked quietly. Blackie headed out the door and started pacing around irritably. Humans sure could talk. They had been in that room since the sun set. Jeez.

"I believe you know most of them," the man commented hurriedly. Ethan scowled now, an odd, pulsing sort of feeling bubbling in his system, almost a diluted version of wanting to hit someone.

"However, this rule you must remember." Ethan froze at his grandfather's voice. That man was in his seventies yet still could make anyone feel like a lowly worm. If this was his rule then... "You are not to seek out Elena. Your sister and mother left of their own volition. They have no part in your life. Understood."

Kumiho twitched slowly. "If I break these rules, the punishment is..."

"I believe you can answer that yourself. You're a smart boy."

"I see..." Ethan whipped around briefly and hissed hatefully. "Then I guess you'd better find yourself a new head now shouldn't you? Before you keel over?" He slammed the door shut and went down the hall, anger pulsing in his head like a heartbeat.

Ridiculous... as if I will allow them to impose such a regulation on me...

Blackie padded after him curiously. So whoever that person is, they can actually tick off this werido... huh... I'll definitely have to meet them now.

That aside, do all old people smell that awful or was it just hand in hand with being insane?

--

Blackie awoke early in the dark to find his human placing a few red and white spheres in a bag. Ethan glanced up at him and nodded. "My uncle offered me this," he said simply. Blackie twitched. Not even a hello from this guy for real. "You can lay there if you'd like but I'm leaving shortly. I doubt you'll last long if you stay here." Blackie yipped irritably at him. Like he was staying here with the smell of annoying people. He rose and shook himself, stretching to leap after the human. Ethan didn't seem too concerned as he walked out of the room and towards the side of the home. Looking around, Blackie could see it truly wasn't very large but instead very empty. Only a few people actually lived there.

"Blackie..." The Umbreon jolted from his musings and bolted after the boy. Ethan's face was calm as he stood at the edge of the fence. They must have given up on those tall walls. Ethan climbed it like an expert, leaving Blackie to scramble after him. "Tono and I went this way often," Kumiho commented to the air. "I wonder where he ran off to..." Shrugging, he climbed down and headed onward, leaving Blackie confused. No wonder the kid had smelled like a Dark type...

The quietness of Januvale was welcome to Ethan. Normally he didn't mind bustle, as it gave him more pieces to fit together. The downside of this was that his ears would never stop shifting around to noises and his tail would hit someone. That in turn would magically cause a scuffle. It had to be a human trait to take offense at every little thing and want to punch for it. Ethan hoped he could suppress it if it grew too strong in him. Fast and nimble he was, but a good fighter he most certainly was not. Not to mention the moon was incredibly bright, despite its lack of full status. That made everything so much brighter, especially the stars.

Blackie yawned a little. Just because he evolved in the nighttime didn't mean it attracted him that much. Not that the Umbreon remembered much about his evolution. It had been a while back. Blackie was pretty sure it had been an accident. Oh well there was nothing he could particularly do about it. Blackie yawned again before sniffing the air. Was it just him or was it cleaner? They must have left the city by now. Wonderful.

Ethan adjusted the straps of his bag, fiddling with one of his Pokeballs. Should he release Sear or... no. That would cause a forest fire at this time of night. Shaking his head, Ethan walked further down the path, unwilling to destroy all this serenity.

It was broken of course. There was the sound of someone, something actually, singing its way across the sky. It was a golden ladybug, four arms clenched casually into fists. "Ledi~Ledi~Ledi~" Berry~Berry~Berry~ As it flew, golden powder fell from its wings, spreading and falling over the heads of Pokemon and trainer alike. Ethan stared at it inquisitively while Blackie spat on the ground.

"Umbreon..." I hate Bug-types...

The Pokemon turned. "Ledi! Ledian!" I is a bug you! You have a problem with me.

Blackie snarled. "Um bre! Bree!" Yeah actually! Wanna fight me about it?

Ethan blinked. He had no idea what was going on. Were they... were they about to fight? Oh wonderful... and he had no idea what that bug was. Well, actually... looking at it made it appear to be a Ledian. This was likely not going to end well. Kumiho shrugged. He supposed he could try and...

Blackie yowled as he went flying backward. The Ledian had tacked him. Dear god this was hopeless wasn't it? "Blackie don't use Psy-" He was too late of course, the Umbreon's eyes shining pink and blasting a wave of energy toward the bug. It did fly back a bit to Ethan's surprise. The bug let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a whine.

"Ledi... Ledi!" Ow... that kinda hurt! I shouldn't let you do that again. I know! Ledian concentrated.

"Blackie wait!" The Umbreon glanced at him. "Sand Attack!" What was the point of that? Oh well... maybe the kid saw something. Blackie ducked and rolled, kicking up some sand into a cloud. "Quick Attack." Blackie leapt into the air just in time, crashing into the Ledian just before a sound could crash from the bug's lungs. Blackie landed back on the ground as the Ledian growled again.

"Ledidi! Diadi!" Why you! I won't lose! It let out a shrieking noise, causing Ethan to instantly clamp his hands over his ears to try to avoid the supersonic attack. It was hopeless for Blackie, who yowled angrily at an enemy only he could see... about a foot away from where Ledian was hovering. He launched himself in a Quick Attack and missed, only to be Tackled to the ground again by Ledian.

Ledian flew back up and charged again. "Diadi! DIA... LE!" Final blow! Comet... Punch! He slammed furious fists into Blackie's body, knocking the Pokemon deeper into the dirt. In his pain, the Umbreon released another, but this time spreading, Psychic. Ledian tumbled back in the air.

Ethan sighed. This wasn't ending well at all it seemed. No choice then... He pulled out Blackie's Pokeball. "Blackie... return." He sucked the Pokemon back into its ball. Clipping it back to his pants, he glanced at Sear's ball. "Just don't kill it..." He released the Pokemon and the monkey shook itself as the light faded. It glanced up at Kumiho and then at the Ledian.

"Pan... sear... sear pan pan!" What... why am I here... and what the heck is that ugly flying thing? Sear jumped back and pointed furiously at Ledian. "PAN! Pansear!" Freak! I'll burn you!

Ledian stuck out its tongue. "Ledia! Ledian!" No! You won't burn me or my Berry tree!

"Pan pan!" There are no berry trees here you moron! BURN! He released blasts of Ember at Ledian, which was dodged easily.

"Sear let him get closer. Then use Lick."

Sear glanced at Ethan and grimaced. "Pan..." Gross... But he did as told and watched as the Bug fired toward him like a golden rocket of doom. As it got closer, Sear grabbed two of the Ledian's arms and held him still, licking his face and groaning. Nasty. Evidently Ledian thought so too and flailed, using that punch attack to slam into Sear's chest. It was weakened by the use of only two arms but Sear winced and released it. "Pan...SEAR PAN!" Jerk.... Just let me roast you like a PIDGEY! He fired a heavy burst of Ember, blasting Ledian back. This time Ledian did not fly back up, what appeared to be static sparking around it. Paralysis.

Sear couldn't help but grin. "PAN!" That freak over there wasn't taht dumb after all. Ledian got back up and ran forward weakly, attempting to charge forward with four fists. Sear was ready. He dodged and Scratched at one of the arms, causing a brief yelp of pain before he fired another set of Embers. It fell, twitching from burns.

Ethan sighed. He wasn't sure that was enough but too much more and he'd have a dead bug. And this had been Blackie's fault in the first place so the least he could do is heal the insect when this was over. "Sear, back." Sear glowered and reluctantly stepped back, letting Ethan move himself closer to the twitching creature. The image could have sparked pity from another person, but Ethan remained quiet. "Behave yourself in here." He didn't seem too concerned about the creature. There was no tug toward it like with Blackie after all. Oh well, a Pokemon was a Pokemon. He tossed the Pokeball, sucking the Pokemon inside with a click. It hit the ground and shook once...twice... three times...

(I rewrote that in two hours. I don't like it. At all. LOL And then PC crashed on me. GAWD. XD)

((OOC: Okay, here is a joint post between me and Fuyu! The navy text is for Ethan/Kumiho and the turquoise text is for Soul.))

Ethan shook his head quietly. Azea was happily buzzing against his back. "Ledi... Ledi... ledi..." He was inquisitive on the reasons why he would be so excitable. Sear had nearly charred him ten minutes prior to now and yet here he was, clinging in a manner that reminded Ethan of young children. "Ledi... Ledi... Ledi..." Berry... Berry... Berry...

Blackie barked irritably. "Bre..." Dear god you Papaya addict shut up already... He padded next to Ethan with a growl. That insect was going to remain stupid wasn't it?

Ethan listened to this passively, glancing around with an obsrver's eye. He caught glimpse of someone under a tree. Should he go and disturb them? He probably should not, as Azea would likely cause anger. Blackie sniffed and snorted.

Soul sighed, the shadow under the tree was pretty cool and welcoming. He took out one of the Sitrus berries he had found in the tree and gave it to Honeycomb. The Combee just sniffed it gently at first, this wasn't what she was used to back home in the hive and it most certainly did not seem like food worthy of a princess! But she took an unwilling bite out of it anyways, she might as well get used to this. It was probably the best food she was going to get while staying with this dirty boy.

"Heh, not your taste princess?" Soul laughed and took a big bite out of another Sitrus Berry.

"Com, combee, comb!" Honeycomb answered with a snobby look on he face.

"Cecilia, what did she say?" Soul asked his Panpour who was busy trying to gobble down an Oran Berry. Sigh, he needed to learn Honeycomb's way of speaking, every Pokémon had a different way of pronouncing or romanizing words that only other Pokémon could understand. And humans, to some degree at least.

"She said that it is food fit for a ruffian like yourself but she might as well take it since she won't get any better." Cecilia said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She really didn't like the spoiled princess-brat, but the Vespiquen queen insisted on it.

"I guess so!" Soul turned to Honeycomb with a laugh, "But I guess it'll teach you to make it in the real world, eh?"

"Com." Honeycomb said. Soul actually understood this one, it meant "Hmph."

Soul then looked up and spotted something odd. Something REALLY odd. It was what looked like an ordinary human except it had Umbreon ears on it's head as well as a tail... Soul got up, put his mask on, pulled the hood over his masked face and started to walk slowly towards the creature. He wanted to know what it was and if it was dangerous or not...

