TtEoaF - Chapter Twenty

                                                                     Through the Eyes of a Flareon
                                                                                Chapter Twenty: Stories

I knew.

I knew I would have to tell them eventually. I just didn't know when or how I'd do it. It wouldn't seem like a big deal to someone who lacked my position in the matter...but this would be hard. Harder than returning matted fur to a pristine condition, and harder than admitting to myself that I was the cause of his death. That was another thing. What would I say? That he was killed while battling the garchomp? Luck was strong... I wouldn't know how many pokémon would believe me. 'Should I tell them the truth? That I caused his demise? Or force them to believe a lie that's convenient for me?'

"You planning on eating that?" asked a pokémon, and I was dragged from the depths of my thoughts and back to reality.

I stared back at a navy blue face and squeezed my eyelids together. "Uhh...y-yeah."

"Just checkin'," he responded coolly, fitting a stem into his mouth and pulling it out with not a trace of the previously attached berries.

I looked to my own dessert; a pair of ripe berries laid untouched a few hairs from my paws. I didn't know if I really did want them or not. "Actually...here," I offered, giving them a light budge with a paw to my left.

"Cheers!" Yukra grinned from the log next to me as he reached down, bits of pecha berry between his teeth. I gave a small chuckle and turned away.

Most of the colony sat in a circular formation on – or in front of – the designated logs. I found it both difficult and uncomfortable to sit on mine, so I was seated in front of it. The fire was the only thing that kept me there. Zhol sat with Shard a few places up, causing the void between me and the colony to seem even larger. I didn't feel...like I fitted in with them properly. They all seemed so well placed, and me... I was a stranger in their eyes, just like they were to me. I kept my head down as feelings of dread taunted me with their fluffy tails.

"Anyone got a scary story?" Yukra inquired after swallowing his first bite into the fruit I gave him. Most of the idle chatting subsided as all eyes fell to the heracross, and I sank, undesiring of so many gazes. "Anyone?"

"I'm surprised you haven't!" chuckled a low voice. I laid eyes on a large pokémon easily twice my height, although much broader. I hadn't seen him before that moment, as the yellow and ebony pokémon hadn't shown himself prior to the colony meet. Clearly I hadn't been around long, and I reasoned with myself, figuring it wasn't strange to see new colony members after only one day—and not even a full one at that.

"I'm fresh out!" laughed Yukra, and I somehow seemed to be missing the humour.

"Krinn, I bet you have one!" shouted a rattata tyke—presumably Hyso and Gigin's male.

The electric pokémon gave another chuckle in response, his orange eyes shimmering in the light of the fire. He moved two powerful-looking arms and placed a black finger on the tip of his chin as he seemed to rummage through his brain.

My eyes trailed down his legs, which had two dark stripes each, and his sturdy black feet with intimidating claws. The way he sat reminded me of Master, although his head had fur rolling off both cheeks, thus obscuring any trace of a neck and leaving a gap for his teeth to show when he smiled.

As he turned back to the heracross seated next to me, an idea looked to have eased its way into his head. "I did hear one story recently..." he began, the two pipes tipped with red points attached to his back swaying while he transferred his weight to his legs. He took a step toward the fire. "It was a dark and rainy night when two siblings, a plusle and minun were walking through a deserted forest." The electivire tilted his head, staring at the heart of the raging fire before flicking his eyes to those crowded around.

"Ooh, I know this!" Yukra exclaimed, leaping from his log and buzzing over to his friend. He landed and grabbed the air with his claws, dragging his hand diagonally. "Lighting streaked the sky and the rain was endless. It was too dark to see much at all, and only the outlines of trees showed up to the pokémon's eyes."

Krinn stepped away from Yukra, sticking close to the fire as he continued. "Nobody else was around, and the only sounds were those the storm created, and the two creatures whimpering as they tried to remember the way home. 'Plusle, we're lost!' Minun cried as she heard another crack of thunder."

"Plusle tried to be brave as he spotted a tall tree with a hollow at the base and said, 'L-let's take cover in that tree trunk.' So they went to the tree and ducked into the hole."

"They waited for hours," Krinn continued, his back to the fire as he circled it, eying the baby pokémon huddling against their parents, "and suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder!"

Yukra jumped forward, frightening Mio and Ollie as Greech tried to keep his cool. Krinn smiled, continuing, "Everything went white for a split second before a tree came crashing down and landed just outside their hiding spot! They were almost trapped, but luckily there was a small gap at the top of the hole in their tree. They climbed through that and landed on the fallen tree. Minun began to cry, and Plusle kept trying to tell her that everything would be okay..."

"But just as Minun was settling down, pairs of glowing eyes started to appear from every direction. They began to hear growling, and suddenly a shadowy figure appeared between the trees on top of a nearby hill, and Plusle began to shake." The heracross lifted the shell on his back and his wings began to vibrate. I assumed he was creating an intense atmosphere. "He mustered his courage and yelled, 'Who are you?' But he didn't receive an answer. The sky released another thunderbolt, lighting the figure's face and revealing his species: a gengar."

