Prologue

Six, and no more.

Arman scowled. Six.

It was summer's last gasp, autumn's chill winds beginning to sneak past. Ilex Forest was turning from a sea of green to a collage of multicolored leaves. Not that it mattered to him. No, it didn't matter at all.

Six, and no more. His scowl deepened. Is what I am attempting to do so difficult?

He took a deep breath and leaned backwards against a tree. Perhaps not, but perhaps so. He grabbed the last PokéBall off of his belt, increased its size, and stared at it. Is my ambition foolish?

He sighed through his nose. Foolish, perhaps, he decided, but that won't stop me. He continued to stare at the closed Ball in his hand, the scowl still fixed in place. I made a promise to myself. I would show them that it could be done.

“...That it can be done,” he muttered, and jerkily tossed the Ball.

It sprang open with its customary sound, but the energy that came out was not white. A sort of off-white blue, which formed into the shape of the Pokémon, stayed static for a moment, then burst outward and vanished.

The now empty Ball returned to him, and he reflexively reached up and caught it, then stared down at the Pokémon.

The Pikachu.

Arman took a deep breath. The Pikachu.

It stared up at him curiously. Arman ignored it, lost for a moment in the few memories of the Pikachu he had.

For a moment the scowl relaxed as he remembered he'd caught it as a Pichu.

A Pichu. He savored the thought for a moment. Yet it evolved. The scowl returned in an instant, and he spun around in a huff. It liked me. He smirked. It liked me, somehow.

He'd only battled with it twice. When he'd caught it, he'd intended to give it to his sister.

His sister, struck down the day after the little furball had been caught. Struck down in the thunderstorm.

It was then he'd decided that the first chance to get rid of it, he would. He made a point never to catch any Electric-types—yet he'd managed to hang onto the Pikachu this long.

Oh well. Now it was resolved.

He spun back to the Pikachu. It hadn't moved; it still stared at him with those oddly thoughtful eyes...

He tore his glance away. “Go,” he managed to say.

The Pikachu didn't move; its expression changed only slightly, into one of confusion.

“I said, 'go.'” Arman shuddered. “Go! In there!” He pointed beyond the Pikachu, into the thicker forest.

The Pikachu nodded uncertainly, then, in total silence, dropped to all four paws and ran quickly in the direction Arman had pointed.

Arman Dymo gave a small shuddering gasp, but only a small part of it was in sorrow. Most of it was in suppressed excitement.

Finally, gone. And one open space for something far more useful.

The scowl became a smirk, and he spun again and dashed in the opposite direction.

In the growing cold, and in the fading light, the Pikachu watched him go.

1: Within

It was a joke, I thought as I stared after the quickly vanishing Trainer. A joke. He'll be back...

I swallowed slightly; shivered in the cooling air. A joke, I repeated firmly to myself.

But, then, when had he ever been much of a joker? I shook my head slowly. For all I know, he could have been. It's not as if we’d spent a great deal of time together.

I paused, and looked down at myself as best I could, and as if to confirm to myself that I was what I saw, I spoke my own name, carefully, quietly, into the twilight.

“Pikachu.”

Yes, I decided. It's not all a dream. No way.

Pikachu evolved in the wild, of course—it was necessary to propagate the species. But my father...

I paused again, thinking. My father heard that if a baby were captured, it would only evolve when it learns to love the one that captured it. Where he had heard it from, I had no idea—but as the sound of my name faded into silence, I stared again in the direction my Trainer had run off in. I liked him. Now that I thought about it, it sounded ridiculous at best. Why? We hardly knew each other.

I shook my head, and lowered my gaze. But, still, he'll... he'll come back...

He must come back...

I shivered again, then shoved him out of my mind, turning away from the clearing I had left, and began to walk deeper into the forest.

It was big, I noted. Big, and apparently not in a good mood.

It snarled at me, and simultaneously we both took a step in the same direction—me backwards, it forwards.

