[Pokémon] Four Paws [Rated T] (Complete)

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 21​

Kit and I went out of Bill's home through the hole the Meowth created on the window. Before we left, however, we made sure that the few lights we turned on were off, the oven was unplugged, and the fridge was closed.

Unfortunately, as soon as my four paws landed on the ground, flashlights were lit on us, followed by an angry growl and a tired sigh.

After my eyes adjusted to the sudden torrent of bright lights, I saw the two Pokémon Control humans again, the same guys who chased me last night. In front of them were their loyal dog Pokémon, and behind them was a worried-looking Nurse Joy.

When I turned to my companion, the Meowth was already gone. There was a struggling noise up above, and when I looked up, I saw his curled tail disappearing on the rooftop.

Fighting, fleeing, or talking would be useless though, so I sighed and let Nurse Joy pick me up. The humans were heading towards the Pokémon Control building as they tried to talk to me of how much trouble I've caused. Nurse Joy voiced out her concern of my sudden disappearance from earlier.

I didn't pay them any attention though.

They stopped and waited for the pedestrian light to turn green. I stood on my hind paws and rested my front paws on the nurse's shoulder as I glanced at the large clock on the train station blocks away.

Six thirty-one... The sky is bluish black with a sprinkle of twinkling stars. No rain tonight, it seems.

I looked down and saw the two dogs were eyeing me. I ignored them as I looked around. There were a lot of humans waiting for the lights to change.

Hm... I wonder...

I turned to where the nurse was facing. Lots of humans on the other side of the road as well. And...there's a truck facing the station's direction.

Hm... ...yeah...it's worth a shot...

"Hey pup," I blinked, and turned to my left, and saw Houndour stood beside the nurse, and was glaring at me. "Remember... Try anything funny, and I'll rip your head off."

"Grinda—"

"Shut up!" he sharply turned to the Growlithe who was behind him. "I missed my afternoon nap because of that freaking kid!"

The pedestrian lights turned green. Humans started walking. The driver of the truck seemed to change gear. It was a pick-up truck. Perfect.

"Oi," I called without looking. I felt my heart race. I'm feeling nervous, but I decided to ignore it as best as I could. "Wanna see crazy?" my tone failed to hide my nervousness though.

If the dogs said something, then I probably have missed hearing it because of the loud painful scream of Nurse Joy after I bit her arm. I quickly jumped towards the face of a woman before the nurse's flailing arms would throw me away. I kicked my paws again from the yelping face and my back landed on the chest of a man. He yelped as I fell on the concrete road. I scratched his foot and ran towards the truck, which was already passing by.

I jumped and barely managed to grab a hold as I heard a lot of fallen coins from the chaotic crowd. I gasped as I slipped, but a paw grabbed my paws and pulled me up to the truck.

"You owe me a lot of dollars, kid!" Kit grunted after I was finally inside the truck. "And I still think this is a dumb idea."

I ignored him for a moment as I ran to a crate near the driver's seat. I climbed up on the crate and looked at the time.

"Six thirty-eight..." I then turned back to the Meowth. "What time is the train going to Kanto again?"

Kit deadpanned. "Gee, you're welcome. And Seven."

My eye twitched as I 'tsk'ed'. Twenty more minutes. No no... Just calm down... Just concentrate on going to the tra—

A loud thud echoed and Kit and I yelped as an angry Houndour growled at me. "That's it! You're dead!" and he fired a fierce flamethrower which I barely managed to dodge.

I was actually quite surprised that I was able to dodge it from how shocked and unprepared I was. I landed, but then the truck screeched to a stop, sending me towards the metal wall with a thud, along with Grindark and Kit.

The Houndour was beside me, and opened his mouth to bite me, but I swiped my paw on his eyes, making him yelp and jump back.

"What the devil—?" the driver said and gasped.

"Inside!" I shouted as I ran and jumped towards the driver's face. "Hurry!" I kicked my paws and landed on the driver's seat.

Kit nervously jumped inside as I jumped down and slammed my two paws on the gas, almost throwing me back when the truck suddenly moved forward. Kit yelped and was probably thrown back as the door slammed close.

"Wh-wh-w-what the hell are you doing?!"

"Grab the wheel!" I yelled back.

"Wh-what wheel?!"

"The steering wheel goddamni—ack!" The truck crashed on something, and I heard shouts and gasps as my head hit something solid and ouchful. I grit my teeth as I pulled Kit's tail, pulling him down. "This?! See this?!" I grabbed his scared head and made him stare at the gas pedal. "Push that thing down! Got it?!"

He mumbled something as I let him go and climbed back up on the driver's seat. I turned and stood on my hind paws and grabbed the steering wheel with my front paws as best as I could. Eh, we hit a car...an expensive looking one as well...

Before I could tell Meowth to push it for Pete's sake, the passenger's door bursts open and Grindark was climbing up on the seat.

"You are SO dead, pup!"

"Shi—"

The driver's door flew open and the frantic-looking driver looked at me in utter disbelief.

"NOW YOU USELESS CA—WHOA!!!" I was almost thrown back when Kit suddenly hit the gas. I turned the wheel to get away from the car we hit. We got away and the doors closed, one of them slammed on Houndour's yelping body. There were cars up ahead, and I did my best to steer and dodge them.

Six forty-two...

"C-can I stop now?!" Kit cried.

"You better stop now!" Grindark snarled as he grabbed on the seat for dear life.

"I'm tempted to slam this truck and turn you into a pancake!" I snarled back at him.

"W-what?!"

"Not you, Meowth!"

The station was close now...

"Brace yourselves!" I shouted as I sharply turned the steering wheel, turning it to the right and slamming on a concrete wall. The impact made me slam myself on the steering wheel and I almost lost all of the air in my lungs.

The windscreen shattered as the truck skidded and was slowly turning over, and when it finally did, it continued until the truck was up-side-down and finally skidded to a stop.

I groan as I felt a hot trail of liquid from my nose and head. As painful as I body was, I needed to move...

I pushed myself up, and saw both the Meowth and Houndour were knocked unconscious. I quickly ran outside through the broken windscreen and ran through the sea of humans who were thankfully ignoring me.

Six forty-five... Fifteen more minutes...

The people were so busy staring at the wrecked truck that I managed to slide through the sliding doors of the station. The air was cool, and I wiped my nose and head with a paw before running towards the train.

There was a ticket booth and waiting seats, but all were empty as all eyes were outside. Well, the train isn't empty at least, though the passengers were trying to have a good look at what happened through the windows. I managed not to get any attention as I walked inside the opened door, and quietly lied below a seat by the trash bin. Hopefully, the bin and the sea of feet will shield me from the eyes of humans...

Ugh...now that I'm resting here...I'm...feeling really really weak... Ow... I...I guess the adrenaline in my body's gone now.... Ow... Ow ow... Ack... It hurts... It hurts...

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 22​

A groan escaped my lips as I woke up. Damn...yesterday was as crazy as heck... My body feels so darn beat... Ugh...doubt that I could move...

...strange that I'm lying on an earthy ground and not on the metallic floor of the...train...though...?

...I rode the train...didn't I?

...but...why...? ...wha?

Even though I'm covered in fur, I can positively tell that I'm lying on an earthy ground. Gah... This is useless... I opened my eyes and squinted after the bright...everything welcomed my sleepy eyes. Took me a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, and I saw that I was indeed lying on the ground. Ahead was...uhm... On the left was a peaceful stream, while on the right was a line of trees, probably an edge of a forest or something...

"He's awake!"

"GAH!" I jumped back in fright after a huge white face flashed before my eyes. As I landed back on the ground, however... "F-F-Fay?!"

"The one and only!" the Rattata stood on her hind legs and twirled in place, and bowed to me like a ballerina would.

"Stop scaring him! Geez," a familiar voice echoed from my right. I turned and saw the rest of her friends standing up. "One of these days, you're gonna give him a heart attack!" Shock scolded her, but Fay appeared to have not heard him. "...it went through the other ear, didn't it...?"

Saur and Vixie chuckled.

Okay, I'm totally missing something here... Also, strange that I no longer feel weak nor hurt all over... Anyway... "Could anyone please explain what's going on?" I looked at Fay, and then at the group, and then at Fay again, and I'm starting to get annoyed at her innocent smile.

"Oh! Oh!" the Rattata excitingly jumped in place, smiling wide. "Can I tell the story? Can I? Can I?"

"By all means," Shock glared at her, "no."

"Aw..." her ears and smile drooped.

"But you can add your comments in the story," Saur said.

"Really?" her ears stood up and her smile was back...

"Stop encouraging her..." Shock facepalmed. I sat down (after kicking my tail out of the way) as he and the others joined their rat friend. "Okay, where to start..."

"We were so worried about you so we went to the city despite the danger and there were crashings and noises everywhere(!) and then we asked a few Hoothoots of where you are and we went to this HUGE huge human building but the humans were busy looking at what they called an 'accident' so I followed your scent to the huge and speedy metal thingy that didn't move so we took you and brought you here! The end!" Fay said with a huge and toothy smile. "Nice pink collar, by the way!"

...and that's how to make a short summary...

"That...actually sums it all up..." Shock sighed in relief, probably thankful not to tell a long story.

I pulled the collar off of me and threw it to Fay, which she caught with her paws happily. "Go crazy with it."

Fay actually giggled like a child and started playing with it...thankfully, not in a dirty way...

"But I was hurt all ov—"

"Saur used Synthesis," Vixie explained.

"—er...er...ok."

"But Joe—"

"Jay," I corrected.

"Whatever," Shock rolled his eyes. "What in Giratina's marbles were you doing there?! We heard that you caused that wreck back in that human city!"

...I wonder if things would have been easier if I told them everything about me...and I wonder why I am not mad at them for destroying my chances of going to Kanto... Huh, now that I think about it, I can't seem to get angry with them for ruining my chances to get to Kanto.

...weird, but anyway... Shock was still giving me an angry glare. Saur and Vixie wore neutral expressions. Fay's busy with fun world.

"Um...may I explain?"

"By all means," the Pikachu hissed, and I cringed, strangely feeling guilty for some reason...

"Shock," Vixie spoke, making the Pikachu to take a huge breath to calm down.

"Sorry... Sorry..." Shock said, still breathing in and out to calm himself.

Saur nodded for me to talk.

"Well, uhm... I was...trying to go to Kanto."

"I thought you said that you went to the city to go and look for some human?" Vixie asked, blinking.

"I was," I nodded. "But I learned that he wasn't in the city anymore, and is in Kanto."

"But why the wreckage?" Shock asked.

"A couple of humans and dog Pokémon were trying to stop me...so I...tried to force my way to that train so I could get to Kanto."

"What's a train?" the Vulpix asked.

"The 'huge and speedy metal thingy that didn't move'," I explained together with air quotes.

Shock nodded. "Okay. Things are understandable." He nodded again and gave me a small, apologetic smile. "So...I guess we ruined your chance to get to Kanto, huh?"

Strange that they know the region names, yet they don't know what a train is. Aw well...

I shrugged and smiled. "I'm not angry though...which is strange, even for me." I'm actually glad to see these four again, but eh...I'd rather not tell them to avoid being sappy and all...

The three smiled back, and I then noticed that Fay's four paws were tied by the collar, and she was giggling while hopping in place, trying to keep her balance, but eh, I guess the force of my stare must have pushed her to the stream.

Her friends didn't seem to mind, until I told them that the Rattata's paws were tied. The two panicked while Saur sighed and fished the rat out with a vine. Shock and Vixie scolded the laughing Fay while Saur was trying to pull the collar off of her paws.

Yeah, I am really glad to see them again.

...and I guess it's about time that I told them who I reall am... I should brace myself...

 

[Dillon1102]

I really enjoy reading your stories but I wish that you would Make them longer or release them more often. I find myself not liking any of the other fan fictions but I do not leave comments because that one guy just deletes them which is ridiculous. Nonetheless I look forward to the next addition!

 

[destinedjagold]

I really enjoy reading your stories but I wish that you would Make them longer or release them more often. I find myself not liking any of the other fan fictions but I do not leave comments because that one guy just deletes them which is ridiculous. Nonetheless I look forward to the next addition!

Thanks, but I only write chapters when I'm bored at work though, and try to publish them before I go home. :3

Chapter 23​

"Where are we going, anyway?" Shock asked for a hundredth time.

I ignored him and his friends as I led them to...somewhere more...private. Almost everywhere I looked, there are Pokémon nearby. If I wanted to tell them my secret, then I needed us to be in a place where it'll only be just the five of us, and no one else.

It was still an hour or two before noon, so, despite the thick sea of leaves up above, I could clearly see where I am going. We turned away from the stream a few minutes ago, and far ahead, I could see a bright clearing.

...and...is it just me, or do I actually hear a—

"The beach!" Fay squealed as she ran passed me and onward towards the shore beyond the forest.

...where in Johto are we, anyway?

"E-eh..." Vixie said, "...I don't really like the beach..."

"Seriously Jay, why are we here?" Shock asked as we exited the forest, and we were immediately greeted by the fresh salty breeze.

Fay wasn't the only Pokémon here though. There were also others who were enjoying a swim or a sunbath. I stopped and looked around, and saw tall boulders on the sandy shore, meters away from us. I was about to start going there, but my tail was painfully held in place.

I gritted my teeth in pain as I turned my head back. The Pikachu was angrily holding my tail.

"We're not making another step to somewhere you're leading us to."

Vixie and Saur nodded.

I sighed. "I am just trying to find a place where we can talk in private."

"The place where you woke up was—"

"It had Pidgeys and some bugs around that could hear us," I cut him off and pulled my tail off of his grip. I turned ahead and pointed at the boulders. "I think that's a good place though."

"Why is it that you insist of talking without anyone else to hear?" Shock asked, failing to control his temper. "We hear the Pidgeys talk all the time, but we actually don't mind them."

"Unless of course if they suddenly said something very interesting," Fay added as soon as her soaked body arrived.

"So..." Saur said slowly. "It'll be an interesting story then?"

I sighed and nodded. "And the sooner, the better...I think..."

"If it's that big of a secret, then you shouldn't tell us," Vixie frowned. "We have secrets of our own that we're not comfortable of sharing with one another..."

"Yeah," Fay nodded, "like Saur's life back in that daycare thingy."

"Look," I began, "at first, I thought it was best not to tell you guys, but you kept on asking why I do this and why I do that." I took a breath and sighed. "So, it's time for me to tell you guys why, and the sooner the better."

Shock brought a paw to his chin, his eyes on the ground, deep in thought. "Hm... Honestly, I'm not good at keeping secrets." He then looked at me. "When I get angry, I tend to spill everything..."

"Don't we all?" I said.

"Nope," Saur smiled.

I deadpanned at him. "You're full of secrets. Anyway..." I turned towards the boulders and started walking.

I could tell that they're following me though, so I continued as I ignored and tried not to bump into other Pokémon laying on the sandy ground. A few of them said hello, so I greeted them back with a small smile, and the four who were tailing me greeted them as well.

Soon, the low voices of Pokémon died down as we neared the boulders. I walked around to hide us from the eyes of many Pokémon. Thankfully, there weren't any Pokémon around or near the boulder. I turned and slowly kicked my tail out of the way before I sat down.

"You need to learn to lift your tail there," Fay said as she and her friends sat down in front of me.

I shrugged. "Meh... Maybe later..." I took a breath to calm myself down. My heart's starting to beat nervously fast though, and I didn't realize that I already took quite a number of calming breaths.

"Better not talk about it then," Saur commented. They must've noticed my nervousness. No duh...

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I'm...a human..."

And there, I said it.

...the silence is so f*cking cliché...

"Pffftttahahahah!"