Krinn's body exploded as a powerful shockwave shot towards the clouds, vaporising as it found nowhere to go. The colony members nearly leapt from their places, and even I felt my fur bristle as I suffered a jolt of surprise.

Yukra grinned and kept his voice low. "The gengar was gone in another flash of lightning, and Minun hugged her brother in fright. Both pokémon looked for the ghost type, but neither found anything. Until..."

"The gengar popped up beside them, scaring them out of their wits!" Krinn yelped, both he and Yukra making sudden and unexpected movements. By this time the electivire had rounded the fire to my side, where he locked his eyes with mine, sending an uncomfortable chill down my spine. "He showed his teeth in a smile and said, 'You look lost,' and vanished again... He reappeared on their other side and asked, 'How about coming to my cave, where you'll be out of this wretched rain?'"

"No! Don't do it!" cried the baby rattata again. "He's a bad pokémon!" Yukra moved his gaze to the little purple and tan pokémon, clearly glad to have him so involved. Krinn also moved on, spooking the pokémon to my right as he continued to move around the fire at a slow pace.

"Plusle wanted to say no, but he didn't have any other choice. He didn't want to be eaten by the red-eyed creatures, and a cave sounded like a perfect place to take shelter from the storm. So he said yes, and the gengar grinned again, and started leading them away from the log..."

"No, no!" protested the small rattata once more, and I found myself wondering how such a story would wind up.

"So...just like the gengar promised, they came to a cave. Minun and Plusle both went in, and suddenly the cave door shut behind them!"

"BOOM!" Yukra thundered, expanding his wings and his shell at the same time as he extended his arms.

Several screams echoed from the smaller pokémon's mouths, as well as older ones, and luckily the only reaction I had was a mere flinch. It was a full-body flinch, but still just a flinch.

"They tried to get back out, but a large rock sealed their exit. Then, as they turned around, those red eyes began to appear again, all flashing as they closed in on Plusle and Minun. Both pokémon screamed and tried using their electric attacks, but they did no harm as the evil pokémon shook it off. They banged against the rock again, but nothing happened, and nobody could hear their cries for help. There was no escape!"

Krinn crackled once more, sending bolts of electricity over the audience members' heads. Then all quietened down, the sizzling of the fire and the faint swaying of the trees the single sounds. "...Plusle and Minun were never seen again, but some say their spirits still wonder the caves in search of a way out..."

The silence hovered as the storytellers ceased their movement, and an intense feeling snaked between each pokémon seated around the bonfire. Some stared while others gaped; a select few seemed unaffected, such as the sceptical and cloudy bird of prey. I noticed a lot of the young swallow; I also noticed their numbers had decreased by over half. It was a major relief, but I wondered where the others were. As well as who their parents all were, considering I had not seen many pokémon whose species were related to the majority of the daycare kids.

"The end," Yukra simply stated, thudding casually to his seat. Krinn did the same, and I was kind of confused. The ending was so abrupt, as well as the sense-making factor being low. Pokémon with glowing red eyes? A gengar whose reason as the story's villain was not apparent? I wanted to know how the plusle and minun got there, and why they were alone. However, most of the colony didn't seem to care about such things. I guessed that, legitimate or not, these 'scary stories' were purely for entertainment.

Response chat commenced, at first being uttered between the odd couple, and eventually expanded to nearly every pokémon's mouth. I heard comments such as, "That was scary!" and "Did they...get...get eaten?" I rolled my eyes, figuring most of the comments came from the little ones.

I hardly noticed as Zhol excused herself and requested to be taken back to her quarters in Aemara's clinic. Shard and Yukra offered, and they both returned shortly after, taking their seats again as if they'd never moved.

After a while everyone seemed to settle down once Habib initiated more silence. He had stood up, being a few spaces from me, and addressed everyone. "I would like to focus now on the reason for this colony meet." All eyes became fixed on him, and it was almost inspiring to see that the lickitung had everyone's complete attention without so much as a single request. "We have a guest staying with us for a while. One who's come from all around the regions. Recently she experienced an event most other pokémon would not even imagine would happen to them..." He shifted himself to face me completely, and I did the same without realising. "I would like to introduce you all to Dusty the flareon." He gestured towards me with a pink arm, and I flinched as I realised the entire colony – or, all who were there, at least – had its eye on me. It seemed as if even the dens were watching with intense interest, and I shuddered at the trickling gazes skimming my back like a hairy spider.

"Uhh... Hi, everybody..." I swallowed, awkward silence stretching out and setting up a mound of grass. As it sunk down and relaxed, I came to the assumption that it wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. I looked up, figuring the reason they continued to stare was because I was failing to entertain them. I decided a question-and-answer session was appropriate. "If anyone has questions..." I began, implying that I would answer them.

Nobody spoke for a few moments before that altaria fluttered from her perch and squawked, "How long are you staying?" in a rather demanding and intrusive manner.

I sneered and answered, "I'll let you know when I can." Realising I came across as rude, I shook my mane and forced a failing smile. "...Next question?"

"I-if you don't mind my asking," started another pokémon, and I spotted Aemara as she passed the fire, "is it possible to tell us more of the human transport...that I understand you were on?"