"Whaddya want, clown?" it asked, in a surprisingly deep voice. I noted two syllables, and came up with a name: “Furret.”

"N-nothing!" I gasped. "I'm just h-hungry..."

"Yeah?" It laughed. "If that's the case, go be hungry somewhere else. And that's for your own good," it added. "You might be too big for someone like me, but there may be some Pokémon around that wouldn't mind havin' a runt like you for a snack."

I shuddered at the thought. "But...those..." Shakily a pointed a forepaw toward the bush beyond the Furret, laden with berries.

"Too bad, kid, but go find somewhere else. This ain't the only place in the woods where berries grow."

"But..." I tried again, weakly, but the Furret turned around and walked away. So did I, slowly. I blinked my eyes rapidly, to keep the tears away, and walked on.

I'm just not cut out for this...

2: Without

It was the end of winter. Even in the chill of March, Azalea Town still carried a scent of flowers.

Ren Ashlocke chuckled, shivering in the cold air.

Mom's so strange sometimes, he thought, stepping out from his yard and onto the sidewalk, walking slowly so as not to slip on any ice. I go out and do these walks every day, even in the middle of winter. Not once has she said anything about it, and now, at the end of winter, she asks me if I'd need an extra coat.

He chuckled again, watching his breath puff out in front of him. Before the last puff had vanished, however, Ren's mind was on something else.

Less than a month to go, he thought, smiling hugely. Then I'll be a Trainer. He’d passed the basic exams two weeks before; the only reason he wasn’t a Trainer yet was because his eleventh birthday was next month.

He walked quickly out of what could be called town, and just as quickly entered Ilex Forest. His feet walked the path for him, so many times he'd done this. He focused inward, imagining wildly what he'd do when he finally got his first Pokémon; wondering, a huge smile on his face, which Pokémon he'd choose.

So focused inward was he that he managed to walk right past the Pikachu shivering in the cold, not even noticing it.

Not anticipating anything of what would happen.

I shivered uncontrollably, and it only seemed to get worse when the human walked by. He paid me absolutely no attention; and with a huge smile on his face and muttering quietly about something he moved on past.

I didn't even have the strength to call out to him. A small one-syllable moan emerged, but so quietly that even I could hardly hear it.

So... cold...

And it began to snow anew. I looked up as the snowflakes began to fall past me, and in the snow and the silence began to cry, coughing uncontrollably every few minutes.

Why...won't he come back...? Was it something I'd done, or maybe not done?

Why...!?

3: Dead but for The Grace of God

Ren looked up suddenly, the flash of lightning making him flinch. He stared out the window for a moment, then looked back down at his book.

The lightning flashed again, but Ren ignored it and the resulting thunder. Tiredly he turned the page and continued reading--

Suddenly his head shot up again, staring out the window, into the downpour that April had brought with it, and without another thought stood suddenly up, grabbed his raincoat, and rushed downstairs.

His mother was watching TV downstairs. “Hey, Ren. Need something?” she asked, without turning her head.

“No, Mom. Just going out for a walk.”

She turned around and looked at him skeptically. “In this weather?”

Ren was already pulling on his shoes. “Yes.”

“Why?”

Ren put his raincoat on and opened the door. “I'm not sure, really,” he said, and walked out.

And that was the truth, he mused as he walked quickly down the sidewalk towards Ilex. He didn't know why he suddenly felt like taking a walk, especially in a downpour like this. Nor, he noted, did he know why he seemed to be in such a hurry.

Sometimes strange things happen, he thought. At least it'll be a little drier in there. He shrugged, keeping his head down. Maybe I'll find something useful.

He was barely in the forest for three minutes before he found something that was far more than useful.

I was in a stupor, with too little energy to be really conscious. Thinking hurt. I moaned softly; even facedown on the ground, I felt dizzy, as though at any moment I'd lose my balance and fall—or maybe roll—in another direction.

If you put aside the dizziness, I realized, it would be very much like a PokéBall.