I...guess that's one of the cliché responses though... I curiously opened my eyes and saw Fay laughing her ass off as she fell on her back, still laughing. The other three just...stared at me...with pokerfaces...

"That...um..." Vixie spoke unwillingly. "...explains...the tail?"

Shock shook his head. "You," he pointed at me with a serious look, "...are...brainwashed."

"...what?"

"That, or you've really really REALLY hit your head MIGHTY hard when we first found you."

I sighed. "Look. I'm not brainwashed, nor did I hit my head...I think...but I'm not lying!"

The Pikachu shook his head in annoyance. I guess he doesn't like these kinds of talk. "No. Impossible!" He glared at me. "Do you really expect us to believe that? We're hoping for you to answer why you insist on going to that city, and this is your answer?! Really?!"

...I never said it'll be this easy...but I didn't expect it'd be this hard.

"Prove it."

...okay, difficulty level increased... I opened my mouth to say something, but no words went out. I'm drawing a blank on what to say. I sighed instead.

"I...didn't expect you guys to believe me anyway..."

"Like hell," Shock snarled.

"Okay, enough," I glared at him. "I said my secret, and I swear I am not lying. How in the world do you think I can prove to you guys that I'm telling the truth, huh?!"

Shock glared back for a while before he shook his head and turned his back on me. "Why am I even wasting my time on you, anyway?"

"I'm starting to wonder that myself," I snarled back.

Sparks flew from the Pikachu as he quickly turned back to me. I felt my heart sunk a million depths when I saw Shock's electrifying glare. "What was that?!"

...I really really hate being electrocuted...

"Shock, stop that!" Vixie called. "You're scaring him!"

"He should be!" Shock shouted, glaring at my shaken form. A vine slapped behind his head. "Ack!" The sparks were gone as he turned and glared at Saur. "What was that for?!"

"For scaring Fay," Saur calmly said, and I saw Fay was shaken in fear as she hid behind the Bulbasaur.

"F-friends don't hurt friends..." she kept on whispering.

Shock's ears drooped, as well as mine.

"Sorry..." I whispered with a sigh.

The Vulpix sat beside the Rattata and began rubbing her back. "It's alright Fay, it's alright..." she shot a glare at the Pikachu.

"I-I'm sorry Fay..." Shock sighed. "I didn't mean to..." He then slowly turned to me, and I felt nervous under his sad stare. "Sorry..."

"Um...okay...?" I mentally slapped myself...

"That'll do," Saur nodded. "So... You're a human?"

I nodded weakly.

"How?"

I blinked. "How...what?"

"Sorry," Saud chuckled. "Trying to practice saying only a few words. Doesn't work all the time, it seems..."

"No kidding..." I lamely replied.

"How did you become an Eevee then?"

I shook my head. "No idea. That's why I was trying to find Bill. He's a human inventor, and I know that he created a machine that can turn humans into Pokémon."

Shock and Saur arched their eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, yes... It's crazy to hear. Just let me finish. Ahem, anyway..." somehow, I remembered that magician that turned Ash into a Pikachu. Eh, whatever. "...his invention didn't work well though, so he was forced to change himself back. And that's why I wanted to see him. He might be able to change me back."

Saur nodded. "And...this Bill is in Kanto?"

I nodded.

Shock sighed. "I still think your crazy."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you. I try."

"Whatever," Shock shook his head and turned to his friends. "Let's just return to Bi."

"Bee?" I asked.

"Who knows," Shock started walking away, "she might help us snap some sense back into this Eevee."

"Huh, not a bad idea," Saur nodded and turned to Fay. "You okay?"

"Yeah," the Rattata smiled a small smile. "I think so."

Saur smiled and nodded, and they walked after the Pikachu as I walked and stopped beside the Vulpix.

"Who's Bee?" I asked her.

"Huh?" she blinked and turned to me. "Oh, right... you never met her before." She gestured with her head to follow the others, and we then started walking. "Bi is Celebi."

Oh... Oh. Oh! "S-seriously?!" B-but I thought... You know what? Never mind. Those papers were probably dated back a few weeks ago. "Celebi's back?" I asked.

She frowned. "Not for long though... She just came back to check up on us."

"Oh..." Well, that sucks. We'd better hurry then. Also... "Um...can I ask you something?"

Vixie just shrugged.

"What do you think of me now?"

"...a crazy Eevee. No offence."

Ouch... "Eh... None taken..."

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 24​

I discovered that the beach where I confessed my secret was west from Goldenrod City. I learned this after I quietly followed Shock and the others, who were heading east.

We went around the city though, careful not to be seen while we were running through an open route.

We spent two days walking, eating, talking and resting before we reached the bottom of the cliff. We were thankful that it was a clear afternoon while we were climbing up the cliff. If it was a windy or stormy afternoon, then it'd be a totally different story.

I was so tired by the time we reached the top, and so were the others, so we decided to camp for the night, since the sun was also about to set.

We sat in a circle, lying on our bellies. We rested as we tried to catch our breaths before one or two of us would collect something to eat, like, berries.

During our little dinner, we talked for a few about random things. Almost all of those random things were questions about me and my previous life as a human. Shock was still doubtful though, but our anger towards each other has faded long ago, and we occasionally talk and smile at each other, which was good.

I was the first to wake up when a cold drop of water hit my nose. At first, I thought it was going to rain, but when I looked up, the sleepy dark-blue morning sky was clear. I then heard faint giggling noises from the bushes. A quick look and I saw an Azurill playfully squirting water at the fleeing Sentret. They didn't notice me as they chased each other deeper into the forest.

After everyone woke up, we took a quick breakfast, berries once again, before we continued on our way back to Celebi's pond. It's the third day since we started going back to Ilex Forest, and I started to wonder if Celebi was still there. Vixie and the others did say that Celebi only came back to check up on things and then would be gone for who knows how long.

Then again, none of the four were showing signs of concern that Celebi might be long gone before we even arrive at the place. So I guess that's a good sign that Celebi will still be there. Either that, or it never occurred to them that it's been three days now, and the chances of Celebi still being there is close to zero percent...

"—so what do you think, Jay?" I snapped back to reality after Fay turned her head over her shoulder to look at me. I was still tailing their little group from behind though.

"Er...sure, I guess?" I hope that was the right answer...

The others turned to me with arched eyebrows. Eh, nope... Not the right answer...

"Me being born as a Pikachu has something to do with me not devolving into a Pichu, and you answered with 'sure, I guess'?" Shock frowned.

"Clearly, he wasn't paying attention," Saur noted.

I deadpanned. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. Clearly, I wasn't." I shook my head. "Anyway, a Pichu?"

...I haven't really thought about it until now. Shock's an evolved form! So...

"...shouldn't you be a Pichu?" I asked.

He frowned. "That's what the others kept on asking me back in the pond. So, welcome to their club."

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously though... Why aren't you a Pichu? Then again... I can't imagine a tough and hot-headed guy like you being a Pichu."

Shock glared at me as the others chuckled. "Ha ha... Funny." He shook his head and looked ahead. "Anyway, as I've said, I was born as a Pikachu, and so were my siblings back home... I'm from a clan of Pikachus in the Kanto region."

Eh? "Viridian Forest?"

"That's what the humans call that forest, and I really hate that name," the Pikachu said. "But us Pokémon call it Green Forest. Because the forest's leaves were a lot greener than any other forest. Even this one."

"I...think viridian means blue-green... I think..."

Shock shook his head. "Whatever. It's Green Forest, and since you're a Pokémon, and clearly not a human, you should call it Green Forest and not Vivi-whatever."

I frowned and was about to complain, but Vixie shot me an amused look and shook her head. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Fine. Green Forest it is. At least it's easier to say..."

"So..." Fay asked. "What do you think? Why isn't Shock a Pichu?"

Erm...yes... That question... I almost forgot. Hm... "Well... The phenomenon made all Pokémon to return to their basic forms, and couldn't evolve. At least, that's what I found out while I was in the city. Buuut... Shock's still a Pikachu. So... I think that...uhm... He's a lucky one to escape the weird 'return to basic' black magic thingy, or because it's in his DNA or genes that his basic form is a Pikachu, and why the heck are you two laughing?!"

I frowned at Fay and Vixie, who were laughing at my answer slash explanation.

"Do all humans talk that weird?" Fay laughed. "Basic? Magic? Dee en ey? Jins? What?"

My frown went further down. "Yeah, ha hah. Go laugh your asses off..."

Shock and Saur chuckled.

"Seems we're even now," Shock grinned.

I glared at him for a few moments before I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Are we there yet?"

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 25​

Fay smelled a human scent up ahead. Carefully, Shock volunteered to take a look. Saur explained to me that it was always Shock's job to check out the humans before coming up with a plan to evade them.

Shock was a few trees ahead, taking a peak behind the bushes. My own curiosity took the better of me, and despite the whisper warnings of the others behind me, I reached the bush and stood beside the Pikachu. He has good hearing, but he was probably focused on the human or humans though, that he wasn't aware of my presence yet. Startling him would be fun, but it might not be a good idea, especially if the humans are trainers.

I wanted to take a peak, but I might cause enough noise to startle the Pikachu. So, I mentally sighed as I closed my eyes and focused on my hearing.

"—don't think that this is a good spot, lass," an old voice said.

"Aw, but we've been walking for, like, forever!" a young female voice replied. "I wanted to rest, and maybe start painting! I did promised granny to at least paint once a day!"

"And what in heavens are you going to paint in the middle of this forest? Trees?"

"Hah hah... You're so funny, gran'pa." There was a soft thud. Probably a medium-sized bag. An unzipping zipper. Yep, definitely a bag. I heard paper and wood noises. "There. Now, for inspiration."

"Well, good luck with that."

"Gran'pa, zip it. I need to concentrate."

"They don't look like trainers though..." Shock whispered to himself. "But they're on a clear path... We can't go through without them noticing..."

I opened my eyes and looked at his back.

"Hm... They don't look like they'll be leaving any time soon either... We can't wait though..."

I grinned. I quietly walked behind him and turned my back on him. Besides, if anything goes wrong, he's a fast runner. I looked ahead as I lifted my two hind legs. Fay, Vixie and Saur were looking at me in disbelief, their breaths frozen.

Ladies and gentlemen! Without further ado, let me kick the Pikachu!

"WHA—!!!" Shock screamed in pain and surprise as he flew through the bush and landed on...

"AH!"

There was a thud. There was a crash. Wood. Paper sheets. Tin cans. A louder thud. More wood.

"Ohmygosh! A Pikachu!!!"

And then a mixture of two voices: squeals and screams.

...whoops?

"You'll be perfect for my painting for the day!"

"Never have I seen a Pikachu fly before... Oi lass, that'd be a rare one. I have a Pokéball here to catch that."

"Wha?! No! I just want to paint this Pikachu! Not capture it!"

I pushed my head through the bush to see what was happening.

I heard the old guy sighed. "Yer gonna live the rest of yer days with a Smeargle?"

"Hey you old bum! Glee is a faithful companion of mine in painting! We share the same passion, so I don't need to capture any other Pokémon!"

My face poked through the bush, and my gaze instantly fell on Shock's death glare. The young teen was hugging him like a pillow. I smiled sheepishly as he mouthed 'I'll kill you later'.

I heard loud rustling noises beside me, and out came three more faces, one of them glaring at me.

"Jay! What have you done?!" Vixie hissed at me.

"Calm down," I whispered back. "She's not capturing Pikachu. Just wanna paint him."

"Oh! Painting?!" Fay squealed, making the rest of us gasp as we turned to her. "But hey! Can we go and get painted as well?" she looked at us with a pouting bottom lip. "Can we? Please?"

I heard a spark. I turned ahead and saw a happy female teen, and um...Shock was grinning like a maniac, both his cheeks sparkling.

"Of course YOU can!" Shock said in a very terrifying way. What have I done?! "And let's call it 'Beat The Eevee!'"

I gulped. "No thank you!"

Zap!

Can't...move...

---

"I still think that we should'a caught that Pikachu, or at least that Eevee..."

"Oh, quiet you old timer," I heard the young teen squealed as she and her grandfather walked away, carrying my shame.

"Aw, cheer up," Vixie poked my shoulder. "It wasn't that bad."

"My manhood was exposed and painted right in front of a gir-hu-hurlll...!" I cried, my face underneath my two front paws as I quietly cried my shame off.

"Well, uh... I...think I have a clue what 'manhood' meant but, if it's any consolation, not all of us...um...seen it?"

"Go away, Vixie..."

Saur, Fay and Shock were laughing their asses off as they continued on our way, Saur's vines dragging me along...

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 26​

We reached the pond in half an hour after our lunch break...with berries... Sigh... I miss the taste of meat already...

The Pokémon residents were still separated by groups though. Grouped by the trees or by the edges of the pond. A few were alone as well.

As usual, I was behind our small group, and in front of me, the four were, once again, arguing with Lithe... Sigh... Things aren't really going to change here, huh?

"Lithe," a new voice called from...above? "Go back to your circle."

I turned up just in time to see...Celebi, descending, with an annoyed frown directed at the retreating Growlithe. Well, there's a change.

"I can't believe he's still after you," the legendary said as she touched down in front of the four. If not counting the Pikachu's ears, Celebi's as tall as Shock.

I stepped up beside Fay and Shock as Vixie replied. "I just hope he gets tired soon..."

"Bi," Shock said, "can't you tell him to stop going after 'Xie?"

Celebi turned to him and sighed. "I already lost count of how many times I told him that." Pikachu sighed as Bi finally took notice of me. I felt nervous under her curious gaze. "Who's this?"

"Er..." Com'on mouth! You can do better than that!

"Oh, this is Jay," Fay said, turning to me with a smile and then turned back to Bi. "He wants to ask to be your mate."

"What?!" I shouted as I gave her a pound on her head. "No I don't!"

"...ow..."

I looked back at the legendary and smiled nervously. "Er, don't listen to her."

"Jay huh?" Celebi brought a hand to her chin, and tilted her head as she stared at me while floating around me...as if she was...scanning me... "Well," she said as she landed in front of us. "You don't look that bad to be my mate."

I stepped back in shock. "Wait, what?!"

She nodded. "I don't like loud noises though, so we'll have to work on minimizing your shouting habit..."

This is weird! This is beyond weird! I looked at the others. Saur just shrugged his shoulders. Shock was giving me a thumbs up. I glared at him. Fay had a huge grin. Vixie was quietly clapping her paws.

Celebi's face was suddenly inches away from mine. It was impossible, but I actually felt a sweat ran down from my head as I nervously gazed at her piercing sapphire eyes. I involuntarily took a step back to regain my personal space, and she floated back and sighed.

"Eh, I guess I shouldn't be choosy..."

"You CAN'T be serious!" I said, still not believing what the heck is happening.

She shrugged and turned to the others. "Mew already has a mate, and she never stops talking about how sweet he was, so," she shrugged again and looked at me with a sweet smile. "I guess it's time for me to have one."

"Is it time for me to run away, screaming?" I asked. "And how in blazes will this work? Legendaries can't...um...have babies, right?" At least in the games, they can't...minus Manaphy...Latios...Latias...

Celebi shook her head and began hovering closer. "No, you can't run, and no, that's just a bunch of rumors."

Eheh...

Eheheheh...

"Eheheheheh....heheh... O-okay, hahah," I laughed nervously as Celebi blinked. "Funny... Hahah... You guys can stop the joke now, 'cause I'm honestly freaking out..."

Celebi blinked, and then glared at me. She suddenly grabbed a hold of my face with her grassy-viney arms and glared directly into my soul. "Were you really wanting to be my mate, or not?"

I gulped. Please, kill me now?

"Okay, we're getting overboard," Shock sighed as Celebi suddenly lets me go, giggled, and floated back towards the laughing Vulpix and Rattata.