I knew it would get to this eventually. I supposed the whole 'question and answer' thing was going to turn out differently to how I imagined if someone was to ask about the ship...and someone had. Several pokémon's eyes widened, and it was clear they also desired answers.

"If it's alright," Shard interrupted, my eyes flicking to his, "I would like to know what happened as well."

"Yes," Habib stepped in, "the Rokont Organisation has had recent activity, or so the rumours say."

I wasn't sure who to answer first, so I turned to the giant lickitung and swallowed. "Team Rocket...was their name." A wave of tingles washed over me, nervousness gripping my scruffy mane.

"Hmm..." he mused, a paw on his chin. "Team Rocket..."

The unceasing gazes wavering through my eyes gave me a strange sense of responsibility, and I felt the need to explain myself. After all, keeping my lips sealed only meant more procrastination – which I usually don't bother about – making matters worse for myself, and possibly conveyed the message that I was hiding something, or that a terrible occurrence kept me reluctant to speak. Whichever it was, the fact still stood: they had a right to know what happened to Luck, as well as every other pokémon whose lives were altered for the worse. How I was to do it was unknown at that moment, but it had to be said. And I had to be the one to say it.

"Y' see..." I swallowed, hooking my memory and dragging it into the past to recall the recent events still so clear in my mind. "It began...for me...when my trainer and I were battling another trainer. Of course, my ally was my best—" Something must have lodged itself between my wind pipes for a moment, as my voice had stopped there, and I reconsidered. "...My friend, a leafeon called Izante, and her trainer was my trainer's, um...best friend." I closed my eyes for seconds before continuing. "After the battle, the golem we'd been battling told me some strange things, and I didn't know what he meant. Izante had the opinion that he was just crazy. Later we..." I grew a tiny smile, lost in thought as I remembered how oblivious I still was. "Izante and I went for a swim... Hah, she told me to stop being a torchic and to just...swim. She was circling me like swimming's the easiest thing in the world, but...she knew I couldn't do it." My smile lasted as I strayed off course, but the eyes asking for more snapped me out of my reminiscing. "Anyway...we were attacked by what we thought was a stray armaldo, but it turned out that he was a Team Rocket human's pokémon.

"He took us back to a campsite where we were caged, and soon we found ourselves on the move for a good three days and nights..." I shuffled the harmless soil over my left paw with my right, watching as the orange fur strands became a hue of brown. "Then we were loaded onto a ship in different compartments, and none of us knew where we were going... None of us knew how to escape; the cages were immune to our powers." The fire coughed, regaining itself shortly after, spraying a shower of embers which barely touched those around it. I was suddenly reminded of the many fires that lit our paths when we used to travel, and warmed us on chilly nights... They brought us together; we would all crowd around them and rely on them for our survival. I always lit them, and the combination of that and their importance was what made me feel as though I was really wanted... That I was essential to my master, and even to Izante, who I believed really needed me... I cringed, clenching my fangs and shaking my head.

"And we were put in cages that wouldn't break..." Realising I'd already mentioned that, a frown shaped my brow, and I rethought. "But then a quilava broke out of his cage, and...and I don't know how, but he...yeah, he broke out..." I heard someone draw a sharp breath through their nostrils, but I wasn't sure which pokémon was the culprit. "So...his friend had some blast seeds that he snuck in, and he used them to blow holes in the cages where the locks were... It didn't take us long to discover that our attacks dealt damage from the outside, and soon enough all the pokémon were free..." I continued to explain that a plan was devised and that eventually a war had commenced. I even mentioned the pokémon I met, including...Luck. Someone had asked who it was that issued the plan for freedom, and I was momentarily stumped. It was hard to answer... Although I was supposedly the hero, something felt wrong... So I simply replied with, "A pokémon from my crate."

I paused while explaining the garchomp's appearance, and didn't mention the internal cargo hold. I also skipped the trivial things, such as my arguments and the battle with Azure, and only included the gun part to glorify Larse, who smiled politely as I did so.

"Dusty," Shard interrupted in a calm and solemn tone as I had stopped, "what happened to Luck?"

This was it. The section of the story I wanted to avoid, but obviously it was inevitable.

They had to know. I had to tell them. That moment was what the conversation had boiled down to. They'd been dying to know since I first arrived, and I'd been frightened to tell them. "Luck..." I started, drilling my glare into the earth. "He..." I moistened my lips with my tongue, my breathing pace increasing. "He fought the garchomp with me." I could sense the surprise that heightened the tension surrounding us, but I pressed on. "He fought the garchomp, and he saved me more than once. The last time he saved me, he...he..."

My gaze connected with every pokémon staring at me... Some I didn't recognise, but others I knew personally. Their eyes were innocent... Sorrow already clouded their vision; the story of a pokémon stolen away from her trainer and thrown into the hands of those reckless and uncaring would tear anyone's heart to pieces. Mynk seemed hurt in many ways; maybe she was envisioning herself or her child going through the same process. I imagined my trainer felt the same way about me as Mynk felt about her daughter... After all, Master raised me. She taught me nearly everything I knew... I had also spotted Wynore and her teddiursa. That cub was as much Luck's as she was Wynore's, and the notion of becoming fatherless so early in her life was painful even to me, someone who barely even knew the family...