Ethan paused in the middle of the road and took a step back to stand on the grass. The sun was thankfully not burning but the long sleeves made it warm. Azea climbed onto his head and stuck his face in his own. "Ian? Ledi?" Can I find Berries now? Ethan blinked in bemusement. Azea took that as a yes and flew off, making a happy noise.

Blackie snorted. "Breon..." "Peace and quiet thank the dragons... He pawed at Ethan's ankle, causing the boy to kneel and pet him absently, staring around him. Ethan disliked the quiet, especially since he knew someone was nearby. It made him anxious, hence why he hated staying at home when everybody was around. It was like being in a nest of Seviper...

The ears atop his head twitched and Ethan stilled. There was a soft crunch of footsteps edging closer to him. Perhaps the person from underneath the tree. There were multiple options about the reasons why. The person could be passing through, they could want to ask questions that Ethan knew he could not answer. They could want a battle.

However, Ethan concluded only one thing would catch someone's attention about him. He smiled now and spoke: "Are you curious about me?"

Soul flinched for a bit when he noticed the Umbreon ears twitch as if they were really a part of this creature's body... It disturbed him slightly. The creature then turned around with a smile plastered on it's face and asked a question. Was Soul curious about him? Indeed, this... Whatever it was gave off an... Alluring feeling to Soul, almost like when you see Ledybas and Ledians flying around in a summer night. Fittingly enough, the creature seemed to be accompanied by a Ledian, a Umbreon (also VERY fitting) and a Pansear...

Soul's pupils shrunk faster than what was possible for most human beings it seemed. He got a knot in his throat and sweat started to break out in his forehead. He eventually decided that as long as he kept his distance, the Fire-type wouldn't hurt him.

"One question." he said, carfully checking the fire-monkey's movements, "What are you?" he asked.

Ethan looked up at the older male. He was permanently trapped in that curse of short bones wasn't he? He would have sighed but chose not to, examining the cape wrapped around this person and the faint white that appeared when the wind blew the right way. A mask... Hmm... He saw the various holes and rips and inwardly winced. It would be eaten by Venomoths eventually. He scratched at Blackie's ears and followed the boy's eyes, seeing them watching Sear. "Are you wary of my monkey?"

"Um! Bre...Duh! I'd be wary of the psycho if I didn't know by now I could kick his butt...

"PAN!" Shut up you stupid freak! I'll kill you as soon as I get this guy!

"Eon..." Not even you are stupid enough to try that...

"Sea! Pan!" Shut. Up. The Pansear froze as Ethan returned him silently, his smile unchanged.

"That's that now isn't it," he mused. "I suppose I should answer you question shouldn't I?" He stood up straight and let Blackie climb into his arms. "I am a Moon Child. I am Kumiho." Blackie snickered derisively.

"Bree...." Cause that's totally the right answer dude. Totally. You jerk. He seemed perfectly happy about this fact, even content with the excited chirps of Azea in his ear.

Soul listened, the creature asked him if he was wary of the Pansear that it apparently labeled as 'his'. Soul sighed, was this just another human? He did call the Pansear his, as if it was some sort of property? Soul gave of a slight snort, but before he could answer the question, the Umbreon cut in. The Pansear answered quickly, Soul took a slightly panicked step back as the monkey said that he'd kill the Umbreon after finishing Soul off.

After a somewhat heated argument, the Pansear was returned to it's Pokéball. Soul let out a sigh of relief, good, now he didn't have to worry about that...

The male presented himself as a Moon Child? Kumiho? Did this mean that he was human? The Umbreon gave a snickering comment about how jerkish this male seemed. Soul gave off a slight chuckle,

"I like your Umbreon's comment." he said, amusement being the main theme of his voice right now. "But, then you are a human?" he asked with a hint of dissapointment in his voice. Soul then contradicted himself, why would this be a human? He has those Umbreon ears, they react to sound... So it's like they would be part of him... This was giving Soul a slight headache, human or not, this one was strange.

"Bre... on Umbre...." Physically maybe... but the jury's out on anywhere else... you little monster. Blackie was perfectly happy insulting Ethan. It was a quirk Ethan allowed, since he didn't know what was said or care. Blackie was his. That wouldn't change unless Ethan himself was at fault. That was usually how everything happened...

"You don't have to worry," Ethan said to the other, smiling brighter. "Sear wants to kill me not you." He observed the boy could possibly understand Blackie. Hm... useful but to him it wouldn't matter. Blackie and Sear made themselves perfectly clear and he would get on the same wavelength as Azea soon enough.

"On!"That's cause you're crazy fox-boy. Ethan laughed a little, falsely of course. Almost everything about him was fake. No one was interested in the real person. No one that was here...

"Am I a human?" Ethan repeated. "I don't really see why it matters. The truth to the world is that I appear a strange human and the truth to me is that I do not feel human and do not think of myself as such. I do not feel as an Umbreon either." Though that is expected of me... "I am merely a living being, nothing more. That is the end truth I see." His tail swished at his words and he brushed at his shirt sleeve. He was used to the appendages he wore. Kumiho never took his ears and tail off; to him it would be like cutting off an arm. Whether they were real or not, they were real to him. So it was fine to him.

He was just another oddity in the universe, just like the rest of his family.

Soul chuckled a bit at the Umbreon's comments towards it's trainer. Said person then reassured that the Pansear was out to kill HIM, not Soul. The young boy wasn't too certain about this, the monkey DID say that he'd take on the Umbreon once he was done with Soul. But that was maybe just a misiterpretation or the Pansear's sick way off telling a joke...

Kumiho then stated that he thought of himself neither as human nor Pokémon. Fair enough.

"Fine then, if you do not see yourself as human I see no reason to show hostility towards you." Soul said, he then made a small bow before the boy,
"Greetings, Moon Child Kumiho. I am Wildboy, one of the Pokémon." Soul said in an awfully polite manner for someone as himself. The young boy chuckled, if this boy lived in Januvale he had to have heard the name 'Wildboy' at least once. Soul was quite the celebrity in the little town.

By now, Soul's Pokémon decided to go over to their trainer to see what he was up to. Cecilia climbed up on his head and with a slight blush she asked:

"Mr. Soul, who are these people?"

"This is Kumiho." Soul said and scratched Cecilia gently on her back. The monkey looked at the boy with the Umbreon-ears and quickly turned away, she was way too shy. Bolt just plopped down on the ground beside Soul, his eyes fixed at Blackie, he could feel a light tingling whenever he was close to another from his evolutionary-tree. Honeycomb lazily floated over to Soul, she couldn't care less about what that savage was doing.

Blackie glanced at Wildboy as Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Bre on." Just don't tick off the firebug. He doesn't know or care who you are. He's after this blockhead. Course he won't do it though. Fox-boy scares him.

Ethan kept his eyebrow delicately raised. Humans equal hostility eh? Fair enough. He was Wildboy... Ethan knew of him but had never considered the knowledge particularly exciting. It was unlikely he would have met him unless by chance or in this case his own oddities. "I know of you," he said quietly after a moment, smiling passively. "I always heard you were quite contemptuous. But then again, the rumors have called me so as well."

"Bre..." Cause it's true. Blackie glanced down at Bolt. "Um bre...." Are you trying for the whole "too cool" look? Cause you look constipated.

Azea grinned. "Ledi..." "Berry..."

"Oh? Your friend must have a great authority to scare a Pokémon who is hostile to him." Soul said with a small laugh to Blackie, the Umbreon seemed to speak his mind often and without consideration of others. Soul listened as Kumiho explained that he in fact knew of Wildboy. The young man smiled behind his mask, the Moon Child must be from Januvale then...
"I see no reason why you shouldn't be aware of me." he said with a surprising overconfidence, Soul then realized his mistake an modested a little. "As for the contemptuous part, the humans who have called me contemptuous are perfectly correct. I DO show contempt. But only towards them." he continued.

Bolt looked at Blackie with a arrogant smile on his lips,
"Jol, jol."(I don't need to PLAY cool. Since I know that I am already cool.) he said. To him, it almost seemed like the Umbreon was trying to get him off his high horse, knock him down a peg if you would. But he wasn't gonna let the Dark-type have THAT much fun.

"Co, omb. Bee."(Hm? Another ruffian? And one imitating a Pokémon? Pshuch.) Honeycomb snorted as she looked at Kumiho, her gaze then turned to Azea. "Comb, co, bee."(Ah, this one seems to have a one-track mind,) she smiled, (But what else is to be expected from a lower bug as yourself?) the Combee-princess had never liked Ledians or Ledybas. While others of her speices thought they were pretty, she found them annoying. Their glow heavily disturbed her beauty-sleep.

Blackie shrugged. "Buhree..."Get him emotional... or look into his eyes. You'll feel it then. That authority... Blackie relaxed as Ethan's fingers stroked his head gently. He knew this was a careful thing. Blackie looked down at Jolt. "Umbre..." "It's amazing what you say you know, since a cool person doesn't look like he's trying to shove dirt off his nose. He snickered derisively. He was as bad as Ethan.

Azea looked at the Combee. "Ledi dian." I just want a Berry. Reminders are good for remembering."Dialed." Don't be mean to him. Kumiho beat me and he could beat you too. Just because you're a Combee who will be queen doesn't make you any better than me. Princesses are supposed to treat people well. HE went back to hugging Ethan's arm. Azea was a simple bug. You beat him in a fight, you were respectable. He would always listen to you. He would help anyone in his swarm. What was complicated about that?

Kumiho nodded a little. "Why?" he asked abruptly. "Creatures are imperfect I have observed. Calling an entire race beneath you is to give arrogance and an unfortunate cost of underestimation of their abilities. There's no point in being contemptuous when..." he trailed off slowly. "Never mind. I suppose your mind is set on your truth. I will not try to change it."

Blackie made a quiet purr. He was with this human because he was crazy. And because Ethan was worth respecting. The boy thought deeply, thinking of words he didn't consider. He was too neutral to be ordinary and he was too weak to be extraordinary. It made Blackie curious. THis new fellow, whoever he was, he was strong... yet deprived of something vital. Blackie didn't need Psychic to tell him that.

Athourity... Soul was growing more and more curious of Kumiho as the time passed, he was certainly one of the more interesting creatures Soul had met in his life.