"Not. Funny!" I snarled as I tried to calm my fast-beating heart.

"It was to us!" Fay replied.

I mumbled some jumbled letters for the sake of mumbling...

"But two points of serious," Celebi said after their giggles died down. "One, I'm seriously of looking for a mate, because Mew's making me jealous..."

"I'm not applying," I glared at her innocently-smiling face. "No thank you! And you shouldn't have a mate just because you're jealous!"

She just shrugged as Saur chuckled.

"And two," Celebi continued, "Jay, that's your name, right?"

I nodded reluctantly.

"I can't seem to see his time."

I...raised an eyebrow. "What? You mean I'm dead?"

"Wow!" Fay wow'ed, for some reason... "Zombies do exist!"

I deadpanned at her. "Yeah... Blearghurgh and some gibberish..." I shook my head. "Seriously, what does that mean?"

"Celebi can travel through time," Saur said.

...and Captain Obvious strikes again~!

Celebi nodded. "I can also see others' connection with time, but..."

"...you can't see mine?" I guessed.

She nodded again and frowned. "...and it's weird, really."

"Bi," Shock called, and looked around, before looking at Celebi again. "He claims that he used to be a human," he whispered.

Celebi stared at Shock for a couple of seconds before turning to me with an arched eyebrow. "...really?"

"Really," I said. "And no, I ain't joking."

She landed and looked at the four. "...and you believe him?"

A series of 'nuh-uh' and 'nope' echoed from our little group.

I frowned. But eh, if a human walks up to me and tells me that they used to be a Pokémon, I wouldn't believe them either. But still...

Celebi looked at me and nodded. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt then..."

I sighed in relief. At least she doesn't fully not believe me... "Thanks. That's...really why I wanted to see you."

Celebi nodded. "It's worth the wait, at least."

It's...worth the wait? I turned back to the four and they just smiled back at me.

"We asked Bi is she could wait here for you," Vixie said.

"One of the reasons that we pulled you out from the city," Shock said, crossing his arms with pride.

I rolled my eyes, but I'm quite thankful that...they actually care. "Thanks, I guess?"

They nodded back.

"So, uh," I looked back at Celebi. "What now? I um...kinda expecting that you'll know of some ways for me to turn back into a human..."

"Arceus might know..." Celebi thought. "But he's really grumpy if I visit him without an invitation from him. Big meanie..."

A...huh... Okay then... "Can't you at least try?"

She nodded. "But I can't promise you anything..."

"Good enough," I smiled.

"But what about that Bill guy you were talking about?" Fay asked.

"Who?" Celebi asked.

"Bill is currently in Kanto, who has a machine that I think might help me return to being human."

"Oh, then that simplifies things then," Celebi nodded. "You can just go there and meet this Bill."

I frowned. "Bill's a human."

"Never mind I said anything then," Celebi chuckled. "But it's worth a try, right?"

"I...guess so?"

Celebi nodded. "Then it's settled. While I try to talk to Arceus, you go to Kanto and meet up with Bill."

"You um..." should I? Eh, what the heck. "You probably might need to talk to Palkia as well though..."

Celebi blinked. "Why?"

"I'm...not from this world either..."

Silence... At least our group was quiet... Other Pokémon around the area were still talking amongst each other.

"You're getting crazier and crazier..." Shock shook his head.

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 27​

Celebi did one last fly-through around the forest before she left. Before she left however, I asked her where she was headed. She assured me to make time to visit Arceus and ask about my concerns.

That wasn't really the reason why I called her though. I asked her what she was gonna do, and she just shrugged and said that she needed to continue searching for the cause of the phenomenon.

After that, we and the other Pokémon around the pond bid her good luck and farewell. Aaannnddd...as soon as she was gone...

"Yo! Vixie!" ...Lithe's back in action...sigh...

"No!" Vixie shouted and glared at the approaching Growlithe.

We're thankful that we're still on the edge of the pond. I turned to Saur, and he stared back at me with a vine slightly poked out from under the bulb on his back. I smirked, and so did he.

"Aw, com'on Vixie!" the Growlithe whined. "I just got my nineteenth mate yesterday! You'd be my lucky twenty!"

My mouth hung open... "Wow... Not sure if you're extremely lucky, or extremely pervy."

Fay chuckled at my statement, Vixie nodded, Shock and Saur laughed, and Lithe glared at me.

"What was that, punk?!"

"Deaf, too..." I deadpanned.

"As always..." Vixie added.

Shock coughed. "We don't have time for this." He turned to me. "Bi gave us a task, so we should go."

I blinked. "To...Kanto...?"

Saur and Shock nodded.

Fay smiled wide. "Of course to Kanto! Where else?!"

Erm...yeah, but... "You're coming?" I looked at all of them, minus Lithe. "You're all coming?"

"I would love to hear that from my mates and Vixie tonight," Lithe commented with a grin, and I involuntarily had a coughing fit. Wow...just...wow...

"Dream on, perv," the Vulpix hissed before turning to us. "Let's get outta here."

We nodded and started walking towards the forest. I wanna ask if they're really sure of coming along, but right now, I'd rather be as far away as I can from this Growlithe.

"Ack—!" Vixie was pulled back, and we turned to see her on her belly, pinned down by Lithe who was on top of her.

"They can leave," Lithe whispered to her ear, "but you're staying here."

Vixie squirmed, but she suddenly gasped when Lithe made a forward motio...

A yellow blur passed over and knocked Lithe back. Fay and Saur quickly ran to the Vulpix, who was shakily returning to her paws.

"Did he...?" Fay trailed off, and Vixie slowly shook her head. Fay sighed in relief as sparks flew in the air. "Oh, thank goodness."

...and here I was, standing, stunned. Lithe was... Lithe was...

"You can't stop me!" Lithe shouted as the Pikachu was thrown back, burned, and barely standing up.

"You hurt my friend!" Fay shouted as she ran past Shock, headbutting Lithe and throwing him back.

The Growlithe managed to stay on his paws and angrily blasted the yelping Rattata with a fierce wave of fire. When the fire vanished, so was Fay. Scanning around, I saw a hole on the ground from where she stood mere moments ago.

A light tremor erupted as Fay suddenly burst out from the ground from where Lithe stood, throwing his yelping body up in the air. A vine shot up and pulled Fay down, and was soon followed by a storm of leaves, slicing the Growlithe while in the air.

Lithe growled and was enveloped in flames, making the razor leaves to do nothing but turn into ashes. He landed with a growl, in front of an angry Pikachu. Shock immediately turned around, slapping his metal-gray tail at Lithe's face, and throwing the burning Growlithe in the pond.

Seconds passed, and I felt a faint tremor. The others noticed as well, and Shock was about to jump, but the ground below him erupted. He was forced up as Lithe headbutted him, and breathed out fumes of fire for a second before a torrent of water swallowed them both.

When the geyser was gone, Lithe landed on his paws and growled as he dashed towards Saur. Shock landed on his back with a thud as Saur calmly wrapped his vines around Lithe and...the Bulbasaur pushed himself up and lets go, landing beside Shock. He gently presses a paw on him and his bulb started glowing.

Skidding to a stop, Lithe angrily spun, and gasped when he was face to face with an angry Vulpix. She immediately spun and slapped her tail on his chin like an uppercut, sending the Growlithe flying a bit. She followed him up and pounds him back to the ground with her paws.

The Growlithe gasped as he landed on his back. The Vulpix landed behind him and snarled.

"You want me so badly?!" Vixie shouted. "Then have it!"

Lithe howled in utter pain as Vixie bit his...

I cringe, and so were those who were watching the whole scene.

Vixie suddenly jumped back before Lithe could kick her. I...didn't see Vixie's face as she stared at the bloody mess she'd made before she walked towards the pond. Shock, Fay and Saur were surprised when they saw Vixie. I...guess I'm glad not to see her face, but judging from how bloody Lithe was...um...

Lithe cried as he limply crawled towards the pond, purposely going farther from the Vulpix, who was washing her face.

Fay said something, but her voice was too quiet for me to hear.

Vixie stared at her reflection, and sighed as her ears drooped. She quickly turned and slowly approached her friends. Her face was normal now. Well, normally clean, at least. She was still looking angry, and sorry at the same time. Relieved, and guilty.

I'm not sure if I should join them at the moment. I might as well keep my distance...

They slowly began talking, and I looked at them for a short while before I looked at Lithe. He was being helped by a few Pokémon though, cleaning his...ahem. I guess those are his 'mates'...

O-okay... Things really are serious around here... One wrong move and I'd probably die...or maybe if I die, I'll automatically return to my home?

Uhm...no... I don't want to test that theory.

"He'll be fine."

I jerked and turned, and saw Saur seated beside me. The others were still by the pond.

Saur turned his head to look at Lithe. "I'd say, he had it coming."

I cringed. "B-but still... That looked like it hurt...a lot." I was kicked there once. Never again would I want to experience it.

Saur nodded. "It does hurt a lot."

"No duh..." I sighed as I closed my eyes and heard a few footsteps approaching us. Must be Saur's friends. I opened my eyes in time to see the others sitting around us. My gaze instantly fell on Vixie. "Hey um," I caught her attention. "Uh...how are you?"

"Horrible..." she then looked angry. "And glad that he won't bother me again."

Uh...huh... I nodded anyway. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"You're not like Lithe," Fay chirped, "so don't worry. Unless you want to."

I frowned at her. "Hell no."

"Anyway, let's go," Vixie said, her voice carried the tone of finality.

The rest of us nodded as she walked towards the trees. We followed her, and Fay sped up until she was walking side by side with the Vulpix.

"So," the Rattata said, "just curious... But how'd it taste like?"

I guess she haven't tasted blood before... I had. Common example would be when I get scratches on my hand or fingers. I quickly put them on my lips and apply some saliva. When I was young, my mom told me that our saliva helps stop the wound from bleeding. Still not sure if it was true or not, but I carried that belief even now. Er...when I was still human, at least.

Vixie shook her head. "Horrible..." she replied.

"Oh," Fay said, her ears flattened. "Was it really that bad?"

Vixie turned her head to her friend and blinked in confusion. "The...blood?"

Fay slowly shook her head.

Vixie blinked again. "Um...Fay... What...are you asking about again?"

...brain...shut up.

"You know, his pokey—"

"FAY!" I snarled and pinned my ears against my head with my paws. "Shut up!"

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 28​

I still stayed behind their group was we walked through the forest. The sun was about to set, if the orange colors of the sky was any indication.

Vixie suddenly stopped, and everyone stopped as well. She sighed and turned to me with a sad frown.

"Look," she said, and I immediately felt scared, "I'm not going to hurt you, alright?"

Uhm... She must have noticed that I get scared every time she checks up on me.

"S-sorry..." I said a bit nervously, and I laughed weakly. "Eheheh...eh...eheh...yeah..."

Shock crossed his arms and arched me an eyebrow. "What are you so nervous about, anyway?"

I felt my two ears drooped. "Um..." I sighed. "I...know Vixie wouldn't do that, but I...guess I'm...just...still shocked from what happened...I guess?"

Shock rolled his eyes, Fay chuckled, Vixie frowned further, and Saur just nodded.

"That's understandable," the Bulbasaur said.

I smiled at him. "Thanks. And don't worry about me." I shrugged. "I...guess I just need some time to recover."

Saur nodded before turning to the rest. "We should go and look for a place to camp out."

"Already?" I asked.

"Right," Shock nodded and turned to a direction. "I can hear a stream up ahead. I'll go and check if it's a good spot."

"I'll come with!" Fay chirped happily and ran after the Pikachu.

"Fay, stay behind," Shock complained.

Fay just shook her head. "Nuh-uh! Nope! I'm coming with!"

Shock sighed. "Fine... Just be quiet."

"Of course! I'll be super quiet you won't even know I'm here!"

The Pikachu groaned as Saur and Vixie chuckled.

Saur then turned to Vixie. "I'll find some good berries then."

Vixie nodded. "I should, too."

Saur just shook his head. "I'll handle it."

Vixie frowned as Saur walked to a direction. "But..."

Saur ignored her and soon, he was gone.

Um... I looked at Vixie. She was still staring at where the Bulbasaur went. She sighed and turned to me. I gasped and looked away. Ah poop... I should have asked to join Saur...

There was a shuffling noise as I saw Vixie's shadow moved. Sigh... This is awkward... People can easily talk when they're in a group, but find it difficult in a one on one situation... I guess it also applies to Pokémon as well...

The faint voices of the flying types in the quiet air isn't really helping much though. I sighed. I guess I should try and break this awkward silence...

"Um..." I noticed her shadow's ears perked up. "...beautiful weather?"

She looked up. "It is..."

...and silence once again.

She sighed. "Look, I really really will not hurt you."

I looked at her frowning face. "I...know that. Just that... I need time to recover?" Yeah, I'm just repeating myself.

"I know, I know..." she sighed. "I just don't like my friends to be scared of me..."

Eh? "Fr-friends?"

She blinked. "Yes. Friends." She slightly arched an eyebrow. "We are friends, right?"

"I..." remember, don't go to her bad side... "...guess so...?"

She gave me a small smile. "Just like Fay said, friends don't hurt friends."

I nodded with a small smile of my own. Strange that she considered me as her friend. Even more strange is they consider me as a friend. Despite a few facts that I barely helped them or even left them on that cliff...

"So I will never hurt you, because you're a friend!"

"But..." I began, my heart suddenly having a difficult time beating. "...I'm a human."

"Well, right now you're not."

My ears drooped. "So...once I am human again, you'll attack me?"

She grinned. "Only if you'll try and capture me."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't even know how a Pokéball works. I'm originally not from this universe, remember?"

She blinked, her smile fading. "What...do you mean?"

"I mean, where I come from, there are no Pokéballs, because Pokémon don't exi...st..." ...oops... Good job, me! I'm not even sure if they're ready to know that yet!

She blinked, and blinked, and blinked. "Pokémon don't...exist?"

Welp, the truth was out. "Well, in my world, at least..."

She shook her head. "A world where Pokémon don't exist?" She shook her head again. "That's... That's a sad world you live in!"

"Ouch..." I frowned. "The truth hurts a lot more, coming from you living in this world..."

"S-sorry..." her ears drooped. "I...didn't mean to offend you..."

I slowly shook my head. "Eh, what you said is true, so don't worry about it..."

"But...a world where there's only humans... I just can't imagine your life there..."

Let's see. Work, games, crimes, girls, wars, plagues, natural disasters. I shrugged. "It's not really a sad world though," I lied. I'd rather you not worry.

"Really?"

I just nodded. "Yep." Gonna close this topic now. "Why do you think I'm working so hard to get back home?"

"Huh... I guess that's true." She nodded with a smile. "You must be missing something very important if you're doing everything to return home."

Eh...not really. I just don't want to get captured by a stupid trainer. That, and I don't wanna die or get eaten as a Pokémon.

"Wife and kids, maybe?"

I frowned at her. "I don't have any of those."

She blinked. "A...girlfriend?"

Ouch... That stung, girl... "Nope."

She placed a paw on her chin, deep in thought. "Hm... Boyfriend?"

I choked. "What?!"

She shrugged with a grin. "Hey. I'm not judging."

I glared at her. "Fay, get off that costume and tell me what you've done with Vixie?"

"Hah hah," she frowned. "I can be funny too, y'know."

"Oh?" I grinned.

She puffed. "Fine. Why can't you take a bath in Celebi's pond?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Erm... I give. Why?"

She grinned. "Because everyone might Pikachu."

Smile...stop... Stop... Darn... Laugh, stop! Stop! I failed. "Hahahah! O-okay, that was a good one."

Vixie posed proudly. "See? I can even make jokes!"