Next, Shard's face haunted me. He appeared attached to Luck in some way or another, and he stood noble and tall as he awaited my answer. But...seeing his colony – his family – so expectant of his return and so already proud that he fought bravely to protect the lives of mostly those he hadn't an acquaintance with was heart-wrenching. I locked my jaws together as needles injected themselves into my body—first my head, then my chest. After that it pierced random places, including my wounds.

I ripped skin tissue from the inside of my mouth and chewed it frantically, my toes restless as they cleared the soil and scraped the earth. What sane pokémon wanted to reveal to someone's family that their close friend was dead? More seriously, that their close friend had been murdered? And that the culprit was some demon pokémon whose soul seemed not to be present, and whose heart was tainted by the shady colours of death? Was it supposed to be easy? I wasn't going to wake from some kind of nightmare, but I feared I'd cause the colony pokémon to plunge into a nightmare of their own; if Luck, a strong and courageous pokémon, was killed so easily, how long would it take for the rest of the colony to have its members stolen away and extinguished once more? What if the ship was rebuilt and Team Rocket returned for bitter revenge? And it would have been my fault, obviously, since I initiated the plan. And when that time would flood into action, more innocent pokémon would be ripped from all they knew because of me.

Before anyone else could speak, I made the decision to finish what I started. "Luck...fled." I forced my jaws shut, one of my fangs snagging a piece of skin and piercing it. I flinched at the sudden infliction of pain, and gave the backs of my eyelids a good, hard stare.

"He...fled?" replied Shard nearly incredulously, his frown telling me that he disbelieved the statement that much that it had to be a lie. "The last time he saved you, he fled?" At that moment I realised my sentence hadn't even made sense.

A stream of chatter snaked between the soil and touched every blade of squashed grass. The general tone suggested disappointment and as I turned to Wynore, a bitter tinge of shame glazed her eyes. I suddenly widened my own, realising how much of a disservice I was doing Luck, even in his deceased state. I was dishonouring him in one of the most degrading ways, which I know I definitely wouldn't have appreciated had he and I be in opposite positions. However, a sudden thought sprung from my mind, smacking me in the jaw with the power of realisation.

He wouldn't be so cowardly. He would have spoken the truth, however harsh, and he'd face the problem head on, arms strong and deception very last on his list. Yet I couldn't do it. It was too hard for me, but did that mean that the colony pokémon should suffer because of my personal issues? They would have to believe my every word – every letter that formed the words I spoke – because I was a witness. But what if the witness lies? Shall she be condemned until she comes clean, or should she uphold the lies for the sake of the dwindling hope alight in others? Was it hope...or a false belief only keeping them tied to the things of the past—the things they must learn to release?

"That's not like him," I heard a bewildered pokémon utter.

"Not like him at all..."

"W-WELL," I began just a little too loudly, "um, he... H-he, he didn't...flee... I-I mean... He, um... L-left with the other pokémon—that's right! He helped others get away..."

"While you...fought the monster?" Shard questioned with scepticism.

'He's onto me,' I growled internally, almost wishing he would put his mind to rest. "Y-yes... There were others! To help me..." I swallowed, figuring I was less than convincing.

"Then...what happened?" he inquired warily.

"Look, it's...a bit blurry... I ran into Izante again and..." By this stage my gaze was pointed away from any pokémon and directed at a sad, flattened clump of grass. "And...that's when I learned of her secret." I began shaking my head, the defiance in my mind growing as I longed for it to be anything but true. "She's a Rocket pokémon."

More pokémon began murmuring after a moment of silence, the fire's crackling unresting. "No," responded the male raticate whose name escaped me, muttering to his mate shortly after.

"Well...this story beats ours," Yukra chuckled grimly, shrugging as Krinn did the same.

I was in the wrong mood to accept the humour, and curled my nose instead. "My best friend...a traitor," I continued, focusing on my paws as my vision grew blurrier. I wasn't sure who was listening if anyone at all was. "I was an idiot to be so ignorant... Blinded by friendship. What an ugly thing," I spat, noticing droplets glistening on my collar of fur before they slipped and stamped circles into the soil. I wiped my eyes with my shoulder, standing and turning as the pokémon chattered in cautious manners. Voices began to dwindle as Mynk asked quietly why I was going – and where – and I neglected to face her as I contemplated a response. Nothing came, so I kept my mouth sealed and bounded over the log, gliding across the earth and occasionally pounding it with stressed paws.

With an aching heart and a guilty conscience, I melted between the trees into the dark forest, hearing one or two pokémon call after me. Their words meant nothing; I needed to flee. I had to escape the torment. Being around them was merely a reminder of my failed duties and my false, misleading information. I gritted my teeth and bound my eyes, leaving my trail of tears in my wake.

                                                                                          ***

After stumbling over a fallen tree and rolling for a short time down one side of a hill, I came to a halt underneath a willow. I mumbled a line of annoyance before picking myself up and hobbling under its stick-thin boughs to its trunk; I had injured my leg during the fall, but it was nothing serious. I flexed my left knee once taking my place on the soil, and cringed as I felt a shot of pain spike my joint. "Looks like I won't be going anywhere..."