Not that that idea was much comfort to me.

I didn't like them. No, not at all. I had no specific reason why—maybe I'd had one once but had forgotten it. I'd forgotten a lot, I realized, but I didn't know what it was I'd forgotten.

Like why I was...wherever I was. Only one vague idea came to me when I tried to remember: He'll come back.

Who was 'he'? I wondered. Someone important, I guessed, but not very important or I would have remembered him.

That phrase suddenly rose to the forefront of my mind, and reflexively I began to repeat it, unable to fade into dreams but also unable to wake up.

He'll come back... He'll come back...

...Whoever he is, he'll come back...

The Pikachu was apparently unconscious, but it kept muttering the same sounds over and over. Ren quietly knelt down and laid a hand gently on the Pikachu's back. Almost immediately he drew it back. It was so warm...

Too warm, he realized. It was feverish, and he realized that whatever the Pikachu was muttering would probably translate to a single idea, looped in its mind.

Ren bit his lip. So far as he knew there were no wild Pikachu in Ilex Forest. Which means this one probably belonged to someone else...

Ren considered that idea, then organized and modified it like so:

There are no wild Pikachu in Ilex Forest; therefore, this Pikachu belongs to someone else. However, no self-respecting Trainer I know would leave the Pikachu alone when it's sick; moreover, they wouldn't leave it anywhere. They'd take it to a Pokémon Center.

There are no wild Pikachu in Ilex Forest; however, this Pikachu is apparently uncaptured. Released, he decided suddenly. It must have been released, and some time ago.

Ren narrowed his eyes. I don't think I'd like whoever did this. At least bother releasing it somewhere where it can be with its own kind!

“Pika...Pikachu...”

He reached out gently and picked the Pikachu up. The muttering did not even pause as he did so, and gently he tried to wash out the dirt and mud from its front. It did not react in any way, still muttering the same phrase over and over. Ren stood up, the Pikachu carefully balanced in his arms; then he turned and moved as quickly and gently as he could back towards town.

4. Awakening

With an almost painful feeling, consciousness returned. I opened my eyes and immediately shut them again in the bright light. Slowly I opened them again, letting them adjust to the light. And then the significance of that light hit me, and I sat straight up.

Carefully I looked around. There wasn't much to see; I was on a small off-white bed, with white walls and a white-tiled floor. There was a window in one of the walls, but there seemed to be nothing beyond it except more of the same.

I tilted my head curiously as a memory from sometime before surfaced. This is where...he...took me, I think. Only a few times, but...they took the pain away, I think...

I shook my head. It was still too foggy.

I jumped as a door I'd previously not noticed opened, and a boy stepped through. He had long, unruly black hair that at least managed to stay out of his eyes, which were gigantic and bright blue. He had on a nondescript white T-shirt and baggy blue jeans, which where spattered with dry mud, as were his shoes.

This wasn't 'him,' I thought. I couldn’t even remember what he'd looked like, but this wasn't him.

This realization came with a painful frustration, and I turned away from the boy, lowering my head and staring at nothing in particular.

“Hey...” I heard him begin tentatively. “Are... are you alright?”

That depends on what you mean, I thought sourly, but I nodded, still facing away from him.

“Good, I'm... I'm glad to hear that.” I heard him take a step forward. “Hey, um, I know it's pretty much a moot point now, but...do you belong to someone?”

I turned back to him. Then, slowly, I shook my head 'no,' but cocked my head in an effort to say 'Sort of.'

He nodded, seeming to understand. “That what I thought. You, um, you used to belong to someone, though, right? Nurse Joy said there were records of you being brought to a Pokémon Center before, some time last year. I’m, uh, I’m Ren, by the way.”

I nodded again.

The boy looked uncomfortable suddenly. “I...well, I was wondering...”

I looked at him expectantly.

“I was wondering... um...” he paused, and took a deep breath. “Well, I'm going to officially be a Trainer tomorrow, you see, and I was thinking... You seemed to be having a rough time in that forest, so would you, maybe, want to...?”