"Heh..." Okay. I've read some jokes before... Let's see what I can remember... "Hm... You found Skuntank. What do you say?"

"Um... What?"

I smiled. "Odor you are!"

Vixie chuckled. "That was lame."

"Yeah? Well," you're just lucky most of the jokes I know will not make any sense to you Pokémon.

"Very lame!" Fay chirped as she and Shock walked out from a small bush. "Here's one! What does a Dratini smell every morning?"

"His dragonbreath," Saur said, dragging a large leaf with assorted berries on it.

I chuckled as Fay frowned at Saur. I admit, that was a good one.

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 29​

Gah! Ugh... It's still dark...

I fell on a bicycle... Damn, I hate those kinds of dreams. They jolt me awake. I swear, this Eevee body's trying to give ME a heart attack.

I yawned as I rose into a sitting position and rubbed my eye with a paw. I looked up at the starry sky. Damn, the evenings here are beautiful than back on earth. Heh, probably because of the air and light pollutions back there.

The quiet noise of the stream, the evening black-n-blue hues of the twinkling night sky. Damn. I could stare at it forever.

"Awake already?"

I turned to Shock, who was seated by the pond.

I arched him an eyebrow. "I could ask the same to you."

He just smirked at me before lying on his back and stared at the sky. What's up with him? I quietly rose into four and quietly walked out from the others. I sat beside the Pikachu and slowly lied on my back. Eh, it's not easy to lie on one's back if you're a four-legged creature. This damn Pikachu has an easy life...

"So...what's up?"

Shock shrugged. "The Hoothoots are noisy..."

I deadpanned while looking at the sky. "I could barely hear anything."

Shock just chuckled, and sighed. "Nah, I just couldn't sleep, i's all."

"Close your eyes and count some sheep."

"...sheep?"

"Er... Mareeps. Yeah, Mareeps!" Darn, this world's too weird.

"And...how does that help?"

I sighed. "Forget it... Pretend I didn't say anything."

We were quiet for a while before Shock broke it. "Can't sleep?"

"Not if my dreams give me heart attacks."

Shock chuckled. "Yeah, those are annoying kinds of dreams. I remember this one dream of mine that a Snorlax rolled over me."

I cringed. "Ouch." What's even scarier is that it is possible to happen in this world! I'll dodge Lavender Town if Snorlaxes block the paths though.

Shock chuckled again. "Yeah..."

And we were quiet once again. I sighed with a smile as a cool breeze passed by.

"So..." I softly said, "...you and Vixie, huh?"

"Huh?" Shock turned his head to face me. "What do you mean?"

I turned to him. "You know," I gestured with my front paws. "You and her. Together."

"...what?" his face turned red. "Wh-what?"

I shrugged. "Hey, no need to be shy about it. I mean, com'on," I shrugged again and turned to the sky. "We're both guys. Back home, guys share stories and thoughts about girls." My co-workers, at least. Damn, they complain too much. They should be thankful that they have a girl, for goodness' sake!

"What makes you think we're mates?"

"Hm... Well, you're over-protective of her around Lithe. That's one thing. And..." I turned back to him with a grin, "...that red face of yours is another thing."

His red face went even redder and he quickly looked away from me. "Th-that's nonsense!"

I nodded. "Denial. Another thing. Three points now." I snickered.

"Zip it," he turned back to me with a glare. His face was still red though. "We're not mates, okay?"

"In the future, yes?"

"No!"

"Sheesh, you're going to wake everyone up at that volume, Shocky~"

"Don't call me that," he hissed with a glare for a few seconds before turning back to the sky and 'hmp'ed'.

We were quiet once again for a few minutes until I sighed. Strange feelings of guilt from teasing him is eating my consciousness...

"Sorry..." I said, almost a whisper. "I guess I assumed too much..."

"If Saur were awake," Shock said, "he'll tell you that that's our job."

I chuckled, and so did he. "But seriously though. I'm curious here... You and Vixie are...?" I trailed off for him to fill.

"Just friends," Shock finished. "Nothing wrong with friends looking out for each other, right?"

"Nah, but, seriously, the thought never occurred to you?"

"Just now, by the form of an Eevee."

"Hah hah..."

He took a breath and sighed. "She's okay, I guess, but..."

Always a 'but'...

"She's not really a Pikachu, now is she?"

"We can ask that human painter and paint her yellow."

He chuckled.

"But...why only Pikachus?"

"I am one, for starters..."

"But...the magic-thingy... Wouldn't they be Pichus by now?"

He turned to me with an arched eyebrow. "Who are you talking to at the moment?"

Eheheh... "Good point."

He looked back at the sky. "Why only Pikachus? I dunno... I'm not really attracted to other species... Anyway, I'm pretty sure that there are Pikachus back home."

"Is that why you wanted to come with me to Kanto?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I mean," he shrugged, "since you brought that up, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. I'm sure Saur and the others would understand."

I frowned. One reason I wasn't so friendly back home is that I hate friends leave to continue with their lives. There are various technologies to keep in touch, but it's not the same as meeting them up again in person... I sighed.

"Sounds like you disagree..."

"Yeah, well," I sighed and stared at the stars. "I just...don't like friends leaving... That's why I was...surprised that you guys considered me as a friend. Now I consider you guys as my friends, and I swear, I'm gonna be so f*cking hurt once I find a way to go home..."

"I still think you're not a human, and you just hit your head pretty hard and started believing in crazy stuff."

"Gee...thanks...I guess?"

Shock chuckled. "But, let's say what you're saying is true..."

"Which definitely is."

"...you said you hate friends leaving friends. Friends leaving you... But can you leave your friends?"

I sighed as I closed my eyes. No I can't. "I'll...cross that bridge when I get there..."

"But since the bridge is not yet here, you need to learn to defend yourself."

"Eh?" What a straaaaange shift of topic.

"That's why we agreed to come with you. You can barely do anything in the face of danger."

I glared at him. "Hey! I threw Lithe in the water the first time I got there!" Exaggerated, I know. But com'on! I ain't that useless!

He nodded. "Uh huh... And...?"

My glare intensified. He doesn't believe me that I can defend myself? "And...! And... And... Uh..." Um... "I...tackled a Cyndaquil?"

Okay... I guess I really am a cute and defenseless Pokéfood...

"Okay, you win," I admitted. "So I don't know how to fire some fire or zap lightning or shoot leaves... But I'm still here, right?" Yeah...I'm pathetic...

Shock just chuckled, and I felt really really sad at myself... "We'll let Vixie train you."

I blinked. "Why her?"

He grinned. "You want Fay to teach you?"

My eyes grew wide. "No!"

Saur might be a good teacher... Then again...with his oh-so-mystical prophet-of-the-future like ways of talking, I doubt I can do anything new...

Shock seems to be too...assertive... He and Saur both rely on elemental attacks though... I can't manipulate the elements...

Fay...eh...

Vixie seems like a good candidate. And I'm not really that scared of her anymore.

I hate to do stuff that I don't like yet I'm forced to do. What's worse, I need to do these stuff to survive!

I sighed in defeat. "Fine... I'll let her teach me."

"That's not yet final," Shock said. "I'm not sure if she'll agree."

Well, I hope not.

...wait... I'd be dead meat if I can't properly defend myself...

"I hope she will..." I whispered in defeat.

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 30​

"Gah!" I yelped as I was thrown back.

I tried to skid to a stop, but my weak legs gave in and I ended up rolling on the ground until I gradually stopped. My dazed eyes fell on the gentle rays of the morning sun that poked through the sea of dancing leaves.

Ow...my aching...everything...! I never would have thought that training would be THIS hard?! And trainers have the nerve to complain if their Pokémon weren't doing good in battle! Training is so, freaking, hard!

"You okay?" Vixie asked as she stopped beside me, her concerned look taking over my vision. "S-sorry! I was expecting you to dodge it!" she frowned even further.

I tried to smile and shrug. "At least I now know how ouchy your tail slap is...ow..." Even simple talking hurts.

It was around noon by the time our little group decided to take a break from our journey. Shock and Saur went to go and look for something to eat. Vixie and I started training. Fay was...

"You need to focus on using your feet for jumping and dodging!"

...Fay was my coach...sort of...

"...and the way you run is weird. And the way you're using your head for tackling is wrong. You should strengthen your neck more if you want to keep using your head."

...and she strangely knows a lot about battling. Never judge a funny rat by its fur, I guess...

"...and you should stop wagging your tail while you run. And you shouldn't—"

"Okay! I get it!" I hissed. "Ow!" and a painful headache made me wince.

"See?" Fay chirped as I felt Vixie's nose pushing my side to turn me on my belly. "Even your head's not well enough for tackling! Or headbutting! If you keep that up, you're gonna have a sore head and a headache at the same time!"

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. I took a deep, deep breath, and sighed. "T-thanks..." No use getting angry at her...

"Sorry if I was too hard on you..." Vixie whispered, sitting beside me.

"You apologize too much..." I joked.

The Vulpix just gave me a worried frown.

"I was kidding... Don't worry..." I assured her.

Fay arrived and sat on my other side. "Why don't you just use a shadow ball?"

I blinked. "I can...do that?"

Fay rolled her eyes. "Well, duh! Anyone can do a shadow ball!"

I arched her an eyebrow as she jumped in all four and opened her mouth as she raised her curled tail. I heard a weird noise as a black dot thingy appeared in front of her opened mouth. It grew quicker than a blink, and became a size as big as her head. She lifted her head up, as well as her front paws, up in the air, and slammed her paws back on the ground as she 'fired' the shadow ball forward, exploding in dust and splinters when it struck the base of a large tree.

My jaw fell open as the dust settled, and the tree will forever carry the scar of the Rattata's playful wrath.

Fay smiled and looked at me. "See? Now you try!"

"You're kidding, right?" I gulped. "I...I don't even know where to begin! I don't even know how that was possible!"

Fay rolled her eyes again. "You saw it, right?"

I nodded reluctantly.

She smiled. "Then it happened! Seeing is believing, after all!"

I deadpanned. "Not everything we see is real, too."

"Oh, pfft," she raspberried as she waved a paw. "That only applies for ghosts! They make illusions all the time!"

I sighed, and then turned to Vixie, who was just sitting there quietly. "You okay there?"

She blinked. "Yeah..." Her ears drooped. "Sorry for hurting you."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Sheesh. Where's the tough Vixie I knew? Talk about complete change in character. "Are you sure you're okay? What happened to the tough Vulpix I know?"

She shot me a glare. "Is it wrong to be concerned about my friends?"

Ouch... "Okay, sorry... It's just..." I stared at the ground. "...I just don't like other people worrying about me."

Fay giggled. "Then learn to defend yourself so we'll stop worrying much!"

Vixie still had that glare of hers. "If you want the tough Vixie back, then stand up and get back to training!"

Sheesh... Can't she take a joke? I groaned as I tried to stand in all four. Took me a few seconds than normal, but at least I'm standing...wobbling a bit.

Vixie walked a few meters in front of me and turned, and was now in battle mode.

"We'll work on your dodging techniques first," she said, preparing herself. "I'll go slower than normal, but I'll increase my speed with each successful dodge you make, okay?"

I sighed and prepared myself. "Fine, fine..."

Fay run back into the audience zone.

Vixie then started running towards me, her head ready to hit me. She was running pretty slow than normal though. Still, this is training after all, so yeah. I jumped to the side in time and managed to stay on my paws on my landing. She skidded to a stop and turned to me.

"Jump was too high!" Fay shouted.

Darn it. I keep forgetting. If I jump too high, it'll take me a while to land and dodge another attack.

Vixie ran towards me, faster than earlier. I jumped in time, this time minding the height of my jump. I ended up landing farther than usual.

"Good!" Fay chirped! "But get on your feet quicker than that! Foot work! Foot work!"

What does she mean by that? This isn't boxing!

I turned and— "Agh!" Vixie tackled my side, and I was thrown against a tree. "Ow..." I landed on the ground with a thud. "A...nother ow..."

I...wonder if my ribs are still okay...

"Foot work, see?" Fay said as she stood beside me and helping me up. "Always keep an eye out on your foe!"

Obvious advice. Thank you...

Vixie was frowning at me with worry, but the instant I looked at her, she glared at me. "Rest for now. I'll go and worry about you somewhere so you won't see me."

Ugh... "You don't have to..."

She turned her back and started walking away.

I sighed and lied down on the ground. "Sheesh... What's with her?"

"You're selfish," Fay chirped.

I shot her a weak glare. "No I'm not."

"Yes you are!" she smiled.

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!" I stood up and glared at her. Suddenly, my heart felt heavy, and my eyes guiltily fell on the ground. "...right?"

Fay patted my head as she lightly giggled. "Yes, you are, " she gently said. "But you're still a good friend!"

I'm...selfish? "H-how am I selfish?"

Fay blinked, her smile slowly fading. "Well..." she hummed as she stared above. "...you ditched us back on the cliff. But that's all forgiven and in the past now, right?"

"I...shared with you guys about who I am."

She nodded and then turned back to me. "You also didn't accept that berry I was giving you."

My eye twitched. "Y-yeah... Sorry about that?" No I'm not. "I...gave that Meowth half of the meat we found?"

"Was he your friend?"

I blinked. "Not...really... I barely even know him."

She nodded again. "You don't want us to worry about you."

I shook my head. "Just because. I hate feeling useless."

"You barely know any moves."

"Because I can't... And I used to be human!"

"You're not using my advice during training."

"It was difficult to do!"

"You don't want us to help you."

"I can help myself!"

"But we're going to Kanto."

"I can go there myself!"

"You don't need our company..."

"Yes I don't nee—..." I blinked. That caught me off-guard. Fay's annoying but...what were we arguing again?

She grinned. "We're all your friends, right?"

My ears drooped, and I suddenly felt very very tired. I closed my eyes and sighed. "Yes."

"And friends help each other, right?"

I lamely nodded.

"You're being prideful. You don't want to be looked down upon. You believe you can do anything. You believe you don't need anyone's help. And...you don't want anyone to worry about you, because you believe that you don't deserve it. You're selfish, and you're prideful, but you know it, and that's why you don't want anyone to be around you, because you don't want them to be hurt because of your selfishness and pride."

I slowly looked up to her. She was still wearing that sweet and innocent smile of hers. What she said, everything that she said, hurt...a lot, but in a weird 'relief' kind of hurt.

I sighed as I hung my head. "I'm...just tired of hurting my friends without me knowing. Just like with Vixie. I didn't know my little remark would hurt her."

"We'll get used to you, so don't worry too much!" She placed a paw on my head and rubbed it like a maniac. "Just swallow a few of that pride and let us help and worry about you, silly!"

I batted her paw in mild annoyance.

"Friends also look out for each other, y'know!" She smiled. "And don't worry. We won't be looking down on you."

She stared at me for a few moments, and slowly, her gaze wormed down. I suddenly felt naked and used my paws as a shield as I glared at her.

She giggled. "Well, I just looked down on you. What do you do?"

I arched an eyebrow. "O...kay? Way to ruin the moment, Fay."

"Can we eat now?" I heard Shock's whine.

I gasped and turned around, and there they were, Shock, Saur and Vixie, standing a few feet from me. The Pikachu was looking annoyed, while Saur and Vixie were smiling.

I felt like apologizing to her though, but... "H-how much of that did you hear?!"

Saur just shrugged. "We won't tell you."

Ugh... This is humiliating... I groaned and lower myself to the ground. "Fay...I'm going to kill you in your sleep," I hissed as they chuckled, except for one hungry Pikachu.

"Seriously you guys, can we eat already?"

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 31​

It was still morning by the time we walked out from the forest. Our eyes were greeted by the fine green arts of nature. A grassy field, its tall leaves swayed peacefully with the cool wind. Tall rolling hills could be seen from afar, and further beyond were mountains, some tall enough for their peaks to be covered by the thin layers of whispy clouds.