A hoothoot's evening chant rang out, bouncing off the trees until it came crashing to the ground. As the sound died away I realised just how silent it was. Going from chatter and a crackling fire to near-silence was somewhat of an abrupt change. However, silence was flattering. It calmed my nerves and stroked my conscience; for once I felt relaxed. It was nice to escape the commotion. Sometimes solitary time was necessary.

I heard a squeak and a tiny voice inquire, "What are you doing in my home?"

I spun around to face a pachirisu, her large tail slightly bristled and her face attempting to conceal the apparent fear. "Your home?" I tilted my head, viewing the dome-like structure of the branches and overhanging leaves protecting the trunk of the tree. An opening just small enough to fit a pachirisu not yet fully grown sat at its base, and I assumed the trunk was only hollowed out to the first branch. I was mildly surprised the tree was still standing; the trunk was so narrow that I thought any kind of hollow would surely cause it to collapse. Perhaps the pachirisu was wary of its demise.

"Please," she began, "this tree is the only thing I have." A light frown found itself resting on my brow. "Spare a stranger and have pity."

I adjusted my paws and shifted my weight to my back paws. "What are you talking about?" I asked quietly.

"P-please! I'm no good to eat, really. My kind taste pretty awful, for your information."

"I'm not going to eat you," I told her with a tinge of annoyance combined with confusion. "Don't you think I would have pounced already...or...done whatever hunters...do...or something?"

The electric type was somewhat surprised, and I wasn't sure why. "Well..." She seemed at a loss for what to say before eying the ground. Maybe she was looking for words under the soil.

"Goodbye," I muttered, turning to leave. The leaves stroked my pelt as I exited. Last thing I wanted was to start a riot or a fight. Frankly I wasn't interested in making friends, either.

"Hey." I had only gotten a few metres before I heard a rustle and moved my head to the right. I didn't bother to rotate my body or even place my head in such a position for our eyes to connect. "...Thanks."

I nearly faced her completely before convincing myself it was pointless, and simply replied, "For what?"

The pokémon must have stood staring for a moment before I heard another rustle. She had scurried back to her tree.

Amidst the confusion lacing my mind about the peculiar encounter, I padded slowly on, my head low to the ground. The last time I'd conversed with a pachirisu...was when I was searching for Izante. I'd just woken up after the armaldo attack. I thought I might have died. But worse than that, I had feared Izante had suffered the same fate. 'We were so close...'

I found a spot amongst fallen trees and well rested logs a few minutes from the pachirisu's willow. I stared at the sky above, joining several stars together to create a picture. They shimmered against the intense mixture of black and blue, stretching their light beyond what small space they occupied amongst the extension of the sky.

My master would often share with me stories of the Sky Warriors. They were said to be mystical beings that served the world and bestowed peace in the time of great need. Although casualties were constantly on the menu, so was justice. "To get their hands stained was the price of peace," Master had said. "They knew they would never lead peaceful afterlives for their acts, and they had to accept that they were the world's sacrifices as well as the saviours."

"But why? It was necessary! Shouldn't Arceus make an exception for them?" I had asked, but my attempts to speak with my human trainer were futile every time. This would have killed me if she hadn't been able to read faces. I wasn't sure if all humans were gifted with the ability to communicate with their trainers that way, but even so, us pokémon could mimic the humans' expressions and make our own just as easily.

'Yet so far away...' A bitter dressing sprinkled my thoughts as I continued to stare, unable to depict the pictures as clearly as Master had described them. She would always point each character from the story out to me. I still wasn't sure if what she told me was true or not—if it was fact or fiction. It didn't matter to me, though. I always enjoyed her tales.

Suddenly I made something out. It looked a little bit like a flareon...or a glaceon... "...Or a leafeon," I whispered, the memories flooding my mind once more. I remembered that on a few occasions, while we would be seated around a campfire, Master would recite those stories... She would educate Izante and her master of the Sky Warriors too, and my leafeon friend and I would often quote them or remind one another of specific events in select stories.

"...I do miss her." I glanced skyward again and tried to find that constellation once more. When it didn't redraw itself, I lowered my head again, fixing my gaze on a curved green leaf. It was alone – one of its kind – yet it was surrounded by sticks. Other leaves were scattered outside the stick circle, but none were near the central leaf. I noticed that the closest leaf to the sticks was an autumn leaf. With a grunt I burned the middle leaf, pushed the sticks toward the tiny flame and watched as they caught fire. I stamped it out before it could reach the autumn leaf, which I set among a section of green leaves only paces away.