Rough time is an understatement, I joked to myself. At least from what little I can remember...

Ren looked uncertain and slightly hurt, and I realized suddenly that by failing to answer him he had assumed I meant no.

“I... I suppose I can understand if you don't want to. I just...” He turned around and began to walk slowly back towards the door.

Alone...

"W-wait!"

Ren stopped suddenly as the Pikachu called out, “Pika!” He turned his head to look at it---and saw in its eyes a sudden pain. He walked back towards it.

“Is...is there anything else you need?”

It looked back up at him, the pain still in its eyes, and suddenly a thought entered his mind that had no basis for being there.

Alone. It was afraid of being alone.

It flung itself at him sharply, and he managed to catch it awkwardly. He simply held it, then, stroking it occasionally as it wept into his shoulder.

Not alone... the thought whispered. Not anymore.

5. Within a Name

“And what is that?”

Ren jumped, and reflexively I tried to hide behind him. He turned, however, and this maneuver failed; I was left standing in front of Ren, looking up into the eyes of a large and rather red-faced woman.

“He,” and Ren stressed the gender, “is a Pikachu, Mom. And technically he’s mine.”

Oh, dear, I though glumly. Looks like I ended up only causing trouble for him…

“‘Technically’?” the woman repeated.

“Yes. I know I won’t be able to officially own him until tomorrow…” he paused, and I imagined him looking around for a timepiece. “…But he wants to come with me, so…”

‘Mom’ looked skeptical. “And how did that come about?”

I hissed under my breath in frustration. Sparks, I wish I could make them understand me.

Ren was silent for a moment. “It’s kind of strange, Mom, but… I found him. When I went out for a walk earlier. He was lying in Ilex Forest, almost literally burning up with fever.” He sighed. “It would be easier if he told you how it happened, Mom, but since he can’t speak English…”

I froze. Nah, that’s just a fluke. Just a fluke.

“I brought him to the Pokémon Center, and Nurse Joy said that there were records of him being brought into another Center some time last year.”

“Which means he belongs to someone else?”

“Come on, Mom. Sometime last year. Who would either leave a Pokémon unharmed, or not take it to a Center if it was, for that long? Besides, he himself says that he no longer belongs to anyone. Not officially, anyway.”

Ren’s mother looked down at me. I nodded.

She exhaled through her nose, but I could tell that she’d mostly relaxed now. “Well, you know I don’t like you staying out that long, Ren. I do pay attention, you know, even if I sometimes don’t seem like it.” She paused. “You’d better get some sleep, though. Tomorrow is almost today.”

“Yeah. Goodnight, Mom.”

Ren turned back to continue down the hall, and I began to follow him.

“By the way, Ren…” his mother said suddenly. “What’ll you call him?”

“Huh?” He stopped and looked down at me. “Well…”

I’ve got tons of suggestions. Too bad you can’t understand me.

“You’ve probably got a preference, huh? Too bad I can’t understand you.”

I blinked. Nah. No way. That’s the second time that’s happened…

Ren stared at me for a moment. “Hmm. How about…. ‘Diego’?”

I blinked again, surprised. Well, that wasn’t on my list of suggestions, but… I tried the name out in my mind. Diego. That’s… not too bad. I nodded. Ren grinned. “Alright. Diego, then.”

Diego… I smiled. Yeah. I can live with that.

6. Having a Ball

The woman had bright pink hair and a nurse’s uniform, reminding me momentarily of a Chansey—which, as fate would have it, seemed to be her assistant—but I removed the idea from my mind as Ren walked up to her. I paused momentarily by his feet, unsure what to do at this point, but Ren smiled encouragingly down at me and I jumped up onto the counter.