Metal-black train tracks were set on the grassy plain. That was probably the tracks for the Magnet Train.

Near the edge of the forest were different kinds of Pokémon, eating and talking. I didn't pay them much attention however.

Around the grassy plains was a large herd of Tauroses, grazing on the grass, locking horns with each other, and chatting amongst themselves.

"Phew..." Shock sighed, dropping himself into a sitting position. "We made it," he said with a smile.

It would have been a beautiful scene if it weren't for one question that kept popping in my head.

"So...why the heck are we here?" I blurted out.

My companions shot me a look as though I've lost my mind.

"You...don't know?" Vixie asked.

I deadpanned. "That's why I asked..."

Saur chuckled, Fay snickered, and Vixie glared at me.

Shock sighed. "Those," he pointed at the herd, "are Tauroses."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. And you're a Pikachu. Amazing..."

Shock shot me a glare. "And we're here to get a ride."

I blinked. "On...a Tauros?"

"No, on an Oddish" Shock deadpanned. "Of course on a Tauros!"

Well excuse me for not knowing! I noticed Fay's knowing smile, and I sighed. Ugh... Too early for an argument. "Okay... But how?"

"We're going to ask them," Saur said, cutting Shock off, and earning an annoyed stare from the Pikachu. The Bulbasaur doesn't seem to notice. "If they say no, we ask another, until someone will let us."

"Oh, okay..." I said. "But just to check... They're heading to Kanto, right?"

Saur nodded.

"They're always moving from region to region twice in a month," Vixie said. I was about to ask something, but she cut me off with a grin. "And don't ask why. I don't know either."

I gave her an annoyed stare. "You're a mind reader. I'm watching you."

Vixie and Fay chuckled, and Shock grunted.

Soon, the earth started to shake, but only slightly. I turned east and saw a few Tauroses already started moving east. A few earth-bound and flying Pokémon were trying to ask the Tauroses for a ride though.

...why would flying types want to ask for a ride? Can't they just fly there?

...and...my eyes grew wide when... D-did...did a Tauros just stepped on and k-killed a Sunkern?!

"Yeah, that happens often," Fay chirped cheerfully. She must have noticed my horrified expression. "But as long as we're careful, nothing will go wrong!"

"Oi, let's go!" Shock said, and the others followed him.

My breath stopped and my mind was a jumbled mess as I stared at my four friends walking towards danger. I could honestly feel that runaway ability of mine kicking in, not to rescue them, but to flee away from danger.

I felt my rear paw moved back, followed by my front paw. I was...turning...turning back to the forest. Yeah, the gloomy, but safe forest! I learned some basic attacks from Vixie and Fay, and with this runaway ability thingy of mine, nothing could stop me, right? B-but... I can't just leave them here! I should talk and bring some sense into th—

"Gah!" I gasped as I suddenly felt something push me back, and I dropped myself on the ground. I felt something wrapped around me. I panicked and turned my head, and saw Saur was boredly dragging me towards... "No! No no no no no! Let me go! Let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go—"

Shock sighed. He took a breath and turned to me with an annoyed glare. "Will you shut up!"

I winced and closed my mouth as Saur kept on dragging me, Shock and the others were walking beside me.

His glare intensified. "No Tauros will ever let us get a ride if you're that noisy and whiny!"

I didn't even bother hiding the tears of fear running down my face as I tried to crawl out of Saur's grip. "We're gonna die...!" I sobbed.

Fay chuckled and Vixie had a mix of amusement, worry, and annoyance...

Vixie then flashed me a small and assuring smile. "Don't worry. Shock and Saur will do the asking. We're just going to stand and wait in a close yet safer distance."

Well, she at least calmed me down, if only a bit. I smiled. "R-really?"

Fay and Vixie nodded, and Shock just sighed at how pathetic I must be at the moment.

B-but... What is Shock and Saur... "You guys do this all the time, right?" I asked.

"Nope," Fay chirped happily. "This is our first time, actually."

My heart started racing as I felt my pupils shrunk.

"Fay," Shock hissed, "stop scaring him already! It's hard enough to deal with a panicky coward..."

"I am not a coward!" I glared at him. "I'm panicking 'cause I just care for our lives' safety, that's all!"

"Tell that to a stone. Now shut up," Shock said as I felt the vines loosen and slid off of me. Fay and Vixie stopped beside me as Shock and Saur continued walking towards the moving herd of Tauroses. "Wait with the girls, you girl."

I stood up, turned and shot him a glare, but he already turned his back on me. The stomping noises from the herd were much louder here though. I sighed. I just hope nothing bad's going to happed to those two.

"Aww," Fay suddenly cooed. I was about to turn to face her, but I was stunned when she started rubbing her head on the side of my neck. This is called 'nuzzling', right? My cheeks suddenly felt like it's going to burn from how intimate this was... "It's so nice of you to care for us, Jay!" She returned my personal space and smiled.

"Ye-yeah..." I stammered as I rubbed my violated neck. "Don't do that again, please."

Fay blinked in confusion. "What? The nuzzling?"

"Yes..."

"Why?" Vixie and Fay asked at the same time.

"'Cause it felt weird... Really weird..." I shivered.

Fay chuckled. "You'll get used to it."

I glared at her. "I'd rather not."

Vixie blinked. "You weren't nuzzled before?"

I blinked back. Was I 'nuzzled' before? Do humans even nuzzle each other? Eh, what a stupid question...

I shook my head. "Nope. Fay was the first, and hopefully the last!"

Fay and Vixie chuckled as a shadow was casted over us. We slowly looked up and saw an old-looking Tauros, its black mane were now slightly gray and its brown coat was a bit pale than normal. Um...is this an old Tauros or a shiny Tauros?

"You kids need a lift?" he asked. His voice was very very dark, and...almost grumpy, or rusty, or whatever, but old...

"You bet'cha!" Fay chirped and ran to his side as the Tauros lowered himself for us to hop onto his back.

"Hope ya kids don't mind if I'm a li'l slower than the others," Mr. Tauros said as Vixie helped Fay up by pushing Fay's bum with her nose. Eh... Wouldn't that be awkward?

"Oh, it's no problem," Vixie replied as she climbed up and me reluctantly walking to where she stood.

Fay extended a paw with a smile. I just stared at it for a few seconds.

"Um...shouldn't we try and call for Saur and Shock first?"

"Ungh..." Mr. Tauros winced. "Better hurry up there, kid. My knees aren't as strong as they used to be."

I felt my ears droop as I grabbed Fay's paw with two of mine. She lifted me up...with surprising ease. I suddenly found myself sitting on the slowly rising Mr. Tauros' back. Mr. Tauros then began to move forward.

I blinked. "W-what just happened?"

"Oi! SHOOOOOK! SAAAAAAUR!" Fay shouted as Vixie chuckled at my stunned look.

"Just like Fay said, you'll get used to it."

I stared at her. "A mind-reader and a super rat. I'm definitely going to have my eyes on the two of you." I gave her a suspiscious glare.

She just rolled her eyes in amusement as Shock and Saur ran towards us, and away from the herd of killer hooves.

"Why'd you picked an old geezer?" Shock asked as Vixie and I grabbed Saur's vines, and pulled him up.

"I heard that!" Mr. Tauros said, turning his head to glare at Shock, who was currently being lifted up by Saur's vines.

Shock just ignored him though, and continued to address us. "Seriously, why? It'd be much faster if Saur and I asked younger ones back there."

My eye twitched. I...have a soft side for old people. "Get off and ask for a ride on younger Tauroses then," I glared at him.

He glared back. "What was that?"

"You heard me," I hissed. "If you're so ungrateful that Mr. Tauros gave us a lift, then get off and be on your way!"

"I'm the leader of this group," he snarled. "What I say, goes!"

Oh, so that's how it goes, huh?! Well then, "I'll—"

"Now now, you two," Mr. Tauros called.

Shock and I blinked and turned to see him, who was also giving us a displeased look.

"I don't want friends arguing with each other, so would you mind to keep it down? Your loud voices are hurting my ears."

"Ow!"

I jerked in surprise and quickly turned back to see Saur retracting a vine and Shock fixing the Bulbasaur a glare as he rubbed the back of his head.

"What was that for?!"

Saur glared at him. "You're being rude, picky, and out of control."

Vixie nodded. "I agree with Saur... Sorry Shock..."

"I'm out of con—you know what?" Shock sighed and sat on the furry back of the elderly Tauros. "...maybe I am. Sorry..."

Wow... Saur actually glared. I wonder if that was the first time I ever saw him glare at someone.

Fay's giggles snapped me out from my little train of thought. I turned to her and her giggles died down.

"Mr. Tauros? Really?"

I blinked. "What's so funny about it?"

Fay just giggled some more, and Vixie joined her.

My ears drooped as I fixed her an annoyed stare. "Fay, you're weird... No, scratch that... You're always weird..." I fixed Vixie a glare and cut her off. "And no! I will not get used to it!"

"Your problem," Vixie grinned.

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 32​

I sat in front of our group, while my friends are behind me, chatting with themselves. I was enjoying the scenery, despite how slow we were moving. Though we weren't really that slow. We were still within the herd, or rather, outside the herd, but we're keeping up. The thunderous hooves kept echoing to my ears. It hurted my ears earlier, but I guess I got used to it now.

Tall greeny hills on the north, a forest on the south. The sun was high up, but the wind was cool and breezy here. There were also lots of flying types soaring up high, matching the speed of the herd.

Suddenly, a weird electrical hum echoed louder than the Tauroses' hooves. It was coming from behind, and I worriedly look back. There was a tall and whitish barrier-like wall moving towards us.

"What the—?" I asked, but stopped myself as it cut through the herd.

It stopped behind a Tauros, and it looked like it was slowly pushing the Tauros aside. When the Tauros did budge away, the barrier continued moving in a fast pace, only stopping to move a Tauros out of its way.

I sighed in relief. At least it wasn't cutting Tauroses in half.

"Oh, oh!" Fay chirped, and I curiously turned to her. She was staring back at where the barrier-wall-thingy had come from.

I haven't seen the Great Wall of China, but damn, this wall is long!

"The human fast-moving-thingy's coming!"

I blinked at Fay. "Uh... The...Magnet Train?"

"Oh yeah," Fay turned to me with a smile. "You did tell us it was called a train!" She then turned back. "Oh, oh! The human train is coming!"

...at least she didn't say the 'human centipede'... I cringed... "Drop the human, Fay. It's called a train. Nothing more..."

"But humans made it, right?" she asked.

Damn... I lose... "Eh... Well, yeah, but..."

"A human train it is!" she proclaimed.

I sighed in defeat. "Yes, yes it is..." I then turned to my more sensible companions. "But what's the wall for?"

Vixie smiled. "Just one example that not all humans are bad."

The other three nodded their heads in agreement.

Eh? I arched an eyebrow. "I...don't fol—" I cut myself off when I noticed a long black train from far away, traveling fast, and inside the barrier-like walls.

I blinked and turned to see the tracks. Even though the Tauroses blocked it, there were a few gaps were I managed to take a glimpse, and confirmed my thoughts: the barrier was raised around the tracks so Pokémon won't get hit by the train.

The Magnet Train sped its way through my vision, and the Tauroses didn't even seem to mind. A few seconds after the train passed by, the barrier-like walls started to lower and disappear.

I blinked again. "Wow. Don't see that everyday."

Mr. Tauros suddenly started laughing wholeheartedly. "I heard the same line from an Eevee a month or two ago... I gave her a lift to Kanto as well." He paused to chuckle. "So, I take it that you're a human as well?"

I blinked as I stared at the back of his head. Was I hearing things. I turned to my friends to confirm that I wasn't hearing anything. Eh, they were looking mighty surprised as well.

I turned back to Mr. Tauros in puzzlement. "I'm a...what now?"

"Oh? You're a secretive type, then?" he chuckled. "So I take it you're heading to Kanto to go and see this Bill fellow, right?"

"...am I repeating a repeated journey here or something?"

Mr. Tauros simply shrugged. "You could say that. I still don't believe it, but who am I to judge? I've seen and heard stranger things in my lifetime."

I arched an eyebrow. "Even...stranger things that a human turning into an Eevee?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Shock cut Mr. Tauros' attempt to reply. "Are you saying that there's ANOTHER crazy Eevee, thinking he used to be a human, who is in Kanto, and already looking for a way back?!"

Mr. Tauros nodded. "The first two parts, yes." He shrugged. "No idea about the last two. Sorry..."

Shock shook his head in irritation and scratched his head as he looked like he was going to suffer with a very painful headache. "I'm going to have a headache..."

...well, that was redundant.

"And that Eevee was a 'she', by the way."

Oh?

"A strong lass, very bright and cheerful, but very talkative." Dunno why, but I strangely felt that Mr. Tauros started grinning. "You two would make a fine couple, no?"

"A crazy couple, yep!" Fay chirped and giggled.

I turned and glared at her. Saur tried, but failed as he chuckled.

Vixie grinned. "So that's why you wanted to go to Kanto so badly."

I intensified my glare and aimed it at her. "I hate all of you."

"Ah, so you're after her?"

I poked his back with a sharp nail.

"Ow! Hey! Watch it!"

"Zip it and I'll watch it!" I hissed, and Mr. Tauros chuckled.

"Ah, young love. Ow!"

"Jay," Shock called, and I turned to him. "Focus. There's another one just like you?"

"Same specie, different gender," Fay chirped, and I hit her head. "Ow!"

I turned back to Shock. "If what Mr. Tauros says..." I paused to glare at the giggling Fay, "...is true, then yes, I guess?"

"Do you kow her?"

I deadpanned. "Ask Vixie. She's the mind-reader in this group."

"Hah hah..." she deadpanned.

I returned to Shock. "Anyway, no. I didn't even know about it until now!"

Shock nodded. "So she's been there for a month now, or more. Maybe she knows something more about what happened to you..." he brought a hand to his chin as he hummed in thought.

I tilted my head to the side. "I...thought you don't believe me and my crazy story."

"If a map has one cave, I'll start wondering why there are two caves."

I arched an eyebrow. "I...don't understand what you just said."

"Neither do I," Shock said, still looking serious. "I just thought it sounded cool."

I deadpanned...hard.

"Anyway, we should probably go and look for her as well."

"If she's still in Kanto," I pointed out. "And even if she is, I'm still going to Pallet to look for Bill."

"Pallet?" Mr. Tauros asked. "Pallet Town?"

"Yeah? That's what I said..." I replied. "Something wrong?"

He just shrugged, and turned his head to the herd. "Oi! What's that human town called again? The one the humans call Pallet?"

"Seaside!" a few voices replied back.

Seaside? Well, I guess that's kinda logical, since the town is close to the shore, in the game, at least.

Mr. Tauros shouted his thanks and looked ahead. "That's close to where the herd is going."

I nodded with a smile. "Sweet! How long 'till we get there?"

"Three days if there won't be any storm to stop us."

My smile faded. "I'm...starting to consider going back to Goldenrod..."

Mr. Tauros chuckled. "What? That cheese city?"

"See?" Fay chirped. "I told you!"

I sighed. "Whatever," I turned back to Shock and...he was still thinking deeply about this. "Shock? You okay?" he just nodded. "What's up with you? So what if there's another one like me?"

"Different gender! Ow!"

I'm strangely starting to like hitting Fay's skull... Anyway, I glared at her before turning back to Shock. "So what if there's another one like me? It's not like it's going to help in anything...right?"

"He likes mysteries," Saur said. "And he'll try to piece everything together to make sense of it."

Eh? "Can't you just tell yourself that I'm crazy and go with it?"