Bolt growled, "Oh really?! How about you come down and say that to my face! Instead of sitting on your trainer looking like you own everything!" he was getting angry, his fur started to get spikier and spikier as it got more charged with electricity.

"Comb, comb-"(Oh? I believe that I would have no problem at all beating the one you call 'Kumiho'. He doesn't look extraordinary to me and-) Honwycomb was cut off in the middle of her "reasoning" with Azea by a certain Panpour gripping her wing,

"Pan, pan!"(Shut your mouth princess-brat. If you are going to travel with us, you have to learn to be nice!) Cecilia said in an annoyed tone. Honeycomb just started whining and squealing in pain,

"Combee, comb!"(Get your hands off me, you dirty creature!) she yelled at Cecilia.

"Panpour, pan."(I'm terribly sorry for her, she is just a spoiled bratty princess.) Cecilia turned to Azea with a look in her eyes that said: "Please forgive me."

Soul chuckled,
"You act like I don't know how humans work, of course I know that there are ones whose strenght or cleverness outmatch mine. BUT, there are more of those who are inferior to me than the ones who are superior." he said, "It would be foolish to try to change my view of things, however, I would still like to hear your argument." Soul sat down on the ground, the grass brushed against his legs and back. The young boy thereafter continued: "Even if I am a wild savage living away from humanity, I'm still reasonable enough to have a conversation with."

Kumiho shook his head. "The truth is something one must find on their own. I should not influence yours by giving you the one I have come to. It is incredibly likely the real answer has not been found as of now anyways." He sat down as well, allowing Blackie to leap off and face Bolt. "The answer that can be come to without emotion or influence from any one side of a story. So I cannot say, but thank you for asking." He was slightly pleased the male had asked, his expression unchanged to prove so. People did not care for his opinion normally. He didn't glance up at Soul, preferring to think with his head rested passively against his knees.

Blackie sauntered over. "Umbreon..." Temper temper... HE chuckled. "Breon..." I'm happy to tell you that you're an uncool moron. Cause you are! His eyes began to glow pink. "Bre." And a challenge sounds like fun...

"Blackie." The dark-furred Pokemon paused. Ethan didn't glance up nor did his tone waver. "It'd be rude to fight during a conversation." Blackie tensed slightly, hesitating. Then he nodded swiftly, laying down obediently. HE growled softly.

Azea grinned. "Ledi!" It's cool! And you have bad reasoning missy," he added to Honeycomb.

Soul listened and nodded carefully to Kumiho's reasoning, he could agree with that. He liked talking to Kumiho, the boy gave him sort of an "intelligent letout" that he didn't recieve from talking to Pokémon. Granted the creatures were not stupid, it was just that they could have sort of a lacking in flavoured conversation-skills. They were simple, yet complex creatures who even Soul had some problems understanding from time to time.

"There is no need to thank me Kumiho. Any sane person would like to hear your reasoning for things." he said.

"JOL, eon!"(WHAT?! Okay fine, I'm going to beat you to a pulp right here and now!) Bolt growled. His fur was at this point sharp as needles and crackling with electricity. Soul just put his hand on Bolt's head and started to pet the Jolteon. He then ran his hand down the Electric-type's back making the fur soften, almost as if Soul was absorbing Bolt's electricity.

"Now, now Bolt. Calm down..." he said gently.

"Com-"(How dar-) Honeycomb was cut off yet again by Cecilia pinching her wing pretty hard.

"Pan!"(Stay quiet!). Cecilia then turned to Azea again, "Panpour, pan?"(Um excuse me but... Your friend Kumiho... How come that he has those Umbreon-ears?) she blushed a bit. The water-monkey was meeting more people and Pokémon than she would've ever thought. All that time with Joresh hadn't made her used to talking to other people or Pokémon.

Ethan's smile dimmed slightly but other than that there was a peace about him, hiding the discomfort this whole conversation was giving him. Someone consciously listening to his words was rare. And rare made him wary. It implied something, a something that was new territory. Interesting... a new puzzle. Yes Wildboy would be a very interesting puzzle. He seemed emotional deep down, like a well was threatening to burst at the slightest touch. "Gratitude leaves way for more interactions, more beneficial ones," he said gently after a moment. "And rare occasions are an even more important time to do so."

Blackie raised an eyebrow. "Umbre..." For a second there I thought you were a Fire-type...

Azea smiled again, the happy insect he was. HE wondered where this question had come from for only an instant. "Ledi! Dia!" He said his family gave him the ears. I dunno much else. Sorry!

"Yes," Soul agreed, "Rare occasions are among the best times to learn about something. Since they are so rare. Like right now for example, I have never met someone like you before in my life. That is a rare occurrance for me and thus I am also very curious of you." he gave off a relaxed laughter, for once a conversation with something that wasn't a Pokémon didn't make him feel threatened.

"Jol."(Nope, just an Electric-type.) Bolt said to Blackie, he didn't like the mind games of Dark- or Psychic-type Pokémon. They were just too complex for him sometimes.

"P-Pan... Pour..."(N-No sorry... I didn't even know where that question came from, I shouldn't stick my nose in others businesses...) Cecilia turned away her gaze, the shyness was getting the better of her.

Ethan nodded slowly. "I do not meet conversationalists often myself. I suppose we should enjoy this while we can." He was not going to say he did not feel safe. That would be rude even though it was true. Ethan naturally didn't feel safe around strangers. He didn't feel safe around others period. However, playing it cool always worked, always. Because his cool was the slightly insane sort of feel anyway.

"On." I think I hurt your brain.

Azea waved her off. "Ledi!" It's okay! I wanna know too.

"If we're supposed to enjoy this moment, I suggest that we lay down." Soul said as he laid down in in the warm grass, it gently rustled as the young boy's back came in contact with it. Soul liked the grass, it was like a green carpet made for anyone to walk upon. He started to get happier, the gnawing feeling of Squee's disappearance was still there however, Soul was unsure if he would ever forget it... He started to philosophize about himself, slowly drifting off into the twisted world of his own mind, he almost forgot that Kumiho was there. But the boy had some sort of calming effect on Soul, he couldn't quite put his finger on why, but it just was that way...

"Eon."(Pshush. It's gonna have to more than that to break me.) Bolt said.

Cecilia blushed, "Well he IS your trainer, it'd only be natural for you to want to know about him." she said in a quiet tone.

Ethan watched him lay down and remained sitting up. He liked the grass against his fingers but he wanted his ears to remain in the air to listen and react better. Plus... he liked the wind. One of the few things he could openly admit to liking was the scent, sound, and feel of the air. It itched at his skin at times, pulling at the pulsing urge to fly that had been something his father had called "The Dragon's Tempation". It was too bad the man had died before he could have learned why. Too bad... yes that was the emotion wasn't it?

Ethan was not aware of what effect he had. His Pokemon were however and it annoyed the fire out of Sear. Azea didn't particularly care but Blackie did. It concerned him. Humans did not normally exude that peaceful feeling, that sensation of pure unalterable acceptance of whatever the truth could be. For such an odd creature it was... disturbing. And Blackie kept an eye on everything that was disturbing.

Not like this idiot in front of him but close."Umbre." I said hurt not break. Are your eardrums broken kit?

Azea nodded. "Ledi dia de." He'll tell us when he's ready. Friends tell each other things after all. And Kumiho needs friends. Even I know how lonely he is. He said this very casually, as if it weren't strange to say a child was anything but normal. As if everything would be fine. Though to Azea they would. Now about that Berry...

As Soul was laying on the ground, he could not only feel the grass beneath him, but also the sound of wind above him. As he stared at the sky, the clouds started taking on various shapes. Soul liked when this happened, it was like his imagination was free to run about and do as it pleased.

"Tell me Kumiho... How come that you have the ears and tail similar to that of an Umbreon?" Soul continued to stare at the sky, he was at peace. How calm.

"Eon-te!"(No, they are not broken. It is just that you can mix up words sometimes.) Bolt said. This Umbreon was beginning to go from annoying to boring.

"Pan, pan."(Of course, Mr. Soul hasn't told us too much about himself. But I guess he will in due time!) Cecilia smiled, succesfully holding back her shyness for a while.

Blackie pawed at Ethan's arm and was rewarded with a scratch behind the ears. Ethan took a slow deep breath. There came the question. Everybody asked him that and he would sometimes lie, make it look like a child's fantasy. For others he told the truth, that when the moon was bright or dark in the night sky he felt a rush run through his body like he was planning to run until the earth shattered beneath his feet and he had no limbs. He would say that around his uncle's Pokemon he felt a strange sense of longing as he had with Blackie.

But even if he told them that, he could not tell them about the emptiness, the nakedness that came when he didn't have them on. He couldn't talk about how comforting they were to him on nights when he felt lonely and cold. Nor could he explain that he didn't know a life without being an Umbreon child, that his family had made him what he was.

So Ethan smiled softly. "Because I don't feel right without them. I have had them for so long I don't remember not having them." There the simple, emotional reason. It was a truth.

Blackie snorted at the Jolteon. "On?" Touchy much?

Soul observed how Kumiho took a deep breath. He got the indication that The Moon Child had gotten this question posed to him many, MANY times. He was probably so tired of it that it wasn't even remotely funny in any way. However, Soul WAS curious, and his curiosity was one factor that had never kept him away from things.

As Kumiho explained to Soul why, he nodded slowly and sat up. He pointed at his mask,

"I guess that I know how you feel to some extent. I don't like taking off this mask either, I only do it when eating or somethong else. This happens rarely though." he said. In an effort to stay at the same state of peace, Soul gently rocked back and forth a couple of times.

"Jo."(Hehe, no.) he answered back.

Blackie snorted and said nothing. This creature bored him. He would listen to the humans instead.

Ethan nodded softly in understanding. He was connecting with a person. That was unusual. He tugged at one of his black silver locks and sighed lightly. "Hear me Mother Mew," he said softly, using an old prayer his mother had taught him. It was one of the only superstitions she believed. If you prayed to the wind eventually Mew would hear you. "Your child calls to you, calls you for rest..."

Bolt yawned and laid down on the ground as Blackie went away. Good, now he didn't have to be bothered by that idiot.