'I'm so confused...' My mind began to wither as I settled down onto my belly this time. 'My best friend... Was she forced to leave me, or did she want to?' I began to whip up crazy ideas; what if she had to make it look like she was betraying me when, in reality, she needed me to think that for future plans? Her trainer could have discovered a resistance to Team Rocket and applied to be a member, signing Izante up as one of his pokémon, so he could work from the inside. He could never have told me or my trainer because he didn't want us involved or hurt. I devised more theories—ones about how evil pokémon like that garchomp were being brought from some other planet, and Izante had to pretend to be part of Team Rocket to gain insight on them. It was possible she hadn't yet made up her mind; the most plausible of my theories was that she signed up to be a part of Team Rocket, but she realised it wasn't how she was told it would be. Maybe she wanted to quit, and soon she would come crashing through the forest blurting apologies and begin licking me half to death.

But as I waited...no leafeon came. I was singled out as I lay alone, and I felt my tail curl around my side, my head lowering to my paws. "Oh, Izante... I don't understand." My fur became wet in streaks as tears weaved between every hair on my face. My head shot back up and I let loose a cry of despair; what in the world was my best friend thinking?! Didn't she want to return to me so we could amend our separation and return home? To our masters?

As my head spun repeatedly, my tears forming a constant but steady stream, I was bombarded by more questions, and I was hardly able to think about each one, let alone answer them all. "Izante..." While I scanned the stars once more through teary sight, I began to drift. My heart sank, my head following. My conscience would lull me to sleep, and all I had to do was listen...

Sixteen years and it comes to this
Parting lines and a final glimpse
Your legs are shaking; my thoughts hang in the rain
No, I've never felt more alone

Can't believe that these days are gone
After all that we've begun
You said you'd be there. I just had to call
Must you choose between me and all your dreams
When you can be free right here with me?

Those sixteen years
Don't they mean anything to you?
How can you leave with so much to lose?
When you walk away
You're taking the morning from my day
Show me the pain inside of you
I need to understand

Sixteen years; now my thoughts run wild
You even knew me as a child
I'll fight these tears but I can't hide the way I feel
And when you find what you want isn't all you need
Will you want to run right back to me?

Those sixteen years
Don't they mean anything to you?
How can you leave with so much to lose?
When you walk away
You're taking the morning from my day
Show me the pain that's inside of you

Time moves on...and you'll be gone
Then I'll hold onto the finer things I need to keep me strong
But one sweet day I'll put them all away
Oh, hope you know that no-one stays the same!

Those sixteen years
Don't they mean anything to you?
How can you leave with so much to lose?
When you walk away
You're taking the morning from my day
Show me the pain that's inside of you
I need to understand

Someday you'll understand

Yes, you will...

                                                                                          ***

"Poke her!" someone insisted.

"No, you poke her!" another voice protested.

"I asked you first," pointed out the first one. "Are you too torchic?"

"N-no!" declined what sounded like a very young male's voice.

At first I was confused and a little disoriented. Without making any indication that I was awake, I lifted one of my eyelids, scanning the upright pokémon's bodies silently. I sensed no trace of hostility, and therefore it was safe to lie in my position and wait for something to happen. I could only imagine these were colony kids, or young from a family nearby.

I watched as the male hid his face by turning to his left in embarrassment, and the other, a female – who was standing nearly out of view – chuckled spitefully. "Come on!" she prompted, and the male pouted but obliged, facing me. I quickly shut my eyes, masking my awareness yet again and listened for the smooth hairs of the pokémon's pelt to come in contact with mine. It would be an amusing moment.

Just when the time was right and the pokémon was near – too near – I made a startlingly sudden movement, yelling, "SCARY FLAREON!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the terrified buizel, huddling together with their backs plastered to the tree behind them. Their expressions were unbelievably hilarious, and they looked like they'd seen ghost pokémon!

"Hahaha!" I let out in response, sitting up straight.

The two remained silent as their gaping mouths closed and the female seemed less frightened. She fluffed herself up and shakily asked, "A-are you the flareon...s-staying with our colony?"

I stood up and shook off. "See any other flareon around?" I raised my eyebrow fur. The buizel's eyelids dropped and she looked still wary yet marginally annoyed.

"N-no!" she retorted, slightly offended.

I flashed a smug grin, getting to my paws and scanning the area. A few paces to my left lay a charred circle of ground; I knew how that happened. The stars had cleared off and clouds replaced them in vastly different forms. The world was still dark, and I knew it was just prior to dawn. The trees were refreshed and waking from their sleeps, swaying contently. I was in a similar state; I imagined I would wake up to feel groggy and rather cheerless, but it was a new day, and I would never get to relive it again. Nevertheless, it was still early, and a chance for a nap before sunrise would surely not escape.

"What are you doing out here?" queried the male buizel, and I looked to him, noticing he wasn't the same one that I had to babysit at the daycare.

"I was sleeping until these two water types woke me up." I threw a narrowed-eye expression to the duo, but they guessed I wasn't being serious, and the male seemed to loosen up a tad. "Do you guys have names?"

"O-of course," the female snapped, and I only rolled my eyes at her while hanging onto an amused smile.

"I'm Skop and this is Flop," Skop informed calmly, holding out a paw to indicate his friend.
Flop shot him a piercing glare, and I was glad I wasn't the target of that look! "Skop," she hissed, speaking through bound teeth, "don't give strangers our names!"

"I'm no stranger if I'm gonna be living with you guys," I interjected matter-of-factly. Flop seemed highly unimpressed, and Skop was still cowering from the attack on his very innocence. "So...you guys are brother and sister, I take it?"