Shock shook his head. "Can't if there are two same cases..."

I sighed. "Fine. I'll let you have your little detective work."

"So," Fay chirped, catching my annoyed attention. "When you meet her, you're gonna ask her to be your mate?"

"What's with you and mates, Fay?" I asked in annoyance. "Are you looking for one?"

She giggled. "Maaayyybbbeee," she sang.

"Well, I'm not applying." I don't think I'd want to be with you, anyway. Heck, I'm not into furries. That's beastiality, and I'm not into that sort of thing.

"Why not?" Vixie teased with a grin. "You two look good together."

"Hah hah hah..." I glared at her. "I'm a human, and you guys are an—Pokémon!"

Mr. Tauros suddenly chimed in. "I once heard a human and a Gardevoir having se—"

"NOT LISTENING!" I pinned my ears to my head as my friends started chuckling, except for Shock, who looked green and horrified.

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 33​

It's been two days now. Only one more day, and the Tauroses will finally be able to reach their destination. Wherever that is.

During the past two days, our little group did little to pass the time. Most of our time was spent talking, admiring the scenery, and then talking. The Tauroses also pauses for a short while two times in a day. The first is a quick less-than-twenty minutes for lunch, and four or six hours of sleep.

The nights were freaking cold, especially on the second day, since we were now traveling on green mountains. At first, when the herd started climbing the elevated path, I was awestruck at how beautiful and green the mountains were. It even had so many trees, unlike back home.

But the nights. Oh god, the nights were too freaking cold! I assured them that my Eevee body's fur will keep me warm at night. In the end however, I swallowed a bit of my pride and inserted myself in between my friends, who were closely huddled together to share their body warmth. It felt really weird at first, but over time, I got used to it.

...but I'm just not going to sleep beside Fay nor Shock. The Rattata has a nasty habit of kicking while sleeping, and she mumbles. The Pikachu drools! Eek!

Saur was okay, but his skin felt really really weird though. It felt like scales, but he's not covered by scales. I dunno. It just crept me out.

Vixie was great to sleep with. And no, I don't mean anything beyond that! She snores, like, very loud, but she's so warm... I guess that's one good thing for being a fire type.

So, on the first night, I was between Fay and Vixie. Second was in between Shock and Vixie. No offense to Saur. Thankfully, he doesn't mind.

Unfortunately, Fay got the idea of teasing me of wanting to be with Vixie more. Sigh... Thankfully, Vixie was also getting annoyed by her when the Rattata teases the two of us. But it's kinda weird that the Vulpix was blushing whenever Fay teases us. But meh, I've seen a few animé where character faces turn red when they're getting annoyingly angry at someone.

Anyway, it was a bright and peaceful morning, and the herd were still moving on a flat plane on the mountain range. We're probably on the border of Kanto and Johto now. There was a very tall mountain up north though, and I think that was the mountain where the Ice Tunnel is located. Or was it Ice Path? Ice Cave? Bleah, whatever.

Wait, that means we're still in Johto then. And that means Blackthorn's close by. Wow, the last gym of the Johto region's a dragon master. I wonder how she's handling her devolved Pokémon... But eh, Clair's a tough chick. I'm sure she's handling things well.

And...I'm bored as heck as I lied on my belly, my head boringly lying on Mr. Tauros' head.

"Are we there yet...?" I asked as a form of an ice-breaker joke.

Unfortunately, my current company didn't get it.

"Nope," Mr. Tauros replied. "We'll get there by tomorrow afternoon."

I sighed once again out of boredom. "Tell everybody we're on our way~" I sang quietly, but it strangely made me feel a bit...not bored. "New friends and new places to see~" I continued, a bit louder as I slowly rose up.

"Oh! Oh!" Fay chirped, "Jay's singing!"

Shock groaned. "Oh, please no..."

I smiled as I turned to them. "With blue skies ahead, yes, we're on our way~ And there's nowhere else that we'd rather beeee~" I prolonged as I extended a paw to my side while I close my eyes to feel the lyrics.

"Tell everybody we're on our way~" Fay suddenly sang, quite loud yet beautiful.

I blinked at her as she stood on two hind legs. Saur and Vixie were smiling, heads bobbing, while Shock shook his head in annoyance.

"And I'm loving every step we take~" she continued.

"The Tauroses are doing the step-taking," Shock mumbled.

Saur suddenly cleared his throat. "With the sun beating down, yes we're on our way~"

Vixie brought a paw to her chest. "And we can't keep these smiles off our face~"

"-ses," Fay chirped and then giggled as I suddenly noticed the stomps of the Tauroses were rhythmic to the song. Do they know this song or something?

"'Cause there's nothing like seeing each other again~" the herd sang, their different voices blending together harmonically. "No matter what the distance between~"

"And the stories that we tell will make 'em smile~" a few Pokémon who rode the Tauroses sang along. "Oh, it really lifts our—"

"—hearts~" I joined along.

Everybody suddenly joined in on the chorus, minus Shock. That killjoy...

"So tell 'em all we're on our way~"

Fay and I smiled at each other. "New friends and new places to see~"

Vixie and Saur smiled at each other. "And to sleep under the stars, who could ask for more~?"

The four of us smiled at each other as the rest joined in. "With the moon keeping watch over meeee~"

"Not the snow—"

"Not the rain—"

"Can change our minds~"

Fay soloed, "The sun will come out, wait and see~"

I poked Shock to join as I soloed, "And the feeling of the wind in our face—"

"-ses," Fay chirped as he slapped my paw away.

"—can lift our hearts~" I continued and smiled nonetheless as I turned to my other smiling friends.

Vixie soloed, "Oh, there's nowhere we would rather beeee~" She then inhaled and smiled at us.

"'Cause we're on our way now~" Saur sang as we bobbed our heads with the song.

"Well and truly~" the Tauroses sang as I poked Shock again.

"We're on our way now~" the Pidgeys sang as they flew overhead.

I was about to whistle when I thought if it was possible for me to even whistle. To my surprise, Shock whistled the whistling part of the song. I turned to him with a grin, and he shot me a glare as he continued whistling.

Suddenly, after the whistling part, the Tauroses stomped audibly and rhythmically along the song. A few even joined in by clapping their hands and paws.

Suddenly, I felt that flare inside me when we're close to ending a very good presentation. I smiled as I stared at my friends' smiling, and one frowning, faces.

Everybody sang as one, "Tell everybody we're on our way~ And we just can't wait to be there~"

"Just can't wait to be there~"

"With blue skies ahead, yes, we're on our way~ And nothing but good times to share~"

I continued singing, "So tell everybody we're on my way~" but a bit surprised that they made me solo the lines, but I continued anyway. "And I just can't wait to be home~"

I turned and smiled at my friends, but I can't help but notice Vixie's sad frown, which she quickly changed into a smile.

I continued the song, albeit a bit reluctant. "With the sun beating down, yes we're on our way~" I gestured with my paws for my friends to join.

"And nothing but good times to show~"

The Tauroses then sang, "We're on our waaaaayyy~"

This time, I made sure Shock joins us. "Yes, we're on our waaayyy~~~"

A lot of Pokémon suddenly cheered as I felt the strange happy, cheery and energized atmosphere in the herd. Mr. Tauros chuckled wholeheartedly as Fay and the others poked Shock to smile.

But... Vixie's frown earlier... That line I soloed...

...oh...

Vixie chuckled as she turned from Shock to me, and she smiled.

I tried to smile back. Hopefully, it was good enough. And it was, as Fay chuckled away from Shock and hopped in front of me and started nuzzling my neck again.

"That was a great song, Jay!"

"Um...Fay..." Vixie chuckled. "You paralyzed him."

Saur chuckled at that.

Yep, I was... My breath even stopped as I felt how hot my cheeks were.

"Oh!" Fay pulled back and smiled sheepishly. "Whoops!"

Shock grinned at me. Darn, I can't glare at him...

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 34​

The sun already passed its zenith by the time the herd reached the base of the mountain path. The green plateau was like a paradise compared to the dirty urban jungles of buildings and skyscrapers I had back home.

The wind felt cool, and fresh, and soothing. And oh, there were maybe six or seven tents by the edge of the plateau. And sure enough, humans were around the tents, ranging from random ages. A few adults wore white coats while the younger ones wore assorted kinds of colorful clothing. There were three empty and yellow school buses as well. A field trip, maybe?

I suddenly felt like fleeing away, but the herd moved on to the middle, where the grass were taller and greener. I turned to my friends, and they looked ready to flee as well.

"They're here!" a young feminine voice squealed from afar.

I turned back and saw the young humans rising up in two and stared at the moving herd with wide smiles. My ears drooped. ...It kinda feels strange to call them humans...

"Why are there other Pokémon on the Tauroses' backs?" a teenager asked.

A few of the adults walked behind the small line of the human audience.

"They took advantage of the Tauroses migrating here from Johto."

"Well," Mr. Tauros said as he sat down on his belly, "good luck on finding your long-lost mate, kid. Ow!"

I poked his back with my sharp nail as my friends started climbing down. I then hopped down and turned as Mr. Tauros said his farewell and moved elsewhere, leaving our group together with the other Pokémon who took a ride. The voices behind me ranged from concern to assurance.

"Whoa!" a voice said from the humans' direction. A teenaged boy walked forward, eyes bright and determined, and his grin was directed at me. "An Eevee!" He pulled out a Pokéball from his belt, and I took a step back as fear suddenly washed over me.

"Jonathan!" a female adult shouted, making the teenager wince and slowly turn towards her. "Need I remind you that we are all here to learn more about the Tauroses, NOT to catch any wild Pokémon!"

"B-b-but...!" he tried to argue with a losing voice, "t-that's an Eevee! And Eevees are rare!"

The female adult adjusted her eyeglasses as she fixed him a glare. "And so are you grades if you won't earn a passing grade from the report you're suppose to write from this field trip!"

The teenager winced one more as a few 'students' chuckled at him.

I let out a big sigh of relief, and I suddenly felt someone patting me on the back.

"Someone's popular," Shock snickered.

I glared at him. "Shut up!"

"Thanks," we heard Saur's voice. It sounded like he was a bit far from us. The four of us turned and saw Saur walking to us from a group of Pidgeys. "They said that Seaside's that way," he turned to a direction, which was towards the humans. He blinked. "Hope they won't be a problem."

"I sure hope so," I whispered as we heard lots of eager footsteps from that direction.

I turned in time to see small kids running towards us. They stopped a few feet from us, and I pulled Shock in front of me as my shield.

"H-hey!" the Pikachu gasped as the children chuckled.

I poked an eye out and saw the children knelt down to see us better.

"That Eevee's a shy one," a boy chuckled.

"Papa said that they're rare," a girl said as I noticed that they don't have anything to protect themselves from us.

Fay suddenly jumped in front of them. "Hai! Please don't cause any trouble, 'k?"

"Fay! What are you doing?!" I shouted as a kid suddenly petted her head.

"Jay," Vixie called, and I turned to her. She had an arched eyebrow. "Why are you so afraid of humans if you were once one?"

Shock finally pulled himself away from my grasp, and I fell on the soft grassy ground, face-first.

"It means that he probably just made it up," Shock hissed as I pulled myself back up.

"I just don't wanna be captured," I answered quietly. "I don't wanna go around places with a stupid trainer and ordering me around," I gestured with a paw. "And keeping me away from home."

Vixie blinked. "Is...that all?"

"Yes?" I replied reluctantly. "Why?"

She slowly shook her head and turned to Fay. I turned to her as well and saw that the kids were pulling her from Saur's viney-grip.

"Well, it makes sense, I guess..." Vixie replied as Shock stepped in front and threatened the kids to zap 'em. The children immediately lets go of Fay and ran back to their campsite, frightened and tearful.

"You okay, Fay?" Shock asked.

Fay jumped in all fours and smiled at him. "That was fun! Anyway, what was your question again?"

Shock sighed. "Never mind..." He then turned to Vixie and I. "Come on, let's go. We can probably go around the humans though."

I arched him an eyebrow. "You're not planning on jumping off a cliff, right?"

Shock raised a hand to counter, but no words came out from his opened mouth. He instead just fixed me a glare as Vixie and Saur chuckled.

"Let's just check it out and see how to get down," Saur said. "And yes, walking around the humans sounds like a good idea." He then extended a vine and slapped Fay's head from behind.

"Ow! Hey!" Fay glared at the Bulbasaur. "What did I do?!"

Saur just shrugged. "I just felt like doing that after the humans tried to take you away." He then started walking.

Fay ran after him and walked beside him with a glare. "They were not taking me away! We were just having fun!"

"Are they...always like that?" I asked as Vixie and I slowed our pace when we reached Shock.

"Always," Shock and Vixie replied at the same time.

I looked ahead, and stared at them, and a grin formed on my lips. "At least I now have something to tease her back if she teases me again."

Shock just chuckled. "Yeah, good luck with that."

He threw a grin at Vixie, and she smiled back.

I looked at them suspiciously. "On second thought... Maybe I won't..."

Vixie just grinned at me. "Curiosity will get you, eventually."

I glared at her for a short while, and soon, we walked in silence, following Fay and Saur who were still arguing with each other. After a few minutes of walking, we reached the edge of the cliff, and down south, we saw a group of small houses by the shorelines.

Pallet Town was peacefully in between two tall mountains. North from the town were tall grasses and trees. East and west were trees, and further were the foot of the mountains. South was the sea. Pallet was like a peaceful town in a valley by the sea.

"Wow," I said in awe. "Pallet's a really beautif—"

A large shadow was casted over us. No, the large shadow darkened everything around us. By the time we looked up, whatever covered the sun already moved away. While my friends shielded their eyes, I squinted mine to see what it was.

"Teach! Teach!" a young voice called from the tents. "Wh-what is that thing?!"

"Wow..." Fay said in a dumbfounded tone, "that's a big bird..."

Ho-oh... Ho-oh was black all over, but it's probably due to the fact that the sun's light were above it, making the rest of its body covered by its own shadow. But still, the faint and sparkling rainbow trail it left behind as it slowly flew, it was definitely Ho-oh.

I smiled. Well, I guess this means that my journey will finally begin!

...wait... I frowned. I came here to END the journey!

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 35​

Unlike that cliff back in Johto, the green plateau here is steep, so it was easy to climb down to the base. There were a lot of trees around though, which shaded us from the sun, though the cool breeze would be enough for us to ignore the sun's heat.

Anyway, as we got closer to the base, the tall grasses were annoyingly getting taller and taller, until I was only a fourth or so of the grass' height by the time we reached the base.

Aside from the noises that we make, both from walking and from talking, we could also hear rustling noises from every direction. We weren't really sure if it was from the wind, or from other Pokémon. We decided to ignore them though, the noises, I mean.

"How the heck are we going to see where we're going?" I complained as I pushed myself through the thick grasses. "And why in blazes aren't these humans trimming these grasses down?!"

"Complained the used-to-be-human," Fay snickered, and I shot her a glare.

"You complain too much," Shock said as he led our small group. He stopped and turned to Saur, who stopped beside him. "Well?"

Saur turned towards...I dunno what direction he faced.

"There," Saur simply said, and began walking.

"There?" I asked as we followed him. "There where?"

"To Pallet Seaside, of course!" Fay chirped.

I arched an eyebrow. "Are...you guys certain we're heading to the right direction?"

"Saur's a grass type," Vixie explained. "He can feel the plants through their roots. Well," she shrugged. "He used to, when he was an Ivysaur. I'm not sure if he still can."

Oh? He was an Ivysaur before? Neat. I was about to ask our Bulbasaur friend what it felt like when he devolved, but then a thought interrupted me. Maybe it's a very hurtful and sensitive subject. I'll ask that question when the time's right, or when I can. Anyway...