Soul listened to Kumiho's prayer, it was one that was directed to Mew. Soul had always had an immense amount of respect for the legendaries, but he never prayed to them. Of course they might be able to hear him, but what was the use? He didn't need help with something big enough to call upon the ones of the legends. He lived a simple life...

Mother Mew... Mother... Mother... Mother...

Soul remembered the days with his mother, and for the first time he felt at peace doing so. The tears came intinctivetly, but they weren't loud, obnoxious tears. They were more like silent and calm, Soul buried his head in his knees while the tears continued flowing silently.

Blackie sniffed the air lightly and barked at Azea, who flew over to him instantly. The Pokemon raised a paw and pointed in a seemingly random direction. Azea cheered and was gone. To Berry-hunting!

Kumiho didn't say anything about the tears. Rather, he let the boy cry it out in silence as the words tumbled out of his lips. Another note of evidence that prayer makes you weep. He filed it away for later, reminding himself to categorize it too. There were multiple reasons to cry during prayer, as well as in general. He couldn't exactly forget that too easily. This is why living beings are such a wonderful puzzle. They have pieces for everything. "To the Father Arceus who judged and found guilty let them be punished and freed, to live as they fell and be cursed for it..."

Soul smiled behind his mask, the tears was still flowing from his eyes, but they were getting thinner and thinner. He felt a refreshing sensation wash over him for some reason, it calmed him. Kumiho's prayers then changed, he started to pray to the Father Arceus.

Father Arceus... Father... Father... FATHER...

Soul felt an immense anger filling him up, his thoughts were directed to his father now. All those times he was drunk, all those times he beat Soul up, all that time in the basement... Soul punched the ground hard with his right hand, so hard that it actually almost hurt him. He started shaking with anger, Cecilia noticed this. She let go of Honeycomb's wing and ran over to her trainer. Meanwhile, the Combee just frowned and fluttered away to find something better to eat than those Sitrus Berries she had earlier.

"Pour, an, pa!"(Mr. Soul, is something the matter?!) she exclamied upon arriving at Wildboy's feet.

"Hu? N-No." Soul said and gritted his teeth. He shouldn't pull those he cared about into his problems. But still, it was a bit hard seeing how his brain worked, half of the time Soul didn't even know how it worked himself...

Blackie glanced at the angry boy and raised a black eyebrow. He glanced at Ethan, who didn't even react. There were more fearful things then a bursting temper. There was cold temper, rage with intent. There was cool determination. There was attachment... there was lust.

"Did you know?" Ethan began lightly, as though nothing had happened. "That the legends mostly have genders because of humans? Arceus is called Father because he punishes his warring children Dialga and Palkia... and locked away Giratina to keep him safe. He is called Father because of his stern hand and heart. But even women can be stern... so to characterize the god as such is foolish." He glanced almost slyly back at Soul, his smile changed to a sweet sort of expression. Blackie winced. That face scared him.

"A father's hand is scarier than a mother's heart they say... I wonder how true that actually is."

"Bre..." Kumiho...

"I always wonder about that... how the world fears Arceus and loves Mew, the one who birthed all Pokemon. Both are revered... it's such a wonderful puzzle." He smiled and looked up at the sky. "Then again, humans and Pokemon are different. It's why they're both so intriguing."

"Yes. From what I can understand, Arceus has a certain kind of appearance. It is divine, heavenly and beautiful, but it is also intimidating and unforgiving. Thus humans categorize it as 'male' and call it 'Father' due to how it looks. While Mew's appearance is rather small and feminine. The fact that it supposedly 'gave birth' to the entire species of Pokémon and presumably humans, only makes it seem more female. Thus humans catagorize call it 'Mother'." Soul had now calmed down a bit and began to go back to his more resonable self again. He paused for a moment to get some air, then he continued, "Although a mother can be very stern, this treat is often associated with fathers since they are 'the men of the family' and thus must act like one. By being strict." he stopped.

"Although I speak the truth when I say that my fater was a horrible man I still..." Soul drifted off slowly. His father, he had never thought about his father and not gotten enraged. But this time it was different he felt... Well, he couldn't quite put the finger on why...

"And then what do you deduct about us, who sees ourselves as neither human nor Pokémon?" Soul chuckled a bit.

Ethan let out a soft noise, unusual and neutral. "I suppose... but a mother can be a father and a father can be a mother." He seemed to cough. "And there are nice fathers I've heard... ones that are men without breaking a person.... my father was people say." Ethan seemed to laugh. "I don't remember to be honest." That was a lie, a horrible lie and he should be struck down for it. Inwardly he recoiled at himself a little.

"But your father... he was a weak man wasn't he? I bet you're stronger than he is." Flattery, a cold sort of poison, but one that patched holes all the same.

"I have somewhat of a hard time believing that. But what do I know? I'm just a simple savage." Soul laughed, he laid back into the grass and continued listening to Kumiho.
"You don't?" Soul said, there was something fishy about that statement. But he couldn't put his finger on why... Soul listened as Kumiho asked him about his father, or rather assumed that his father was weak. Soul especially reacted to the "I bet you're stronger than him"-part, he didn't really think that Kumiho was one to give compliments. The smell of fishiness increased a bit, he sat up and started to talk with a hint of carefulness.

"Yes he was. His main weakness was the alcohol. I would say that I'm stronger than him, since I outlived his torture." Soul felt wierd, he was opening up somewhat to a person that he just met... Strange...

"There are relationships where it happens," Kumiho said softly "It depends on personality really. You don't believe it unless you see it I suppose." His voice remained eerily flat as he registered the other's question. "Hmm... not really. He mostly taught me things, like how to always smile especially when you don't want to do it. He taught me to pursue the truth, the real one. I don't remember him being kind to me that often but perhaps that was a truth I couldn't see because I was too young to." He could feel a vague pain in his chest. As always he covered it with the happy peace he projected. Everyone believed it, which was just disturbing. Well except Pokemon but that's because they had better senses.

Kumiho couldn't help the odd laugh that burst from his lips. For a moment, there was a hint of darkness in his words, cold and dispassionate. "He shares that weakness with most of the world then. I don't know many people who don't fall to alcohol at some point in their lives. It doesn't make them completely weak; that's just what it does. No he had a weak soul I bet you, a thing already tethered to the grip that liquor fastens to the brain."

Ethan looked over at them now and Blackie could almost see that light that sparkled in his eyes, the one he had seen him have at his home. Intense. "To be stronger than the past is to surpass it I've heard the tale told. To survive it proves power but to surpass it I suppose would make you one of the most powerful beings alive. I bet you can do that." Ethan looked away and hummed. "I bet you would too, just to prove how much stronger you are..."

Soul nodded,
"I'm not sure if I believe anything before I see it." Soul stopped for a second, why did he say that? Was it some sort of attempt to a joke? Sometimes he reall amazed himself. Soul listened as Kumiho claimed that his father had taught him a lot of things, seemingly useless to the practical person, but to the philosophical... So he lied earlier, it WAS something fishy about it. Soul began to doubt himself for opening up to Kumiho, the boy seemed like he could get what he wanted out of a person without even trying and for a wild one as Soul, it must be pretty easy to squeeze out information. Then, for a moment, Kumiho's happiness seemed to falter. Or was that just Soul's imagination? It had screwed him over before but...

Kumiho, laughed? Soul stopped again for a moment, the Moon Child was starting to get a bit unsettling, maybe too unsettling for Soul's good it would seem. The turqoise-haired boy noticed the darkness in Kumiho's words, it was getting more and more unsettling the further into the conversation it got.

"As the moon comes out, the creature's transform into what is in thier hearts."

Soul saw Kumiho starting to warp in front of his eyes, the boy turned pitch-black, his eyes bright yellow and he gained sort of a waving movememt. It was one of the Shadows... Soul heard the Shadow talka bout what makes you strong. Overcoming the past? Was there such a thing? Soul wasn't sure if that was even possible for him to do.

"Yes," he said, "I would try, even though there is close to no chances of winning." he sighed, better be on guard...

Ethan wasn't paying attention too much, smiling distantly. His mask was faltering. Not a big surprise due to the events of the past couple days and his severe lack of sleep but... "You never know until you try," he sing-songed. "And then you try until you die." Blackie nodded a little, laying his head on Ethan's lap. Kumiho pet it absently. Blackie could feel that Kumiho wasn't dangerous, not now anyway.

"Hehe..." Kumiho laughed again, the sound almost depressing. "You're starting to be afraid of me..." Not that much of a surprise to him. If people figured him out they were inevitably afraid. Well except Maya, who was a strange girl overall and... Elena... He squeezed his eyes shut. He did not want to think of his sister right now. It would make him vulnerable and he was not stupid enough to be vulnerable around someone with an animal's instincts.

"Um..." Blackie yawned. "Bre um bre..." Fox-boy you're a bigger savage than Smelly over here. Of course he's afraid of you and your prissy little shirts.

Soul knew that Kumiho was drifting off. He could both see and smell it. The shadow started to falter, it's menacing smile was replaced by a pair of black lips shut tightly. It's color started to fade away, it became more transparent. Across the sealed lips of the shadow escaped a sort of nursery-rhyme. Kumiho sat and sung it gently, his voice seemed to falter as well. Or maybe that was one of Soul's delusions? You couldn't be too sure all the time... The maked boy got the feeling of a person on the brink to insanity, only a certain set of words making making the person hold on. This could depend on two things;

Lack of sleep, or...

Just sheer mental onslaught.

Soul guessed that it was the first alternative, Kumiho wouldn't go mad would he? He seemed cooler than ice itself and wasn't likely to lose control like that.

"Afraid? Even though you took on a more frightful shape earlier it is starting to falter now..." Soul gave off a slight chuckle at Kumiho's seeming depression, this guy was full of surprises. But so was Wildboy himself. Soul sniffed in the air, was that something emotional in the air around Kumiho? Was he letting down his guard? Nah, that couldn't be it. Soul decided to stick along for the ride.

"Smelly? You hurt me dear Umbreon," Soul laughed, "While it may be true that his previous shape was unsettling for me, it has begund to decrease." Soul's psyche was of course no way as stabile as others around his age, but maybe he should leave that to Kumiho to deduce...

"Bre bre." I think you should still be afraid.