“Well, hi there, you two,” the woman said happily. “Feeling better?” This last, I realized, was aimed at me, and I nodded. She smiled, and turned her eyes to Ren. “So, it’s your birthday?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’ve got such a way with Pokémon, you know,” she admitted, reaching under the counter and pulling out a clipboard and a few sheets of paper. “I’m not surprised this little guy likes you.”

She flipped through a few sheets, then took a glance over Ren’s shoulder. “It’s not too busy, so maybe I’ll be able to fill this out for you. Full name?”

Ren seemed confused for a moment, but then his face cleared. “Raymond Jeremy Ashlocke, but I prefer Ren.”

She nodded, writing it down. “And this Pikachu will serve as your starting Pokémon?”

“Yes. Male, nicknamed Diego.”

She nodded again. “Let’s see, then.” She put the clipboard away, but took the sheet she’d been writing on and put it in another folder. Then she tapped hurriedly on a computer, and sighed with apparent relief.

“So,” she said, pulling out three similar-looking devices, one pink, one black, and one red. “The latest Pokédex model. Unfortunately we’ve only got these three colors right now.”

“It’s no problem,” Ren said.

I stared at the devices curiously. Pokédex? But in seeming response to my thought, an idea emerged from somewhere, that it was a reference device for Trainers, and was updated every year or so as new information or Pokémon species were identified.

Silently I wondered where the idea had come from, and cast a furtive glance at Ren; but he seemed not to have noticed and was merely looking at the devices. He shrugged and picked up the red one. The woman took it back, did something to do it—what, exactly, I was unsure, as I couldn’t see it—and handed it back. “All set, then,” she said, smiling.

Ren nodded; I made to jump down, but suddenly Ren gasped and I felt a familiar impact-into suction feeling.

A PokéBall? No!

It didn’t have a hold of me yet, and I struggled mentally and pseudophysically inside the Ball’s suspension field, to the point where it spat me back out. "No!" I yelled, leaping onto Ren’s shoulder, shuddering. "No!"

The woman looked astonished, and Ren turned his head slightly to look into my eyes. “You… don’t like—?” he began.

Vehemently I shook my head before he’d even finished the question, and contemptuously shocked the Ball off of the counter where it had fallen after releasing me. "No!" The fact that they couldn’t understand me was endlessly frustrating: I had to make them understand that, under no circumstances, would I ever enter a Ball again.

“There a problem?” a voice came from behind me. Ren spun around, and I barely managed to maintain my balance.

It was another Trainer, with monochrome hair, white above the headband, black below it. The headband itself was green. He had black eyes, and a deep blue-black and orange outfit. At his belt I saw six PokéBalls, and shuddered again.

Ren seemed uncertain. “Uh… you could say that, I suppose.”

The other Trainer raised his eyes to mine; and while the effect wasn’t the same as when Ren had done so, I couldn’t help but feel just slightly calmer. “New Trainer?”

“Just officially became one, yes,” Ren answered sheepishly.

The other stared at me for a moment. “You don’t like PokéBalls, huh?”

I made a negative sound and shook my head.

He nodded. “That’s what I thought. Sorry if it’s none of my business.” He pulled out a Ball, of a slightly different design from the one that had almost claimed me. “But I’ve got a Sinnohan Pokémon for you to try your Pokédex out on, if you’re interested.”

Ren chuckled. “Sure. Which Pokémon?”

The other grinned and tossed the ball lightly. “Pachirisu, let’s go!”

The Pokémon that emerged was markedly similar to me, I noticed immediately, except that it was obviously far more hyper. It was similar to a squirrel, white with blue lines along its tail and body, and its cheek pouches were yellow.

"Whohoo!"

Nervously I dropped to the floor. The Pachirisu walked over to me. It had a smile on its face that looked as though it never went away, and it politely stuck out its right forepaw. “Hi there! I’m Pachirisu!”

"I can tell," I admitted, sticking my own forepaw out. We exchanged light shocks. "I’m Diego."

Its smile seemed to lessen for a moment. "So you don’t like Balls, huh? They aren’t that bad, you know."