"How can he tell?" I asked back.

Vixie shrugged again. "Not sure... Saur said something about his feet and plant roots, but the details are escaping me..."

I nodded anyway. No use understanding the illogical logic of Pokémon if I'm going back to human soon. "You guys have been friends for a long time, huh?"

Vixie smiled and nodded. "Yup! That's why we always stick together."

I smiled back, but my ears fell flat. I suddenly remembered Shock's plan of settling down in Viridian Forest... I'm quite sure that they already know that I'm really going to return to being human, and they're probably ready for that to happen, but... I...wonder if they already knew about Shock. And...I'm going to be human soon...so why am I concerned by Shock leaving the party?

Well, in any case, I should probably concentrate more on getting to Pallet Town, and think of ways to move around without carrying an 'OMG A RARE EEVEE' sign around town.

We heard a loud rustling noise up ahead though, and it got louder as we progressed. We decided to make a turn to avoid whatever was making the noise, and after a few seconds of walking to a different direction, we heard groaning noises. A careful look and we saw a young teenaged guy annoyingly pushing himself through the tall grass.

"Geeze! If Pokémon weren't living here, I'd already asked you to burn the grass down!"

Oh, a Charmander sat on his shoulder, chuckling at his, or her trainer.

Suddenly, another set of rustling noises came from where the human came from, and a new voice to accompany it.

"Oi! Wait up!" a female voice called. She was a teenaged girl, and was grunting and puffing as she pushed through the tall grass as well. "Eek! I shouldn't have wore a skirt! Ow! I-I think I got a cut on my leg!"

"You complain too much..." a Squirtle scratched his head as he calmly followed his trainer. He stopped and blinked when he noticed us though.

Even though we were a few feet away, I glared at him. "I have a grass type here and I'm not afraid to use it." I pulled an absent-minded Bulbasaur to my side.

"What are you doing?" Vixie asked, but I ignored her.

"Now move along or taste the fury of the grass!"

The Squirtle gulped and hurried to his trainer.

"Huh? What was that?" the female voice asked. "Oh, it's just you, Bubbles. I thought I heard an Eevee just now. Oh well... Here, let me carry you so you won't get lost."

"Hurry up over there!"

"Sheesh! What are you hurrying for?! The gym's not going anywhere, anyway!"

"Well, the day is! Now, if you don't want to sleep in the middle of nowhere, I suggest you hurry up!"

"We can just go back to Pallet, you know!"

I chuckled and turned to my friends. "I have a feeling those two are going to be a couple, or they'll kill each other."

The others smiled as Shock chuckled.

"That'd be hilarious," the Pikachu said as he followed Saur leading the way. "But anyway, let's continue."

I nodded as Fay, Vixie and I followed them. There was another rustling noise up ahead, and it was getting loud fast. Before we could react, a Nidoran jumped out and...skidded to a stop when she noticed that we were on her way.

The female Nidoran blinked. "Oh, excuse me."

...were there Nidorans on Route 1?

"Hai! And no problem!" Fay chirped, making the newcomer smile. "What's the rush?"

"I heard a rumor from the Spearows that there's a large gathering in Green Forest."

"Oh?" Shock said, interested. "I was born there. Something going on?"

...she just said that there's a large gathering there...sheesh...

The Nidoran just frowned and shook her head. "I don't know the details, but I heard that they're going to talk about something important. Or maybe it was they're going to meet with someone important, or someone important's going to show up and talk about something." She shook her head again. "Anyway, I better get going. Hope to see you around!"

"Yeah," Shock nodded as the Nidoran continued on her way. He then 'tsk'ed' and glared on the ground. "I hate interesting news without details about the news."

"Hence why they're called 'rumors'," I smirked, and he glared at me as Fay chuckled.

"Still," Shock said as we continued on our way. "We should probably check it out after we're done in Seaside."

I shrugged. At least, if Pallet has nothing for me, then we have something else to do. But then, what if a female Pikachu caught Shock's eyes in Green—er, Viridian Forest? Will he leave our little group and settle down?

"Excuse me," I whispered to the girls as I quicken my pace and slowed when I was beside Shock. Saur was a bit ahead, and Fay and Vixie were a bit behind, so I guess this is good enough. "Hey Shock..."

"Hm?" He didn't spare me a look.

"So...Green Forest?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Well, I remember our one-on-one talk that one time, and...well..." I hesitated... Why am I hesitating?

"Spit it out, already."

Hesitation, gone. "You're going to find a girl there and start a family?"

Shock chuckled. "Me? Look for a female and suddenly start a family? What do you take me for?" He gave me an annoyed smile. "I'm hurt, but amused at the same time."

Eh? Find a girl and start a family? Oh, I guess that's considered as 'that escalated quickly'...

I deadpanned at him. "Seriously though. Will you?"

Shock looked ahead and shrugged. "Eh, I'll cross that bridge when Iget there."

He's...using my own lines? I glared at him. "I hate you."

He chukled.

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 36​

Pallet Town's very quiet and very peaceful. With the golden rays of the setting sun, the town was ablaze with golden hues, which was absolutely beautiful. I love art, and nature, and that is why I really love nature's work of art.

My friends and I sat under a tree on a hill on the edge of town. The air was cool and carried small hints of saltiness. It was a nice change of smell, and it reminded me of how much I miss home. Damn, I'm going out for a swim when I get back. I'm gonna spend a lot and throw a beach party, to celebrate my return and how much I missed home. I don't care if I'll be hitting zero on my account. I'm gonna show the world how happy I'll be when I get back.

Anyway, we sat here, waiting for the night so we could easily sneak around the town without drawing too much attention to ourselves.

While my friends were busy talking to each other, I was happily staring at Oak's laboratory on top of that hill on the other edge of town. There were a few dots moving around that place though. Heh, it's quite obvious. Ash's or Red's Pokémon are there, so it makes sense. If Red is here instead of Ash, then I wonder which Red it was. Red from the manga or from that origins special?

Anyway, as the night finally arrive, I forced myself to finish eating my last berry before we climbed down the hill. The air was cooler now, but I'm thankful for my Eevee fur, which was enough to keep me warm.

Pallet was now lit by the lights from houses and a few street lamps. There weren't any cemented roads, and most of the houses here were built by either wood or bricks.

We were about to plan on how we're going to go through town when we noticed a number of Pokémon wandering around the town, either by themselves or by group. So we decided to have a vote by either stealth mode or 'we don't care' mode. Shock and Vixie voted for stealth, while Saur, Fay and I voted to try our luck by walking casually.

Shock and Vixie weren't comfortable with the idea, so they let the three of us lead the group. There were a few humans outside though, walking towards somewhere, sitting by their front lawns, or sharing some gossip with their neighbors. A few have noticed us, but they don't seem to mind.

I turned to Shock and flashed him a victorious grin. He just shot me a defeated glare.

Since the people here don't really care about wandering Pokémon, we decided to split up to cover more ground. Shock went by himself, Vixie and Fay went together, and that left me and Saur taking the other path.

From that hill where we waited for the evening to come, Pallet seemed like a small little town, but now that we're here, the town somehow became quite big.

"But not as big as Goldenrod..." I suddenly said out loud. Saur doesn't seem to mind. We stopped in front of a white fence, next to a lit street lamp. "So, how should we search for him?" I turned to the house that was 'protected' by this white fence. "Should we look through their windows?"

"Humans won't like that," Saur said. I turned to him and he shrugged. "The old couple back at the daycare would get angry when we look through their windows from outside. I still don't understand why though." He then flashed me a smile. "Since you claim to be human, do you know why?"

I shrugged. "They probably just want some privacy. Anyway, yeah, I see your point. Worse, they might try and capture us." Welp, there goes that option then.

I looked around, and saw a Murkrow preening its wing as it stood on the next house's mailbox. I turned to Saur and gestured with my head to follow me. We walked towards the Murkrow, and I saw that it looked at us for a split of a second before returning its focus on its wing.

"Good evening," I greeted, but I stopped when the Murkrow flinched.

"Ah," the Murkrow said, its voice obviously that of an old and cranky female. "Quite rare to see young 'uns with manners these days."

...good thing I greeted first, then?

The Murkrow 'fixed' herself before flying down and landing in front of us. She was...quite tall. Taller than Saur and I. I guess age adds height?

"The name's Lais, known well as Lais of Shadows back in the days," she stood proud.

Now that I got a good look at her, her feathers seemed to be...untidy? Messy, yeah, messy. Like an old feather duster. I guess that also comes with age.

"Well, pleasure to meet you. I'm Jay, and—"

"Weird name for an Eevee," Lais butted in.

I ignored her. Not like that's the first time I heard that comment. "And this is Saur."

Saur simply smiled and nodded.

"Saur, huh?" Lais brought a wing to her beak. "I remember that Magikarp stew I had one time. The flavor sounded awfully the same as your friend's name... Hm..."

I deadpanned. "His name's Saur, not sour."

She shook her head. "Anyway, have you seen Mak anywhere?" She looked at random directions. "I swear, that old coot is prob'bly hiding from me again."

I blinked, and turned to Saur. He was still smiling, but I could already tell he was just faking it.

I turned back to the Murkrow and gulped. "Uh, I'm sure he's just around, anyway..."

She turned to us, and blinked in confusion. "Sorry, didn't notice you there, young 'uns."

"Uh..."

She brought a wing to her chest and stood proud. "D'name's Lais, and I used to bring quite a scare to my foes back in my days."

My ears drooped as I deadpanned. "I'm sure that's one way to win. Anyway—"

"Oh, quite so! I remember that one time when—"

...and I lost focus when I felt Saur's vines pulling me away...

"Let's...ask someone else," I suggested as I stared at an old human couple who were chuckling at the yapping Murkrow in front of their fence.

As soon as Saur lets me go, the front door of the old couple bursts open and out came...

"Gah! I'm late!" the man exclaimed as he carried five large cardboard boxes stack on top of each other, which was already beyond his head, and there were papers and wires dangling from the boxes. He hurriedly marched forward...and clumsily bumbed on the waist-high gate of the fence. "Ahhh!" and everything fell outside the fence.

...I should be worried that he fell flat on the ground, but I was still wondering how he got out of the entryway carrying those boxes...

"Goodness, child!" the old man exclaimed as he helped the young man up. "I just fixed that gate earlier this morning! If you break it again, I'm going to charge you!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the young man said, who hurriedly stacked the boxes once again, with the Murkrow slowly picking a few papers that fell out. The man then carried the boxes again and off he went. "Lais! I'll be at Professor Oak's!"

The Murkrow just rolled her eyes and continued picking the papers.

Saur suddenly chuckled. "Humans are clumsy."

"That clumsy human was Bill!" I exclaimed as I tried to make up my mind if I should follow him, or call the others first. "Gah! It's him! It's him! But what to do?!"

Saur just calmly poked me on my shoulder. "He just said he's going to an Oak tree."

I blinked. I nodded. "Right. Right. Almost forgot about that."

Saur nodded and turned around. "I'll call the others." Suddenly, the bulb on his back spat a black seed, and it landed on the ground. "Don't leave this spot." Saur said as he ran off, and the seed began sprouting roots and pulled itself underneath the ground.

I blinked. "Oookay...?"

Lais mumbled something. I turned to her and saw that she was now having a hard time collecting the papers. Since I got nothing else to do, I sighed as I approached her, and collected a few pieces of paper and stacked them.

The Murkrow smiled at me, and spat the many papers that she already collected from her beak. "Ah, it's great to see helpful young 'uns in today's time."

I groaned as I picked up more paper. "Yeah... Lucky me..."

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 37​

"—an' then a giant erupting volcano emerged in the middle of the ocean!" Lais exclaimed, extending her wings wide apart, but suddenly yelped and flapped them again to stay airborne.

Lais carried two stacks of papers on both her claws, or talons. Hm... I don't remember much about my animal science subject during grade school. Were bird's feet called claws, or talons? Or were they simply called feet? Blah...

"Wwwooowww...!" Fay wow'ed in amazement, who was walking beside the hovering Murkrow, and I could actually see small sparkling stars sparking from her eyes as I and the rest of us followed the two nutty-heads.

"An' then as soon as it came out, a giant purple cen'ipede came out from the mouth of the volcano an' rushed down towards my trainer an' I!"

I groaned as my headache was getting worse.

"But Bill an' I weren't prepared to face such monstrosity, so he ordered some Saur Magi—"

"Sour," I interrupted with an angry tone.

"—karp Stew... Er, yes, Sour Magikarp Stew when the waiter arrived, and he said that I should use it and splash it on the millipede's eyes!"

I tiredly grit my teeth as I turned to my other friends. Vixie was helplessly smiling in defeat, Saur was faking a calm and reassuring smile, and Shock was gripping both his ears flat down with both hands, and he has a reddened forehead from all the face-palming.

"One loose screw was bearable," Shock hissed through gritted teeth. "Two's insanity...!"

I wanted to chuckle, but I was too annoyed to do so. "M-maybe we should give some distance from insanity?"

The three of them immediately agreed by nodding their heads. We stopped and waited until we could no longer understand a single word the Murkrow was feeding the Rattata.

Anyway, we were already climbing up a hill on an earthy pathway towards Professor Oak's laboratory. There were trees and houses on either side, and there were humans and Pokémon who were either staring at us for no apparent reason, or were simply ignoring us. There were a few kids who wore huge smiles as they stared at us and called us 'Lazy Oak's Pokémon.' I guess it's normal for people here to see Oak's Pokémon walking around...

"Jay," Vixie called.

"Huh?" I actually felt my ears twitched as I turned to her. "Wazzup?"

"Just curious, but how are you going to talk to this Bull guy?"

"Bill," I corrected her. "And to answer your question..." I trailed off as words vanished from my throat and mind. I was hopelessly drawing a blank here... Drawing! That's it! "...I could write my message on paper or on the ground or something..."

Vixie looked as if she didn't understand my answer. Shock as well. Good thing Saur was now giving me a real and calm smile.

"You didn't think this through, did you?" Saur calmly asked.

My eye twitched. And here I was thanking him of his smile. "Screw you, too," I glared at him, and the Bulbasaur just chuckled.

Hm... Yeah, what Saur said was definitely true... I should try and think of a good way to communicate with him.

"—but there were sticky webs everywhere an' I needed to—"

Dangerously close to danger range there... Anyway, how in blazes am I going to talk to him? I can just go with my plan and write it down, but I don't have anything on me for writing, aaannnddd...since I'm considered a 'wild Pokémon', me rummaging around for a pen and paper might give them the wrong signal and try to either capture me or throw me out...or get beaten to a pulp by their Pokémon...

Hm... Well, Lais currently has a few papers I could use. All I need now is a pen...or something for writing...

"We're here!" Lais suddenly shouted, snapping me back to reality.

She and Fay were in front of a tall iron gate. The lab was apparently protected by an iron fence, that was taller than regular houses in the town. And oh, the gate was apparently left wide open for ANYONE to enter. What's the use of the gate then?

"Lais," I called as we approached the duo. "Can I have a piece of paper please?"

She blinked while flapping her wings to stay airborne. "Why?"

"Well, I'm going to—"

She dropped everything on the ground, scattering the papers everywhere AGAIN.

"Okay!" she chirped as I glared at her.

"Lais!" a familiar voice called from ahead of us. The door of the lab, which was meters away from the gate, opened, and out came the person I've been wanting to talk to. "What took you so lo—aiiiyyyeee!" he screamed as I noticed a few papers flying by in front of me, floating with the gentle evening breeze.

Bill started running towards us in panic as Saur, Fay, Vixie and Lais busied themselves by catching the papers. I looked around and noticed a paper that landed on the ground in front of me. Hm...