Kumiho pet his Pokemon dispassionately. He was tired, so very tired. But sleeping was dangerous out here."Elena..." Trying to block her out was a stupid idea. He was trying to remember her face now, young and innocent. Her hair was still blue and there was fake fire on her back... and... He quietly hummed, singing to himself. Or to her illusion. He wasn't sure anymore.

"Um bre." Fox-boy....

"Looking for a firefly," Ethan mumbled softly. "Looking for my little firefly, where did you cage her?" Oh he really needed more sleep. Even in his half-dazed, half-sane state, he knew the Wildboy wasn't completely well in the head. It was implied in the nickname. "Where did you lock up the little firefly..." He wondered what Elena was doing. Was she making friends? Was she singing silly songs like she always had? Was she happy....

His fingers curled in a lapse of sane control as he seemed to growl softly at nothing in particular. Anyone who made her sad would pay. He smiled dazedly in a distant sort of fury. He would make them pay dearly.

"I think you should be quite afraid, with or without your shadow," he said softly to Wildboy. "I'm nasty when I'm crossed people say.

Soul just sat there. He observed Kumiho go into some sort of trance-like sleep, a word had escaped his lips, "Elena". Soul's face was turned into a grin, that sort of evil grin a wild beast gets when he notices that his prey cannot escape him. So Kumiho HAD a weak side, Soul started to give off light snarls and excited yipps. He sounded like a savage beast going in for the kill.

He rose up from the ground and then proceeded to walk in Kumiho's direction, almost like a zombie. The boy would be an easy prey, Soul shook his head. He realized that he had thought of KILLING Kumiho... Why? Was it because the boy exposed his weakness? Did Soul really hate him? Deep down? No, that couldn't be it... Maybe his wild instincts told hil to do what a carnivore would've done to a wounded animal... Kumiho was no longer a shadow in Soul's eyes, the boy transformed yet again, but this time into a creature giving off light. An innocent, pure, untouched being. Soul couldn't bring himself to harm it.

"Maybe so. But what I'm looking at now is not a shadow. For it is a being of light that i rest my eyes upon..." Soul said, almost poetically. He reached Kumiho and sat down beside him. He opened his mouth behind the mask, and out came a melody. Wildboy's voice was soothing and calm now.

"Don't fret little Eevee,
Don't be sad.

To you I wouldn't do-o anything bad.

You are dear and precious to me,
Rest under the moon and you will see.

How you'll be ble-essed with a crest,
Black will be the new color of your chest.

Along with yellow eyes and blue rings,
Now you shouldn't be afraid of anything."

It was a song that Soul's mother used to sing to him when he was little. It was used to calm him down when he couldn't sleep, to soothe him when he couldn't stop crying and to cheer him up when he was feeling down. Soul saw that Kumiho needed sleep, and thus he sang for him to ease the boy. Now to see if he fell asleep...

Kumiho made a soft noise, sounding more like a laugh. Blackie was growling. He had nothing against the Wildboy idiot but you were not attacking Kumiho. He was stuck with the guy. He was not going to allow the guy he was stuck keeping an eye on to get killed. He was too interesting to lose track of. Jeez... insensitive humans.

Kumiho shook his head tiredly. "Blackie down."

"Um bre!" Frick that!

Kumiho laughed again, the sound as false as he was exhausted. "I don't know what you're trying to do forest one but a lullaby is not what I need now." He looked at the sky. "What I need... well, there's no words for it." Lying really was a reflex wasn't it? How... ironic perhaps?

"Ne... barking like that... were you trying to scare me?" He glanced at Wildboy. "I've observed that carnivorous Pokemon make those noises when trying to intimidate others while others are perfectly silent as they," He calmly rested his hand on the other's collarbone. "Tear them to pieces." He removed his hand casually. "Joking. I don't see a reason to kill you."

Soul looked calmly at Blackie barking at him, the sight wasn't intimidating at all. In fact, it was rather amusing. This Umbreon who claimed to dislike Kumiho was now protecting him? Soul couldn't help but chuckle, he had faced worse things than an agitated Umbreon. One of those being the reason to why he had a mask.

"Hm? I wasn't trying anything. You seemed tired and in need of sleep, thus, I sang you a song so that you coul rest a bit. I will not say that I had no intention to kill you, the thought did in fact pop up in my mind. However, it was not an act of hatred, moreso a reflex. You see that I am like a wild and agressive Pokémon, my mindset is like that due to a very special chain of events. Some might say it was unfortunate, but I say that it was more or less eye-opening." Soul said in a calm voice. He was a bit embarassed about the killing-part, but what are you gonna do? (<real good f***ing question there Soul As Kumiho said that what he needed was something difficult for him to describe. Soul let out a hysterical, or you might even say maiacal laughter,
"You having no words to describe something? Don't you try to fool me! I know that you are an observant person, and thus you should be able to phraze almost anything in words."

"Scare you? No, just my reflexes going out of hand." Soul said calmly. He felt the gentle touch of Kumiho's hand on his collarbone, what? What was this? Soul hadn't felt contact like this in years, he didn't think tht he would miss it either. Apparently, he was wrong. As Kumiho told a little joke about killing him, Soul chuckled.
"Not to be offending dear Kumiho, but I'm not too sure if you would last in battle against me..." he said, looking briefly at his claw-like hands.

Blackie snarled coldly and scowled. "Bre.. umbreon." I am not in the mood to go back on that boat. It probably sank anyway...

Kumiho shook his head. "You overestimate me," he said quietly. "It is difficult for me to describe living. I cannot put into words what I need because what I need is full of complex factors that I haven't learned enough to describe yet. Human things are so very puzzling." His smile flickered slightly. "But I like that, because puzzles are so very interesting." He grinned at Wildboy. "You haven't terrified me yet and I wonder if I could beat you..." he shrugged. "i'm sure we'll find out one of these days."

Blackie scoffed."Bre. On bre." "Hmph. He'd lose. You'd trick him. Azea appeared and landed on Kumiho's head, eating a Berry.

"Ledi!"

"Oh? Do I? Well maybe so, but I'm still sure that you can explain most of it." Soul just shrugged. Maybe he was overestimating Kumiho? Nah, that didn't seem like a valiable option considering how Kumiho was. It was more like he tried to lead Soul astray. Kumiho amused Soul, the boy was unpredictible, seemingly deep and somewhat mysterious. Just like himself. Minus the possible hallucinations and emotional instability that was.

"I guess so," Soul smiled and cracked his knuckles, "Heh, you know my dear Umbreon... I'm a little more than wild I tell you." he chuckled and dug his claws into the ground, making the dirt under his nails get a little thicker.
"Humans. Are interesting creatures depending on who you ask, but their morales will always be built on the same baisis."

Ethan chuckled darkly. "Everybody does that I suppose... expects things of me I cannot do." Did he just sound sad? Funny, he was not particularly good at expressing that emotion. "I cannot explain what I do not comprehend." He quietly rose to his feet. Azea flew off to float next to him.

"Ledi!" Ethan tilted his head and Azea babbled on for a moment. Blackie snorted.

"Umbreon. Bre on bre."I still would be concerned if I could care enough. Human morals are based on the same things as Pokemon ones. THey want to survive... though to be fair they're unorthodox about it.

"Hah! Well I guess that is because of the aura you give off. Caculating, confident and so on." Soul chuckled again. Seems like Kumiho's voice sounded sad... He gave off another chuckle, seems like the one least expected to show sadness in fact, did. It was all just so amusing.

"Everything isn't comprehendable. Some things aren't meant to be understood, but seeing how you are I guess that won't stop you." Soul was now laughing at the absurdness. If he would've known better you might say that Soul W. Grant did make a non-Pokémon friend this day.

"Yes. Unorthodox..." Soul's voice trailed off for a bit as he commented on Blackie's statement. He thought about how his father had acted to him, that was certainly much more than unorthodox. Soul gritted his teeth behind the mask, oh how he hated that man...

Ethan tilted his head. "I wonder if that's really it..." He snorted quietly. "There are things that are not meant to be understood but people are not one of them I have been told. Now the mysteries of life, as interesting as they are I will leave that to the ponderous queries of minions."

Blackie glanced at SOul and yawned. "Bre on." I was bein' polite about it. Humans get up to some strange stuff."

Soul shrugged,
"Yes. The human psyche, something complex yet frail. You want to understand it? Doesn't surprise me. You have the ears and tail of an Umbreon, a slick, devious Dark-type out to play with peoples minds. Much like a child plays with a doll." Kumiho couldn't see Soul's face behind the mask, and right now, it was probably for the best. He had an insane look. And not just the mental hospital type of insane. This was like watching a demon disguised as a human show it's true shape, this was one of the factors showing that Soul was not well at all. At all.

"The human mind is much like a table. It can be used to place all sorts of things on top of it, namely information, but once too much pressure is put on it," Soul braided his fingers together, "It breaks." He then pulled all his fingers backwards which resulted in a cracking-sound. He then laughed, a bit hysterically one might think, but Soul didn't pay mind to what others thought of him, not anymore at least.

Kumiho observed this strange boy from where he was and smiled innocently, leaning his head back slightly as a child would. "Did you know your eyes are trying to escape your skull when you talk like that?" he asked in a tone bordering on merry. "I think you're putting too much pressure on your brain when you do that. You should probably stop." Blackie cackled. "Hysterics are only amusing when you make someone else that way."

He looked up at the sky. "I once heard someone compare the psyche to a bottle of beer. It gets shaken up enough, thrown around and tossed aside, and when it breaks everything just dribbles out everywhere and makes a big mess which paper towels aren't particularly good at cleaning up." Ethan looked down now. and hummed. "Playing with mortal minds requires some finesse though. Breaking your toys makes it hard to play with them again. so you have to be careful because a broken toy is only useful on broken people.'

Ethan spoke these last words very matter-of-factly as he added. "Kind of like you." This statement was completely calm, as if he weren't afraid of the consequences. well he wasn't. Consequences were the least of his concerns.

Hm? Soul didn't know his eyes were trying to escape him, granted one was useless, but in the end he kinda felt like he needed it...
"Hah. My brain has handled worse pressure before," he widened the space between his arms as if he was to hug someone, "And look at what it became of me!" he giggled. "Yes, but I am not trying to be entertaining. I'm not sure if I'm trying to be ANYTHING really."