"Twins," Flop correctly quickly, and for the first time I noticed that both of their back paws were half cream, the same colour as their undersides among other features. They were nearly identical; in fact, I was having trouble finding any distinguishing features. They were both the same height, their pelts were the same hue, their tails the same size, their arm fins the same shape...

'I guess they call 'em 'twins' for good reason!'

"Why are you out here?" Skop tilted his head curiously.

"Well... I slept here."

"Why?"

"Because I prefer...my space," I answered plainly. I didn't need to share my feelings with him.

"Isn't it better to sleep where other—"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you, squirt?" I narrowed my eyes, flicking my tail – or what I had of it – and the buizel cocked his head again as I addressed him. I felt my bandages begin to slip as I rose and stretched, turning to begin making my way back to the colony. I could probably crash at Zhol's before the rest of the pokémon woke up. At that moment I was probed with a question of my own. "...Why are you two out here?"

Flop just huffed and took her brother by the paw. They spun and disappeared into the forest; the last glimpse of eye contact was shared between me and Skop seconds before he was whisked away by his sister.

"...Whatever," I grunted with indifference, and began my path back to the colony.

I had a few minutes of silence before my ears twitched. I flicked my eyes from side to side without shifting my head, padding cautiously through forest undergrowth. More rustling was apparent and I quickened my pace, setting my eyes on each tree trunk as I passed beside them.

Seizing the chance, I whirled around and fired a flamethrower, hearing a surprised vocal noise. Before the flames could clear, I found myself still after a rumble sounded from behind me. I sighed, annoyed with myself for not sensing any other pokémon before the worse happened. I smelled earth and rock, and a pokémon roughly my size materialised from the smoke before me. He was dark grey with silver plates and stood on four legs. As he shook off, I took note of his icy blue eyes and the steel bracelets hugging his ankles. The lairon narrowed his eyes before I jerked my head to the left. A pokémon of different shades of grey trudged closer, his threatening tusks a compliment to his strong trunk. His stubby legs managed to carry him all the way to my side.

"You," the donphan grunted with a cocky edge to his voice. "Calm your sweet little self down. All we want is some answers. You co-operate and things won't have to get ugly." He wasn't intentionally threatening, and I realised that the 'cocky edge' was merely the way he spoke. He seemed somewhat reasonable despite his words.

"Ugly how?" I tested, excited despite my being outnumbered. "How do you know I don't have reinforcements waiting to spring you now?" The side of my face rose into a daring smile.

The trio let amused chuckles fill the air around their mouths before the ground type answered, "Because I can tell when a pokémon's bluffin'." He made a movement with his trunk to whatever scum had my back covered, and to my surprise he stepped away. I wasn't sure if that was an indication that I was allowed to go – which seemed unlikely – or what. "If it makes things easier for you, Kuzi here won't stand so close."

I flung my head over my shoulder to identify my capturer: he was a rhyhorn. Very sturdy and seemed like solid, plated rock on four legs, complete with a horn and determined eyes. "Good," I replied, wondering what in the world these pokémon wanted. They weren't readied for battle, and didn't seem overly hostile—not towards me, at least.

"First question—and don't even think about lying to us," the lairon warned, his deep voice more intimidating than the donphan's. "Do you or do you not know a male houndoom?"

My brow furrowed. 'A houndoom?' Figuring I had nothing to lose, I answered, "Well, I..." I stopped. I was unsure about the question's nature. If I said I did and gave them his previous location, perhaps I would be endangering him. Not that I had a reason not to pay him out. "Not personally, no." Still unsure of their intentions, I asked a question of my own. "Why do you wanna know?"

"We ask the questions, not you," the lairon hissed.

"Gee, nobody taught you manners, did they?" I murmured to myself, to which he growled:

"What?"

But the donphan only chuckled. "Answers before questions," he told me.

I thought about that for a second. "Alright, then... No. I don't know a male houndoom."

The lairon stepped forward and rumbled, "Don't lie!"

I proceeded to occupy the space behind me with a leg of my own, growling, "Don't assume I am."

"I'll do what I like, flareon."

"It's Dusty."

At this point the donphan took his place between us. "I beg your pardon, miss, but we haven't been properly introduced. The name's Cutch. And this is Krenta and Kuzi." He motioned with his trunk to the lairon and the rhyhorn respectively. "You see, we're after this houndoom character for his sneaky and traitorous habits. He has something that I want."

My suspicion moved in like a cloud of mist, and I asked with amused, narrowed eyes, "And what would that be? Treasure? His head?"

"Heh heh!" Cutch chuckled again. "This kid ain't bad!" His eyes met with his comrades before he settled back to me. "If you think o' somethin', I'll be 'round."

'Hmm,' I thought once they moved off in the opposite direction I was travelling, watching all three tails (so to speak—Kuzi was short on such a thing) disappear between increasing foliage. Shrugging, I spent the whole way back shuffling between possibilities how that houndoom had managed to get himself into trouble with pokémon that didn't look too forgiving. 'No doubt he did something shameless like steal.'