I shrugged. "Perhaps not to you. You don’t have reason not to like them." I noticed it staring at me curiously. "I…can’t really remember the real reason I don’t like them. But… Well, just last night, Ren found me in the forest. And I’d been in there for awhile, I guess… Waiting for someone who I guess was important to me. He never showed up… And then I got sick, and somehow… Somehow I associated the feeling of being sick with the feeling you get inside of a PokéBall, so… I don’t like them…"

Pachirisu nodded slowly. "I suppose I can understand that. And besides, there’s nothing wrong with not being in a Ball, either. Most of the time, Brandon keeps his Mightyena, Ys’Rayl, out of his Ball, except when we, like, go into town."

I nodded. "It, uh, it was nice to meet you, Pachirisu."

Its smile was back in place. "It was nice meeting you too, Diego! Maybe we’ll see each other again!"

While the two Pokémon were busy having their conversation, the other Trainer introduced himself. “I’m Brandon. I’m actually from Johto, but I became a Trainer in Hoenn. Then, obviously,” he said, gesturing towards the extremely animated Pachirisu, “I went to Sinnoh.”

“So what’re you doing back in Johto?” Ren asked curiously.

“Stuff,” Brandon said evasively. “I don’t have badges from Kanto yet, but I figure twenty-four badges, two top-eight League places, and one Hoenn League Champion are enough for awhile.”

“You’re not a rookie, then,” Ren observed weakly.

“Far from it.” Brandon grinned. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t be friendly to Trainers that are.”

“I suppose,” Ren agreed.

Pachirisu walked back over to Brandon at this point. “Did you have fun?” the Trainer asked.

“Pachi! Pachirisu!”

“Cool!” Brandon returned it to its ball and chuckled. “He’s always so full of energy. He cheers almost anyone up. Even your Pikachu,” he noted.

Ren looked back down, and saw Diego standing by his leg. He did indeed look more cheerful. Ren knelt down. “Hey, bud. There’s absolutely no reason you need to ever go into a Ball, alright? I promise, I’ll never let that happen to you.”

Diego nodded, then jumped up onto his shoulder. He stood up.

Brandon was gone.

Ren shrugged. Can’t say I’m surprised. He chuckled. If he’s as popular as his titles say he should be, it’s probably become a reflex to not stay in any one place too long.

Taking a deep breath, he walked out of the Pokémon Center, now an official Trainer, and anxious to get on his way.

7. Gaping Fang

The first day couldn’t have been called exciting, if you look at it in terms of action. Ren’s first objective was to head back north to Violet City, for the first ‘official’ Gym Badge.

“There’s a Gym in Azalea,” he admitted. “But generally that’s the second one people get.”

I cocked my head. Generally? That’s not always.

“I know, I could probably get Azalea’s Badge if I wanted to. But this is a strategic advantage, too.”

How so?

It wasn’t so much that we were communicating; I was simply following the train of thought to what he would likely say next, and generally I was right.

“Well, Violet’s Gym is predominantly flying type, which gives you, as an electric type, and advantage. Azalea’s Gym is predominantly grass and bug type, which puts you at a technical disadvantage.”

For just becoming a Trainer, you seem to have done a great deal of research, I noted.

“Yah, I know a lot. Most of this I picked up just a few weeks ago, when I was impatient to actually be a Trainer.”

I nodded. Ren lapsed into silence, and we continued walking.

We were skirting the edge of the forest—Ilex, as Ren called it—and I stayed to Ren’s right side as the forest loomed on his left. The right side was hardly more inviting, as it was mostly a rock wall, but I’d take my chances.

As night fell, though, Ren began to edge closer towards Ilex. I poked him nervously. Uh, Ren, what exactly are you doing?

“Oh.” He slowed down. “I’m sorry, bud. It’s just that I’m used to the forest. To be honest, I’d feel safer sleeping in there than I would out here.”

But… Well… I tried in vain to come up with some sort of argument against it—for all the good such an argument would do—but eventually, grudgingly, I nodded acceptance, and Ren continued.