Soul listened to the beer-comparison to the human mind. It was also pretty accurate, it drew Soul's attention to his father for a split second but disappeared just as quickly as it came. "Yes, the human mind is a toy tht you can never piece together. You can glue all the pieces together, but you cannot make them fit." Soul laughed.

His ears perked up at Kumiho's comment. The young boy slowly started to walk in Kumiho's direction, he stopped in front of him and grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"I bet you wondered how I was going to react to that, correct?" Soul pressed his face closer to Kumiho's, "But even I am avare of my mental illness. In fact, I've gotten used to it and can work with it in many ways."

Ethan made an odd noise. "You're trying to be a Pokemon I think," he commented in a fake good cheer. "Because Pokemon seem easier to get along with." He shook his head distantly. "The pieces are never the right size in the first place and that's the reason people never seem too well and things break so easily."

Kumiho stared blankly at Soul as his face bored into his black eyes. Then he grinned, reached forward, and tweaked Soul's nose. THis was how children behaved, he recalled, remembering Elena again. "You're going to have to get over this whole trying to scare me thing," He commented dimly. This emotional thing was bizarre. How many feelings would he have to play to mess with people? Is this what humans do all the time? Seems tiring.

"I wonder how people react to everything," he said calmly. He wasn't particularly worried about his personal space invasion. "It's like wondering where air comes from and why Pokemon are random colors. You just do it without thinking."

"Of course. Pokémon are simple yet complex creatures, I act and live with them because I prefer their company." Soul looked Kumiho deeply in the eyes, making some sort of contact. Until Kumiho grabbed his nose that was. Soul jumped back with a yipp, he didn't enjoy getting touched too much. But he did feel some sort of weird warmth spreading across his face, why was this? He started to look around a bit confused as if there was an answer around him, he then decided to just leave it be.

"Scare you?" he said innocently, "I have no such intention of doing so... Do I really come off as trying to scare you?" he asked. This was an honest question actually, Soul hadn't been trying to give someone a scare since... Even he doesn't know when, he was just that crazy.

Ethan smirked a little bit and rose to his feet. Azea flew over his head and toward the path ahead, waving one of his fists excitedly. "It's more like a part of you wants to kill me but death threats have lost their effect after a time." Azea let out a burst of cries and Blackie snorted. Whatever it had been about, Ethan was certain it was interesting. At least Pokemon had mastered their puzzle.

"It seems Azea may want to leave..." Kumiho looked at the pink on the other male's nose and shook his head. He had a vague clue to what that was but it seemed unlikely.

Soul looked up at Kumiho, he apparently wanted to leave.

"Well then." Soul said in an unbelievably cheery tone, he called Jolt back into his Pokéball and jumped up in a tree, "I hope to meet you again sometime, Moon Child Kumiho..." then he started to jump from tree to tree in an effort to get somewhere.

Ethan chuckled. "Everything circles in the end. Farewell Pokemon child." He walked after Azea, who buzzed happily at him, probably something about berries. The fox child would never know.

((I experimented with a non-battling post, so I hope you like it. It's also a post that's been weeks in the making D: ))

(Joint post between me and Swan, enjoy)

It was already late in the afternoon when Lanhua and her team were back on the road. More walking. Walking, walking, walking. It seemed there was a lot of walking involved with being a Pokémon trainer. At least the weather was nice, that was a plus. She had all her Pokémon out to enjoy the walk in freedom, although Lanhua did check around nervously to see if there were any more angry Mothim-hating farmers. Fei was walking a little behind her, probably feeling too good to walk next to his trainer. Hongze was fluttering here and there, every once in awhile smelling the air picking up the smell of honey after which Lanhua had to quickly stop him from flying off to pursue it. Hongze was here, there and everywhere. He ran around energetically, curious about ever flower and every blade of grass. All in all, things were as Lanhua was quickly learning to refer to as 'normal'.

All of a sudden Xinju stopped in his tracks and turned his nose to the air, sniffing excitedly. Then he broke into a run disappearing into the bushes. "XINJU!" Lanhua called. She waited a few seconds for him to return (As he'd done before after running after something) and then set out after him, majorly annoyed. "XINJU?" She called again, and just saw the end of a blue tail disappearing through the bushes. She ran after him, struggling through some of the undergrowth (and getting majorly pissed off, she was sure to look quite wild when she got out of this) and finally found Xinju... with another trainer.

She briefly took in the boy, about her age –mayble a little older- with light hair and darkish skin, before turning to her Panpour. "Xinju, what on earth are you doing?" She demanded. Though it was fairly clear what Xinju had been doing. He was very busy sniffing the food the boy was making, and almost visibly salivating.

Lanhua turned to the trainer. "I'm sorry, my Panpour here likes food. A lot."

Everything happened so quickly Dane really had no idea how to respond. First another Panpour trudges up to his lunch, and then it's trainer followed quickly behind, apologizing of course but that wasn't what shocked him. She was a girl, and a pretty one at that. Dane couldn't help but find himself staring at her, with her brown her and light skinned complexion.

"Uh... hi" Dane said dumbfounded before gaining his composure.

He then proceeded to stand up, "It's fine, panpour are very nice pokemon, I actually have one myself.. Hey guys come here we have a guest" Dane yelled kindly while putting a smile on his face as his Vaporeon, Panpour, and Marill all came out from a nearby stream and stood at their trainers feet.

"Pour?" Panpour said looking at the girl's Panpour confused, almost like he thought he was looking at a reflection.

"Hah stop that Panpour. My names Dane, Dane Leon. If you and your pokemon are hungry you are more than welcomed to eat lunch with us, I can make more" he said smiling at the girl then going back over to his food to stir it real quick.

"Really it's no big deal"

"I'm Yi Lanhua, pleased to meet you," Lanhua introduced herself. She noticed Dane staring a little and smiled. It was nothing new, she knew she was quite pretty and boys stared at her more often, but a girl couldn't help but like the attention right? And he wasn't bad-looking himself. His light eyes were a bit unsettling, but his face was distinctly Arcanian. "Well I'm pretty sure that even if I rejected the offer Xinju would probably be pretty hard to pry away," she laughed, giving Xinju a pet on the head. Looks like she raised him well (in the two days she'd had him), having already learnt to mooch free meals.

"Anyway this is Xinju," she indicated the Panpour. "And these are Fei and- Well bugger all!" neither Hongze nor Fei had followed her. "Hongze! Fei!" she called out, and soon enough a very annoyed Leafeon trudged through the bush towards his trainer, as well as a very energetic Mothim bursting through the foliage. "As I was saying, Fei and Hongze." The latter immediately made his way towards Dane's Pokémon while the former sat to himself, feeling too good to socialize.

"So fancy that, we both have a Panpour and Eon-thing," Lanhua said, trying to make conversation.

"Pleasure to meet all of you" Dane said pouring several bowls of his rice and chicken and handing them to Lanhua and her pokemon first.

"Pour?" Panpour shouted crossing his arms across his chest in detest of giving his food away.

"Calm down Panpour I will make some more later geez" he said trying to calm his pokemon out as the others were still socializing, he noticed that one of her pokemon however did not seem to enjoy the company.

"Uh yeah that's quite the coincidence, I actually just received Panpour yesterday and caught Vaporeon with it. I'm actually out on an adventure right now" Dane said looking up to the sun then back at Lanhua and back at her Leafeon.

"Is there a reason Fei doesn't seem to interested in making new friends? He asked politely, he was beginning to wonder if maybe there was more to this girl then appeared. Then he noticed it, the mark on her wrist...

"That mark..." Dane said softly wondering if she got hers the same way.

Lanhua caught him looking at the mark and quickly moved her sleeve to cover it up again. It wasn't exactly a normal thing to have. "Oh, don't mind Fei," she said instead, trying to move his thoughts from her mark. "He's a bit special, fancies himself a bit too good for common socializing." She nibbled on some of the chicken. There was rice, but it was free rice, which definitely tasted a lot better than self-bought rice. Xinju thought so too, as he was inhaling both his bowl as well as Hongze's bowl (though Lanhua had quickly giving him some honey) and even Fei was eating some, though composed and proper.

"So you're a trainer too?" Lanhua asked him between bites. She took in his Pokémon. It was rather curious how he said he'd received his Panpour and used it to catch Vaporeon. That was a tale far too familiar. Lanhua glanced suspiciously at his wrist, but it was obscured by his sleeve. Perhaps better that way, did she really want to know?

"So are you a water Pokémon trainer then?" she asked as she noticed all of his Pokéemon had that in common. "What are their names?"

Dane looked at Lanhua's pokemon Fei and thought it odd that a pokemon would think of itself as fancy, but he wasn't going to argue it. "Well I hadn't planned on catching only water pokemon, it's just kind of happened that way... I feel safe around them, they give off the same feeling I get when I used to look at the ocean back home, but that's a whole different story" he said looking up to the sky and clutching his ring around his chest that was hidden under his shirt.

"As far as names I didn't give them any, I like there original pokemon names, they sound more majestic, I also thought about how I would feel if someone came and changed my name" Dane said trying to make a joke before looking over at Panpour who was obviously about to do something stupid.

"Pour!!!" the water monkey screeched jumping in front of Lanhua's Fei and taking it's bowl of food before quickly scarfing the remains down. "Pan!" it sighed rubbing his stomach and sitting down on the ground.

"Panpour! How dare you that was not yours to take" Dane shouted "I'm really sorry Lanhua"

When Fei's food was taken, Fei was firious. No, not furious, it was outraged! How dare such a low monkey take his food|?! He hadn't particularly liked the food, but that didn't matter. One simply did not steal from a creature like Fei. The Leafeon glared at the Panpour menacingly before, with one swift movement, sweeping a cloud of sand in the monkey's face.

"Fei, this is not how we resolve thing," Lanhua scolded. "Actually, isn't think exactly how Pokémon trainers are supposed to resolve things?" she thought aloud. "What would you think about a friendly battle? my team could use some experience, and Fei could definitely use something to blow off steam."

"Hmm a battle?" Dane said aloud looking at Fei who was still fuming from the food incident, his eyes then light up with excitement. "A battle, sure why not... should we use all three of our pokemon in this battle?" he asked as he motioned for all of his pokemon to come to his side.