Entering the colony's grounds, I took note that not a single pokémon occupied the open space. The campfire had burned out, of course, and all that remained were memories of last night; berry juice and dried fat lay in spots on logs and the bland packed soil. I didn't pay it further attention before striding towards Den Row when a sudden thought revived itself and prodded my brain. 'Oh...I was supposed to check up on Splash to make sure he was okay this morning,' I realised, changing my course of direction and passing Den Row rather than travelling up the path. I headed toward the southeast boarders where I would encounter the fruit shack thing, which was where I was told I'd find the pokémon standing guard.

"Each member of the colony takes turns in checking up on Splash, because he guards the shed every night," Ikari had told me after discussing the daycare job with me. I thought it typical that I would be blessed with the responsibility of checking on him early each morning for a week.

'Lucky those buizel woke me up. I would have forgotten otherwise.'

As I approached the shed, I remembered that it was the place I crashed the first time I turned up at the colony. I wondered why, if Splash was on guard that night (since he supposedly was every night), he didn't stop me. I wasn't sure, but I hadn't met Splash, so I didn't know what he was like, either. In fact, I'd forgotten what kind of pokémon he was.

Padding closer, I casually rounded the left side of the shack and appeared before its entrance. A somewhat aqua pokémon was standing mindlessly beside it, seeming to be off in a daze before turning to me with a wide, blank smile.

"Uhh... Hey...Splash," I began slowly, his eyes focused on me with an innocent but hollow stare. As he kept staring, I turned around hesitantly, spying nothing else that the quagsire could have fixed his gaze onto. "Um... Are you alright?"

The water and ground type continued his silent behaviour, and just as I was about to spin 'round to leave, he blurted, "Quaaaaaag." And that was all.

"Um...okay?" I was at a loss for words before saying, "What...what does that mean? Is it...some kind of ancient quagsire dialect?" It must have been. Either that or he was messing with me.

"Quaaag," he repeated, his contentment apparent as he turned and faced the forest once more, his tail merely an inch away from the wooden wall of the shed. His front paws were kept resting on his belly and his smile remained, much to my confusion. I figured I would ask someone else about his strange nature later, but in the meantime I could rest.

Skipping happily across the field of open land before I would reach Den Row or the strip of forest separating it from the daycare's side of the land, I noticed that the Sun still hadn't risen. The clouds had begun drifting at their leisurely pace across the sky, leaving a trail of broken cloud particles which hurried to catch up again. Bird pokémon's chirps were only just beginning, but I knew they wouldn't wake the villagers; their songs were often peaceful and hardly loud, and these pokémon were used to the outdoorsy sound of nature. So was I, of course, although there was the odd occasion of sleeping in a poké ball...which was impossible again until I returned to Master.

Passing the strip of trees separating two sections of the colony's land, I heard that infamous rustle. Figuring it was a baby pokémon, I ignored it. However, my ears wouldn't be put to rest as more sounds and subtle voices whispered from between the trees, and I became suddenly suspicious. My first assumption was of the houndoom I already held a grudge against, and who was apparently in trouble with other pokémon equally as grudging. 'Hang on... Why would that houndoom be talking to himself? And if he was talking to someone else, who?' My fur stood on end as I sensed that whoever was behind the cluster of trees starting off the strip of forest was not someone I knew, and neither was it someone welcome.

Just as I went to spit out a threat, I leapt backwards at the sight of long, stringy vines. They were suspended in mid air, and it took me longer than it should have to register that they were controlled by a pokémon—a grass type. Without hesitation I unleashed a stream of fire at them, but they recoiled quickly and disappeared within the trees. The chatter had subsided, and as I went to take a collection of steps in reverse, my limbs seized up. It felt as though I was paralysed, and, well...I must have been! 'I...I can't move!' A rush of desperation zipped through my bloodstream, and I knew I was at a major disadvantage. 'If only it had been that darn houndoom! And where are those ground, rock and steel types when you need them?!'

To my surprise, not two, but three figures emerged from within the trees, each a different size, type and species—not your usual pack mates or group of friends. The first to appear was tiny and must have only come up to my mane. He was round and cream, and on his body were triangular patterns. He grinned a surprisingly malicious grin for someone so small and innocent-looking, and I suffered a moment of chills.

The next pokémon was a Mr. Mime. He was much taller, had sections of pink and white, and was shaped similarly to a human. His blue head fur sprouted from each side in a scraggly, unkempt manner, yet remained stiff. He was concentrating on something close to me judging by his body language and line of sight, and it was only a matter of moments before I discovered he was using psychic powers on me to restrict my movements.

The third pokémon to reveal himself was somewhat stout and resided on four stumpy legs, and I instantly knew he didn't fit in with his colleagues. His vines were exposed and ready to strike, coming from the opening bud on his back. As soon as our eyes met, my breathing became caught within my throat. He flinched with genuine surprise, and I instantaneously realised that I knew him. His wide eyes and lack in movement twisted in a corrupt exchange of eye contact before I took the liberty of issuing a lengthy inhalation. I couldn't help but stammer, and I could tell he knew what was coming.

"...Sed?"