With a suddenness that boded ill, I snapped awake. I blinked once or twice, then sat up, glancing around in the darkness.

I thought I heard…

There was a slight rustle off to the side, of leaves in motion, but there was no breeze. Immediately I dropped to all fours, probing outward with all of my senses.

I needn’t have bothered. The leaves rustled again, this time directly in front of me, and then parted to reveal a Pokémon’s face.

It was difficult to tell color in such low light, but I supposed that it was mostly a dark brown, or perhaps red, with surprisingly shiny black eyes and large, dark ears. After a moment my attention snapped back to the eyes.

In the darkness, they seemed to be tainted slightly red, and I realized the Pokémon was shaking. Not in fear, not in cold, but in barely controlled anger. Shattering the silence so suddenly that I flinched, it let out an extremely loud and vulgar cry, which I will not bother translating.

“Eevee!”

My mouth parted slightly at the choice of words, and behind me I heard Ren jerk awake. “Wh-what? Diego?”

Before I could so much as move the Eevee shot out of its bush and straight towards Ren.

No! Hoping that Ren would have the sense to cover his eyes, and wishing there was a less violent alternative, I discharged some electricity into the Eevee, just as its feet left the ground in attempt to jump at Ren’s face.

It let out another cry, this time in quite obvious and understandable pain, and dropped like a rock just a foot or so away from Ren.

He let out a shaky breath and looked down at the Eevee, which was twitching unceremoniously on the ground. I dashed over to it and pinned it down with my front paws. “What in thunderclouds do you think you’re doing!?”

"Y-you! Why do you defend him!?" it shot back at me.

"Why? Because he’s my Trainer!"

"Trainer or not, he’s human!"

That caught me unprepared. "What d’you mean? Of course he’s human."

"Humans! Pathetic, powerless brutes who think they can own us!"

It began to struggle under me. I set more of my relatively insignificant weight on it and cast a glance up at Ren. Stay out of this. "I think I’ve missed your point."

"My POINT!? My family is dead at the hands of a human!"

That stopped me cold "What?"

"He came for one of us, we knew, and one by one he tried to capture us. One by one we defied him, and in his anger he slaughtered them all but me!"

"He… slaughtered them?"

The Eevee let out a horrible groan and began to relax. Warily I lessened my weight on him, but he seemed to have forgotten his anger with Ren. "All of them, except me, because I, like a coward, ran away." And suddenly I could see tears in its eyes. "They died for a coward." It blinked ferociously a few times, but was otherwise still. "I promised myself that I’d be a coward no longer. I’d avenge them." It sighed. "I have yet to do so." The red glow in its eyes was gone. "I must admit, I think that shock was just a bit much…"

"I didn’t have a lot of time to regulate it," I admitted. "And at that point I wasn’t really worried about you so much as protecting Ren. No offense."

It stared at me, simply breathing hard as its no-doubt erratic pulse returned to normal. "Um, none taken, I suppose."

"Now, uh, on the subject of humans," I began hesitantly, but it gave no reaction of any kind. "I don’ t think there’re all that many that would go ahead and kill an entire family of Eevee just to catch one. In all honesty, I expect people like that to be few and far between. You want an example of someone who wouldn’t do that," and I pointed at Ren.

The Eevee stood up slowly. It was still breathing heavily, and I slowly reached out a paw to check its pulse. Rhythmic, but still fast. “Maybe I did overdo that a bit. I’m terribly sorry.”

It—he—shook his head. "If we’re talking of overdoing, it is I who must apologize. I should never have based the whole human species upon the acts of a single, perhaps misguided, individual." He paused. "If it’s alright, I should like to come with you and see more examples of…um…better humans."

"It’s not a question you ask me." I gestured to Ren. "Ask him."

Ren, of course, missed the whole conversation, but got most of it by assumption. Quietly, while the two were talking, he brought out his ‘dex.