I poked a nail out from my paw and wrote my message. Bill and the others were busy collecting the papers while Shock was observing what I was doing with an arched eyebrow.

"You weren't kidding with your drawing plan, huh?" the Pikachu commented.

I ignored him as I heard Bill sighed. "Well, hopefully, I didn't lose anything."

I still have a paper pinned down by a paw here. I looked up to him and he noticed me.

"Oh, thanks!" he said as he leaned down to grab it.

Now's my chance, I guess. "Saur," I called, my eyes locked on Bill. "Grab him!"

"What?"

"Just do it!" ...I miss my shoes...

Saur reluctantly shot two vines up and wrapped the yelping human, restricting his arms and feet from movement.

"He-hey!" Bill stammered. "W-what is this?! What are you doing?!"

"Shock, Vixie," I called. "Light's up!" I gestured on the ground.

The two blinked at each other before Shock began to summon bright sparks from his cheeks on my left and Vixie slowly breathing out fumes of bright fire on my right.

I stared at Bill, and he looked at me with nervous eyes.

"If you guys won't let him go," Lais rubbed her head, "then I'm going to attack you."

I ignored her as I gestured with a paw for Bill to stare on the ground.

He didn't understand at first, so I poked the ground a few times before he looked at it, and he quietly gasped as he read my handwr—paw-writing.

"'Bill,'" he read, his voice converting from nervousness to curiosity, "'I need your help.'" He slowly looked back at me with surprised eyes, and then he groaned as he hung his head. "Ugh...not again..."

I...arched an eyebrow... So...am I actually repeating a repeated journey here or something?!

Suddenly, I felt something knocking me down, the air escaping my lungs as my head hit the ground, hard, and the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was black feathers covering the white full moon....and red glowing eyes.

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 38​

"Welcome back to the land of the living!"

A loud feminine voice spoke way too cheerfully as I groaned and slowly regained consciousness. How'd she knew I was waking up, I have no clue. All I know at the moment is that I'm so f*cking hurt all over...

Ugh...what happened to me?

"You can't pretend to be asleep forever, ya know!"

"Can't a guy have some peace and quiet?" I hissed as I opened my eyes and immediately, I saw my up-side-down reflection, only, my reflection was smiling, which was completely contrasting my angry frown. "Why am I staring at a broken mirror?"

My reflection touched my nose with its soft paw. "I'm not a mirror, silly!"

I blinked at that. "Oh..."

Honestly, I wanted to try and overreact, like shout in surprise and accidentally hit our heads, like the ones in an animé, but eh, I'm still hurting all over. And I think I'm starting to remember what in blazes happened. Moon, feathers, evil glowing eyes. Yeah.

I sighed as I pushed her head away from mine with my own paw. "Personal space, please."

"Oh, right," the female Eevee moved away as I rolled to my belly.

I groaned as I slowly pull myself up into a sitting position. I was on a white tiled floor. It was hard yet cool to the touch. Anyway, not important. I looked around, and saw a giant living room. Well, I'm a small Eevee, so an average-looking living room's a giant one in my point of view. There were sofas, a flat-screen television, table, some potted plants and hanging plants, and a Mr. Mine humming a tune to himself as he cleaned the carpet with a vacuum cleaner. There was also a Ledyba wiping a few portraits that hung on the wall.

Unfortunately, me feeding my eyes with everything around me isn't really satisfying my belly, who just decided to tell the world how hungry it was. I felt hot on my cheeks when the Ledyba and Mr. Mime looked at me. I felt my ears droop as I lowered myself to the floor, my Eevee companion chuckling at me.

"Looks like someone's hungry," she said.

I deadpanned at her. "Gee... Ya don't say?"

She gasped. "You know meme's!" And then she grinned. "Why so serious?"

I...blinked at her... "W-wait... You're..."

She nodded and cheerfully sprang on all four. "Oh my gosh! I never actually believed what that Vulpix and Rattata and Pikachu and Bulbasaur has told me about you being human!" she blurted out all too cheerfully as she hopped around me in a circle. "Oh, how long ago did I last talked to someone who I could actually relate?!"

I'm starting to have an early morning headache and neck pains if I keep following her with my eyes and head.

"Oh! There's so much I wanna talk about! And ask about!" she stopped in front of me with a big goofy grin complete with cyan sparkling eyes. "So, what's your name?! I mean, your friends said your name was Jay, but I wanna know for sure! Maybe Jay is just an alias or something. And where were you from? And how old are you?! What did you do to before you woke up here?! And—"

I pushed a paw inside her mouth as I glared at her. She gasped and hopped back, spat and stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Like, eew much!" she glared at me. "That was rude! And here I thought I could finally have someone to talk to! That I can relate to!"

I tried my best to ignore my wet and dripping paw as I raised it to make a point. "First of all, no, I can't relate to you if you're full while I'm hungry." And to stamp a certificate of approval to my statement, I hereby allowed my tummy to use Uproar.

She just glared at me some more. "That's not a good excuse to shove your arm, or foot, or paw inside my mouth! You use that for walking!" She cringed and shook her head while sticking her tongue out as I wiped my paw on the carpet.

"Here you go," the Ledyba gently landed beside me and placed a plate of meat on the floor between us. "Master Oak left that on the table earlier for you to eat when you wake up."

I smiled at her and almost attacked the meal before I remembered to thank her. She just nodded and flew somewhere.

I pushed my opened mouth down to my meal with an audible 'ah' as I boredly stared at my glaring Eevee companion. After a few seconds of nothing but me saying 'ahhh', I sighed and pulled my head back up.

"Do you mind? I'm going to eat."

She arched an eyebrow. "Someone as rude as you expect me not to be rude to you?" She puffed. "Ha."

Ooohhh, so she has bad attitude, eh? I rolled my eyes and bit the meat. I lifted my head back up as I chewed quite loudly. "Om nom nom nom..." Well, it didn't really sounded like that, not with me chewing this juicy cooked meat, but hey, it at least made her cringe in disgust.

"You're disgusting," she grimaced.

"'ou fauff," and I continued chewing loudly. "Mmm..."

Her eye twitched. "You're so immature, you know that?"

"An' 'ou'f 'hild'sh," I replied.

She glared at me. "Oh, so having proper manners is childish?"

"Nah," I licked my paws as I finished eating. Damn, that was one quick yet satisfying meal. I guess small creatures get full quicker. "Proper manners are for snubbish and rich people whose nose are higher than their eyes."

"I hate snubbish people," she glared on the carpet. "They always bully me around back in school."

What a strange shift of topic, and ahh, so she's still a young student then.

"If you ask me, I'd rather be an Eevee forever than be back there, but I have two loving parents, so..." her glare softened, and she closed her eyes with a sad sigh. "I miss them."

"Meh," I shrugged. "We'll be back home, eventually."

"How?" she asked as she looked at me with sad eyes. "Bill couldn't help me. My friends and I asked Bill for help before. Believe me, we tried all sorts of things, even that transforming machine of his back in Cerulean City." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "It didn't work."

My felt my ears drooped as my spirits fell down to hopelessville. "Oh..." was the only thing I could say to that. I tsk'ed as I looked away. "Now what?" I whispered to myself.

"Oh?" Vixie's voice echoed. I looked back and saw her approaching us with a small smile. "You're awake." She sat down and took a sniff on my plate beside me. "Human food is strangely delicious," and she began licking the plate.

I chuckled as the female Eevee cringed.

"Oi!"

The plate was suddenly surrounded by a weird bluish glow and it levitated away from us, and into an angry Mr. Mime's hands.

"I already told you not to lick the plates!" He turns the vacuum cleaner off and retreated to the kitchen, probably. "Gah, she did! Ugh..."

"I couldn't help it!" Vixie shouted back at him. She received an angry groan as a reply. She then turned back to me. "So, you two catching up?"

"Eh? I don't even know her."

"Oh, right," the Eevee said, cutting Vixie's attempt to reply. "Forgot to introduced myself."

"Indeed you have," I teased her.

She glared at me for a short while. "My name is Krystal. Krys for short. My last name's not important. Sixteen and...was attending high school before..." she gestured herself with a paw, "...this happened."

I tilted my head to the side and blinked. "Sixteen?" Well, I guess that would make sense. "Well, name's Jay. Twenty-three and working in an IT department."

She blinked. She gasped. "You're twenty-three?!" she stuck her tongue out. "And you...! You put your hand in my mouth! Eewww!!!" She scurried away as Vixie and I arched her an eyebrow. "Pedophile! Pedophile! Eek!"

I gasped and jumped on all four paws. "Now wait just a second!" I glared at her. "I am NOT a pedophile! Never before! Never now! Never ever!"

"Jay's a pedophile!" Fay's voice suddenly chirped as she jumped beside Vixie. She started giggling when I turned to glare at her.

"I AM NOT!"

"Pedophile~ Pedophile~" Fay sang.

"FAY! SHUT UP!" I shouted.

Vixie just blinked at her. "Fay... Do you even know what that means?"

"Nope!" Fay chirped, and continued her teasing song as Vixie sighed in defeat.

My eye was quite tired of the twitching, so I shut her up by pinning her mouth closed with both paws. I leaned closer to her, our eyes almost touching each other.

"I," I hissed, slowly, quietly and venomously. "Am. Not. A. Pedophile."

I felt her mouth grinned. Nope, she ain't giving this up soon. My eye twitched again as I turned to Krystal, holding a paw to her mouth to stop herself from chuckling.

"What. Have. You. Done?"

She grinned. "Pedo."

"Aaarrrggghhh!!!"

 

[destinedjagold]

Chapter 39​

"...and you can see here," Bill said, clicking a button on his laptop, and changing the image that was shown on a large screen through a projector that was connected to his laptop.

My friends, and Krys' friends and I sat together on Oak's backyard, under the shadow of a large wall-less tent-thingy. Bill was discussing a few of his discoveries, which wasn't really that much, in front of a large group of scientists and researchers. Among those in the audience were Professor Oak himself, Elm, Rowan, and other random professor NPCs.

Anyway, back to Bill... He showed an image of his nutty Murkrow, with lines and some scientific mumbo-jumbo labels on 'em.

"Now, I'm sure everyone here already know these, as I've shown this to you from our previous meeting," Bill said, clicking another button, and changing the image, this time the image was split in half. One half was some sort of aurora-like DNA structure or something, while the other was a normal-looking DNA structure. "But, I've busied myself with comparing data between my devolved Murkrow and that of newborn Murkrows, and this image right here," he hovered his mouse pointer and circled around the normal-looking image of DNA. "This is from newborns, while, of course, the other image is from my devolved Murkrow.

"I have reason to believe that, if I may call it, the 'evolution aura' is still present in my devolved Murkrow. Now," he clicked and changed the image once more, this time displaying various DNA images with labels of different Pokémon names. A few of them were normal-looking, while a few were rainbow-colored. "I've also collected DNA samples from trainers' Pokémon. I've also conducted a small interview on them. Interestingly enough, all these rainbow-colored DNA's are from devolved Pokémon, while normal ones are all from Pokémon who haven't experienced evolution yet."

"Are you saying that," Elm spoke, a hand on his chin, "the magical process of evolution is still inside a devolved Pokémon?"

"In other words," Rowan spoke, "something is stopping the evolution process from making these Pokémon evolve. But we already know that."

Bill nodded, looking determined. "This discovery is a step closer of strengthening the theory that some strange magical force is locking the evolution process from ever happening. Once that force subsides, devolved Pokémon might evolve back."

Murmurs erupted from the audience, as well as from my friends.

"So," Krys spoke, and capturing my attention. "What do you wanna evolve into?"

"Eh? Honestly, I never gave thought to it." I shrugged. "I am just concentrating on going back home."

"I know, but," she smiled. "I'm kinda curious what it feels like to evolve! I wanna be a Vaporeon! No, wait! An Espeon! Yeah!" and she dreamily stared into the blue sky. "Oh, Espeons are so cool and beautiful... If I ever evolve into one, then I don't think I'll ever wanna leave this place! I'll be a beautiful Espeon forever!"

I rolled my eyes. "Hate to rain on your parade, princess," she curiously looked at me, "but that would mean a trainer capturing you, and," I grinned slyly, "give you lots and loooooots of looove," and I wiggled my eyebrows for that 'special' emphasis.

It worked. The redness and the look of horror on her face is too epic, I burst out laughing.

"This isn't really something we can all just laugh about, you know," Shock glared at me as I wiped my teary eyes with a paw. "This is serious."

Saur and my other friends nodded. I just rolled my eyes.

"Shock's right," a Chikorita agreed, who was one of Krys' friends. Her name's escaping me at the moment.

Anyway, aside from the Chikorita, Krys also befriended a male Surskit, who was currently on the Chikorita's back, his thin legs wrapped around her belly. The two strangely look like a discolored Bulbasaur, if you ignore Chiko's long leaf on her head. Anyway, the Surskit's name is also escaping me at the moment...and he's too freaking quiet. The only thing I ever got from him was his 'nice to meet you' when Krystal and I were introducing everyone to each other. Meh...

"If something is stopping us from evolving, then we must go and look for it and try to stop it."

The professors already resumed their discussion, but we were ignoring them, since we were having a discussion of our own.

"Something," I said, "or probably someone." They all gave me curious looks, and I just shrugged. "Hey, even the legendaries are still clueless of what or who did this. Anyway," I shrugged, "I don't really care if I'll evolve or not. I just want to go home."

Krystal frowned. "Do you really think Celebi can ask Arceus to help us? A lot of Pokémon actually don't believe Arceus even exist."

"Celebi looked like he's real, so there's that," I smiled.

"I agree," Saur nodded. "She did speak and look like Arceus is real."

Shock just sighed. "Still, interested or not, you got nothing else to do, right?"

I smiled. "As long as Oak provides free meals, then I ain't going anywhere."

Shock groaned. "You're hopeless..."

"Well," Krystal turned to Shock. "I wanna help." She nodded with a smile. "I mean, hey, it's going to be a once in a lifetime adventure! I'll gladly take this opportunity before I turn back into human." She puffed. "The human world's boring."

I chuckled. "Once you reach legal age, males will give you a—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," she hissed and glared at me.

I snickered. "Whatever you say, princess. You know its true."

"Pedoffffffffffffffff..."

My eye twitched. "I'll shut up now."

She grinned. "Good."

"Jay has a point," Fay chirped.

Krystal glared at her. "I will NOT become a wh—"

"If Bi and the other legendaries couldn't find the cause, then what will our chances be?"

Everyone were dead quiet. Fay is weird, and sometimes she points out very good points. Yeah, she's weird like that.

Shock sighed in defeat. "I hate to say it, but Fay's right..." he looked back at us. "There are many legendaries in the world. They're powerful, and they have different kinds of abilities that would surely locate something they wish to find."

"The problem is that they haven't yet," Vixie frowned. "Even with their legendary powers, they still couldn't fix it."

"Or maybe another legendary's hiding or protecting it from them," Krystal said. All eyes fall to her.

"That..." the Chikorita said, "...might be possible..." She looked at the others. "It's possible, right?"

"A legendary who is lying..." Shock crossed his arms and thought about it. "Why would they even hide such a thing and lie about it to the others?"

Vixie nodded. "And what could they possibly even gain from it?"

"Yah," Fay chirped. "It's not like legendaries can evolve!"

They continued their quiet throws of questions and theories as I turned back to the discussing humans. Apparently, their discussion were going in a loop, while my group managed to land on a possible conclusion. This is even deeper than I thought.

But I do have a choice though. I could just wait here and not be involved, or I could join them into whatever quest they're going to take. The former sounds very appealing though, but what if neither Arceus nor Palkia will help me? And Krystal, for that matter. What if they're too busy worrying about their fellow Pokémon's problems?

...or what if one of them's the culprit behind all this?