"Sounds good to me," Lanhua responded, giving Xinju and Hongze a sign to get closer to her and moving back to create enough space for a battle. "Come on Fei, you're up first, then." Fei moved between his trainer and the other one, for once looking forward to kick some monkey butt.

"Well, ladies first I'd say," Lanhua teased, indicating Dane.

"Oh really? Thanks" Dane said sarcastically back. He then nodded to panpour who nodded back before putting on his serious face.

"Panpour jump into the air then use water gun!" Dane ordered as panpour sprang off the ground quickly cocking its head back then shooting a stream of water straight at Fei.

"Fei, dodge it," Lanhua ordered, but even before she'd said a word Fei had already jumped nimbly aside, speed was in his favor. "And now attack with aerial ace!" Fei braced himself and jumped forward towards the Panpour in a burst of speed.

"I'm having a hard time not underestimating your Panpour," Lanhua called over towards Dane. She'd heard somewhere that taunting worked, right?

"Panpour brace yourself!"Dane he shouted however it was to late Panpour had just landed back to the ground as Fei burst right into his chest causing him to fly back and hit the ground hard.

"That's fine, don't. He may not be as quick or graceful as your pokemon but he has heart!" Dane retorted as he looked over to see panpour slowly get to his feet. "Panpour sprint towards Fei" he ordered as Panpours eyes lit up and it raced towards the nimble leafeon.

"Now use lick!" He roared with excitement knowing that if this attack landed Fei would be paralyzed.

Lanhua was too late to react as Fei was still close to Panpour after the attack. The lick hit (which drew a heavily disgusted look from Fei) and the Leofeon shuddered, a static could be seen running up and down his body.

"Fei!" Lanhua called, worried about her Pokémon. She knew he was paralyzed, which meant his movements would be partly or entirely restricted, she just had to figure out how bad it was. "Could you try doing a sand attack?" Fei tried, but his paw stalled, and he shot Lanhua a bit of a panicked look. "Alright, it's fine," she called him back.

"Out after one hit, well that's embarrassing," Lanhua commented lightheartedly. "Well Hongze, it's your turn," the Mothim flew towards the battlefield, approaching the Panpour. "Go with a tackle."

"Panpour dodge it!" Dane shouted as he looked on at the battle, he knew Panpour would not be able to dodge the attack, it had taken to much damage from Fei's aerial ace attack.

"Pour!" the water monkey screamed in pain as Hongze attack hit directly causing him to fall flat to the ground. He tried to get back up before collapsing.

"Hey good effort buddy, now you can rest" he said recalling the fainted pokemon to it's pokeball and pulling another from his belt. "You're up Marill!" he shouted tossing out Marills pokeball who erupted in a flash of light landing gracefully on the ground. "Quick water gun!" Dane ordered as Marill began spraying a stream of water from it's mouth straight for Hongze.

"Hongze, quickly use protect!" Lanhua ordered and the Mothim drew a protective shield around itself, blocking the Marill's water. "Now use tackle again." Hongze dove down into a tackle again, this time towards his new foe Marill.

Dane watched thinking of a strategy as Lanhuas Mothim was closing in on Marill, and finally he came up with a bold move. "Marill use tackle too!" he ordered as Marill kicked off the ground and raced towards Mothim ready for a head on collision.

"Let's see whose pokemons head is harder" Dane shouted across to Lanhua with a grin on his face.

The two Pokémon collided, heads together, and a pushing war started. In Lanhua's eyes Hongze did a formidable job, but as a bug his strength just couldn't compare to the Marill and he was thrown back, into the dirt.

"Hongze, can you get up?" Lanhua called out, and the Mothim fluttered up weakly. "Oh it's alright, you may come back now," she called him back into his ball.

"That's two of mine you've defeated now, not cool!" she called out to Dane, but it was with good nature. "Now it's Xinju's time to give you trouble, use lick!" The Panpour jumped towards the Marill, full of energy.

"It was a battle you wanted, so it is a battle you got" Dane said as he watched the Panpour race towards his marill, who he could tell did quite a bit of recoil to himself. "Marill dodge the attack!" Dane shouted as the Panpour stuck it's tounge out and went to hit Marill who rolled over to the side barely missing the attack, but then staggered to get back to it's feet.

"Mar..." marill sighed wearily while breathing heavily.

"That's enough Marill, I won't let you take any more damage return! Looks like your up vaporeon go!" he said switching out his pokemon.

"Porr" Vaporeon purred starring down Xinju.

"Well looks like were both down to our last pokemon, this has been a great battle. I look forward to the finish" Dane shouted to Lanhua putting a big grin on his face.

"Ditto!" Lanhua called back. "Let's see who's the best, really." She shot a look at Xinju, who nodded back enthusiastically, jumping back and forth. He was energetic and fit, and very eager to win.

"Right then, start with scratch!"

"Dodge and use giga impact!" Dane ordered watching Vaporeon move swiftly away from the claws of Xinju and then blast a stream of water straight for him.

"Dodge it yourself Xinju," Lanhua ordered and Xinju, who nimbly jumped away from the blast of water. "Fighting water with water aren't we? Well then use water gun Xinju!" The Panpour shot his one stream of water, albeit not as strong as the Vaporeon's, it would do the trick.

"Or not! Vaporeon I want you to use giga impact straight through the water gun!" Dane shoutd hoping it would be a strong enough move to penetrate right through the stream and hit Panpour directly.

The bigger stream of water met with Xinju's thinner stream, and cut straight through it. It reached Xinju himself and knocked him straight to his feet.

"Xinju us-" just then Lanhua noticed the sun. It was quite low on the horizon, just about starting to set. This meant that there was little over 2 hours left of daylight.

"Dane, how long of a walk is it to Feborough?" Lanhua asked tentatively.

He looked around confused for a moment why she wasn't giving a battle command then proceeded to answer her question. "It's roughly an hour and twenty minutes if you move quickly" Dane answered noticing a strange panic in her eyes. "Are we going to finish this battle or not? It's your move"

Lanhua looked at Dane, then at the sun, at Xinju, and back at the sun. Indecision haunted her for but a moment. Loss of pride was one thing, albeit a serious thing, but being caught in the dark. She'd already spent the night before in such, she wasn't going to let that happen again. She quickly called back Xinju.

"I'm sorry, I want to continue the battle, I really do, but I've got somewhere I need to be," she lied quickly. "I forgot all about it, really. We'll continue this." Lanhua all but ran towards the road to Feborough then before realizing how rude she was and turned back towards Dane.

"Thank you for the lunch. I had a lot of fun, I hope we meet again soon," and with that, she hurried away towards the town.

"What in the world?" Dane sighed standing there confused about what just had just happened.

"Vap?" Vaporeon also questioned.

"I don't know Vaporeon, I haven't spent much time with the female species before... Man they are confusing... Anyways we should probably head to Feborough as well, who knows maybe will run into her there" and with that he returned Vaporeon to her ball and headed down the path, all the while wondering about the strange marking on her wrist that he had saw, it was just like his.

By the time that Esumi and Kitaru had finished chatting it was already past midday.

"Would you like to eat with me?" Esumi asked Kitaru as they sat on the bench in the relative silence that had replaced the gentle flow of conversation.

"No thanks." Kitaru replied. "I have to be off."

"Really? My mum made me bento." Esumi said in reply to Kitaru's response, he knew that she knew he couldn't resist her mothers food.

"Well yes but I need to feed my Pokémon" Kitaru said. "How do you have a bento then?"

"There's plenty for everyone, my mum made sure of that." Esumi said with a laugh. "And unlike you I took the direct route when I set out this morning. Come on out guys!" She yelled as she took all her Pokéballs off her belt and threw them into the air in front of her releasing her Pokémon. In addition to the Lotad and Masquerain Kitaru had seen earlier she had an Electrike and three Combee. Kitaru took all the Pokéballs from his belt, even Mischief's and released his Pokémon too. Meanwhile Esumi was searching in her back pack while her Pokémon crowded her. Eventually she produced an oversized bento box from the bottom of her back pack. She opened it revealing the contents, there were about half a dozen rice ball, a selection of mixed berries, a big jar of honey, a selection freshly baked poffins, cold meat and sushi. Of course all of it was divided neatly into sections and a set of chopsticks sat on top of the food just as precisely placed as everything else. "Grubs up!" She said as she started to dish out the food.

It took a while to sort out what each of the Pokémon would eat and Kitaru help her with his Pokémon. Eventually all of them had something. Azura had a few pieces of sushi and a poffin. The Combee, Yin, Ledian and Masquerain were sharing the large pot of honey and a few berries. Mischief had some berries and a nice sweet poffin and Lotad had the same as him. Electrike was eating some of the cold meat and a poffin. That left the contents of the box for Esumi and Kitaru. Using their chopsticks they picked out the food from the box and watched their Pokémon eat. Neither of them ate with any grace, you could even argue that Esumi had worse eating habits that Kitaru. Over all their Pokémon were getting along fine. Ledian had finished with the honey and fluttered over to where Kitaru and Esumi were sitting. As she approached she sniffed the air.

"Ledian!" She cried pointing to the box.

"I think she smells something good in the box." Esumi said. "What do you think it is?"

"I agree but I don't know." Kitaru said, he looked at the contents of the box. "Well I think we can rule out the meat, fish and rice."

"And the berries, they still have some left over there. That only leaves the poffins." Esumi noted. "There's a few flavours here which one do you think she wants.

"I'm not sure, let's try some." Kitaru said, Esumi nodded and handed him a green poffin he held it up to Ledian but she shook her head at it. "Well not that one." He said handing it back and receiving a blue poffin. This was once again greeted with a shake of the head. "Try another one." This time the poffin was red. Ledian nodded her head enthusiastically at the poffin. "So what flavour is this one?"

"Let me see?" Esumi said, she took the poffin and tore it in too, then smelt the air where it had been torn. "Cinnamon I think."

"That's actually quite a nice sounding name. I'm going to call you Cinnamon." Kitaru said, which Ledian agreed with enough to not punch him, so he took it as a yes. He took the bread from Esumi and handed it to Cinnamon who fluttered away to eat. Kitaru and Esumi finished their meal with no further distractions, by which time it was starting to get towards two o'clock.

"I should get moving, I want to be able to go shopping in Feborough before the markets shut for the night." Kitaru said as he got up.

"I'll come with you!" Esumi said "We can travel as far as Feborough together."

"Sure!" Kitaru said in response. The withdrew their Pokémon until they were left with only one each still out, Azura and Electrike. Then thy set out on the road to Feborough.

***

As they approached the town there were two black trucks parked in the road. They were surrounded by guards who gave off a menacing aura. Beyond the trucks was the town, the road was somewhat familiar to Kitaru.

"Doesn't this road lead back to Januvale?" Kitaru asked in confusion.

"It does." Esumi said and then stopped. "Don't tell me that you didn't even realise that you walked right past Feborough!" She started laughing at him.

"Well... I think I must have. I need a map." Kitaru said a little depressed.

'Hey you two there!" A shout came from one of the guards. "It's really boring round here, how about a battle!" The man in question was stood next to the truck with a blue arrow on it going through a circle. He was one of the youngest of the guards only a little older than Kitaru, he was a native Arcanian.

"Yeah!" Kitaru said. "How about you Esumi?"

"Why not!" Esumi responded.

"Wait a sec." The guy whistled to his friend. A foreign woman who headed over. 'Since your a couple we'll have a double battle."

"Hold on..." Kitaru began.

"No way..." Esumi started at the same time. Both of them were blushing.

"OK. Well are you ready?" The man asked.

They both nodded and sent forwards the Pokémon they had out. Their opponents released their Pokémon.

"Charmander! Char! Char!" A lizard like Pokémon said as it appeared, spewing small flames from it's mouth.

"Bulbasaur!" A grass type Pokémon burst out of it's ball.

"Charmander! Burn them with Ember!" The woman said. Her Charmander ran at Azura and began to spin, swing her burning tail at the ice type Pokemon.

"Azura! Dodge!" Kitaru instructed, he knew enough to know that fire types could easily beat ice types. Azura used Detect and avoided the attack.

"Bulbasaur! Use Poison Powder!" The man instructed. His Bulbasaur dispersed a poisonous powder from the bulb on his back. The spores surrounded Electrike and he breathed them in, almost at once the Pokemon began to look a little unwell. Esumi clenched he fist as she looked at her Pokemon.

"Electrike! Use Thunder Wave!" Esumi roared, scaring Kitaru a little. Her Electrike dashed forwards and attacked the Charmander with a jolt of electricity.

"Charmander! Attack with Scratch!" The woman ordered.

"Char!" The Pokemon cried but it was unable to move due to paralysis.

"Azura! Quick Attack!" Azura dashed forwards and attacked the Charmander, as long as it couldn't move it wasn't a threat.

"Bulbasaur! Vine Whip!" Two vines extended from bellow the Bulbasaur's bulb and lashed out at Azura. She was hit and suffered some slight damage.

"Electrike! Tackle!" Esumi ordered her Electrike and the Pokemon took off, charging the Bulbasaur. It was driven back by the impact of the attack.

"Charmander! Hide!" The woman ordered and her Pokemon poured fourth a Smoke Screen from it's mouth.

"Azura! Sand Attack!" As the smoke pour over the battle field Azura kicked dirt in the Bulbasaur's eyes.

" Bulbasaur! Tackle!" The Bulbasaur started to gain speed to attack.

"Electrike! Azura! Double Quick Attack!" Esumi ordered, Kitaru though of questioning her ordering his Pokemon but decide to hold his tongue. Both of the Pokemon dashed forwards to strike the charging Bulbasaur. The combined attack was too much for their opponent who fainted.

"While you were dealing with the Bulbasaur I was able to give my Charmander a berry." The woman laughed. "Burn them! Charmander!" Wow thought Kitaru, this woman really is competitive.
The Charmander ran forwards shooting an Ember from its mouth.

"Azura! Dodge and Sand Attack!"

"Electrike Quick Attack!" Azura dodged the Charmander's attack and kicked dirt in its eyes. As she continued running flailing her arms, the Quick Attack hit the Charmander low down and flipped the Pokemon off her feet. She landed in a heap.

"No we were beaten!" The two guards cried. They withdrew their Pokemon and paid Kitaru and Esumi a fair sum of money. Esumi and Kitaru headed into town before parting ways.

***

Feborough was a moderately sized market town, the perfect place for Kitaru to stock up on basics before he continued on with his journey. His first port of call was the Pokemon centre. Where he joined the queue of farmers and trainers looking to get their Pokemon healed. It didn't take him long to get to the front where he was particularity interested in the large machine that healed the Pokemon. He had never seen such a machine before, well not in real life anyway.

With his Pokemon healed he headed out into the market. The market was made up of a large number of stalls, all with bright coloured canvas roofs. Between some stalls were squares where street performers did tricks like fire breathing and acrobatics. He let Mischief out to wander on the condition that the Pokemon behaved himself. Wandering around the market he looked for somewhere to stock up on Pokéballs and potions, it would be great if the Pokémart chain had a shop here. Alas he couldn't find one, he eventually found a stall with a large sign hanging above a table. 'POKEMON MEDICINES' the sign read. Scattered over the table were a great many powders of all different colours along with bundles of herbs tied together with string, jars of paste and roots like spices. All were labelled with prices and names that Kitaru didn't recognise. An old woman sat in a rocking chair behind the counter with her eyes closed.

"Hey! I'm out of potions can I get some here?" Kitaru shouted to wake the old woman.

"Potions! Potions!" The old hag screeched as she awoke with a start and Kitaru had to cover his ears. "We don't sell that rubbish here! Only natural remedies! Those things are full of rubbish and junk!" It seemed that Kitaru had upset the old woman due to her rant and the fact that she was pacing up and down muttering under her breath about kids these days. He looked at her wizened old face and though of a response.

"Oh Grandma'! Your scaring the poor lad! Go back to sleep." A young girl of about ten came out of the back of the stall, from behind a screen.

"What you say!?" The crone shouted.

"Go! To! Sleep!" The girl shouted each word at her grandmother.

"Mareep!" The old woman said, was she deaf. "I don't see any Mareep!" The old woman said looking round. "I'm going for a nap." And the old woman wondered off around the back of the screen.

"What can I get for you?" The girl asked as she pulled over a crate to stand on.

"I don't really know what any of this is." Kitaru responded.

"That's fine. Are you a beginner trainer?" The girl asked.

"No." Kitaru said shaking his head.

"Do you want just healing powder or would you like some revitalising herbs and some status ailment curing salves as well."

"A what ailment?" Kitaru questioned.

"A status ailment. Like burn, sleep, confusion, poison or paralysis." The girl said with a smile. Kitaru nodded as he heard the last two which he recognised.

"Yes, I understand now. I'll take some of each." Kitaru said. The two of them spent the next few minutes discussing the exact quantities of each remedy. They bartered over the prices of goods and eventually a price was agreed between the two. Once the goods were paid for the girl began to prepare the herbs. She scooped small spoonfuls of brightly coloured Energy Powder into brown paper envelopes. Next she took a couple of sprigs of Revival Herb and put them in a brown paper bag along with the powders. Finally she took another paper bag and put three jars of ointment into it. One was blue Rawst Berry salve for curing burns. Another was a red colour this was a Cheri berry salve for Paralysis. The last was a pink Pecha Berry salve to heal poison. Before Kitaru left the girl was sure that he knew how to use all of the remedies properly. So the next stop on his journey was a stall selling Pokéballs where he bought a dozen. It was the end of the day and the stall owner wanted to flog the last of his stock cheaply so he threw in a Lure Ball, saying that it is useful when fishing. As the market began to pack up Kitaru searched for some where to stay the night. It wasn't long before he found a guest house.


The sign on the door read, Kitaru opened the door and entered a hall way. To one side was a reception desk where a large bell sat on the counter. Kitaru went over and pressed the bell. From a room behind Kitaru came a young woman in her early twenties. She was a native Arcanian and she had her black hair tied back in a bun in the style with the chopsticks.

"Is it just you dear?" The woman questioned.

"Yes. I was hoping to have a room for the night." He said. She stated the price which Kitaru paid.

"Let me see. Room five. Here's your key. Take a shower if you wish and supper will be severed in half an hour. Just through there in the dining room." Kitaru took the key and headed up to his room where he dropped his bags off. He had a quick shower and then went down for dinner. The dinning hall was full of trainers. At a guess there must have been around twenty. A long table sat in the middle of the room and chairs were placed round it, many of the seats were already take. Out side in a small court yard sat the trainers Pokemon who were presumably also waiting to be fed. Kitaru joined the table between a couple of trainer after letting his Pokemon out in the court yard. To his left sat a young foreign woman, she had curly blond hair. Her Arcanian wasn't very good. To his right sat a much older Arcanian man who wore traditional clothing. Opposite him was a young Arcanian boy about his age but his accent and clothing suggested that he came from the much more modernized East. As he took his place at the table he over heard their conversation.

"And what of these foreigners in the black trucks who have turned up. My friend says that they are surely up to no good." The man was saying.

"How do you know? Have you asked them or seen them doing anything?" The woman asked.

"No." The man said.

"Well then don't be so quick to judge."

"Modernization isn't such a bad thing." The boy opposite Kitaru said. "Just look at the economy of Noverth City."

"But they are eroding our traditional way of life. And look at the damage done to Septemburg City, the place has become a polluted mess." The man said.

"And you blame that all on foreign development do you." The woman began, this debate could go on a while. Kitaru leaned over to the boy opposite him.

"You don't know where I can find some one who can sell me a book or something about Pokemon do you?" Kitaru asked.

"A book!" The boy laughed. "Well what's to expect from country folk like you." Kitaru would have jumped over the table and showing this city boy what country folk could do if it wasn't for his dinner arriving at just the right time. "No, what you need my friend is a Pokédex." Kitaru began to eat, paying more attention to the boy than his food. The boy thought for a second. "I know a guy, who goes by the name of Ahougha Tai, works on the market. He can sell you one of them." Kitaru thanked the boy, but really he wanted to thump him, though he was too tiered. So after he had finished eating he withdrew his Pokemon and went straight to bed. Outside the sun had barely even set but Kitaru fell to sleep just as soon as his head touched his pillow.

((Sort of an intro post to Lanhua's adventure in Feborough, I broke it up so it wouldn't get too long))