“Eevee,” it said quietly. “The evolution Pokémon. An Eevee’s genes are scrambled and set into no particular pattern, allowing it to have many evolutions. At latest count, there were seven: Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon, induced by elemental stones; Umbreon and Espeon, induced by attraction to Trainer and nocturnal or solar ambience, respectively; and Glaceon and Leafeon, induced by exposure to certain environments. Said environments currently exist only in the Sinnoh region.”

All right. So apparently this Eevee has some sort of grudge against humans. What I’d give to understand their conversation!

After a few minutes, Diego pointed to Ren and said something that sounded as though it were a conclusion. The Eevee turned towards him and nudged him gently, as though apologizing.

Gently he placed a hand on its head and stroked it. “It’s alright, little guy. As long as something like that doesn’t become a regular occurrence,” he added under his breath.

The Eevee seemed to smile, and then nudged him again. Suddenly it clicked.

“Wait, are you saying you want to come with us?” The Eevee nodded. “Well, that’s hardly the way it’s supposed to go. Aren’t we at least supposed to have a battle first?”

“Eevee, Eevee,” it said thoughtfully.

Unbidden, a thought entered his mind. “You will, but no matter who wins you’re coming with?”

The Eevee nodded, apparently surprised. Ren cast a glance at Diego. The Pikachu was staring him in the eye, a strange look on his face that as near as Ren could tell was a mix of confusion and wonder.

“All right, then,” he said absently, then tore his eyes from Diego’s and blinked. “Let’s battle!”

All in all, I supposed, it was probably a strange circumstance for a Trainer and his Pokémon to have a first battle in the dark, let alone at the apparent time.

Catch as catch can, I thought, and grinned at the aptness of the phrase in the current circumstances.

"Just don’t shock me like you did before, or it won’t be a contest!" the Eevee said, the hint of a smile on his face.

"I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try," I grinned back.

The Eevee shot forward as fast as he had when he’d tried to attack Ren. “Diego, get out of there!” Ren called.

I did my best, and managed to feel only a slight breeze as the Eevee shot past. Ren was silent, and I realized suddenly that he was uncertain. Having never battled with me before, and uncertain of what I could do, he did not know what commands to issue.

Right. So I take this one into my own paws, I decided. At least until Ren gets his rear ones under him.

The Eevee spun on his front paws, somehow with a look of detachment as he stared me in the eye, and then he was shooting towards me again. He neared quickly, but I was already in the air, having shot up on impulse. He leapt up towards me, fangs bared, but I stiffened my tail, flipped, and brought it down squarely along his back. For the second time that night he dropped like a stone to the ground, except that this time I fell with him.

He was up almost immediately, as was I, and he launched himself at me again, tiny mouth wide open in an attempt to bite me, but I simply shocked him—using much less power than I had last time, but still enough to hurt him. He shook it off, stumbled, and fell to the ground.

"Mmmph," he murmured softly. "I think you win."

Ren stood back and watched the battle. Fortunately he still had his ‘dex in his hand, and he raised it as Diego and the Eevee went at each other ferociously.

“Iron Tail,” it intoned, then “Bite,” and “Thundershock.”

That works, he chuckled. Now I know. He whistled softly. I must look like an idiot, not being able to tell my own Pikachu what to do. Good thing no one’s watching.

The Eevee collapsed upon the ground suddenly and muttered something. Ren grabbed one of the Balls he had been given—the same one, he noticed, that Nurse Joy had tried to put Diego in—and tossed it hurriedly at the Eevee.

The Ball shook, but not nearly with the same intensity as when Diego had been inside it. After a moment it clicked and became still. Diego stared at the Ball nervously, then turned to Ren and gave him an encouraging smile. “Pikachu, Pi Pika!”

Ren realized that he’d been holding his breath; slowly he let it out, then walked over and picked up the still Ball. “Well,” he said after a moment. “I’d say that’s pretty productive for a first day, huh?” He tossed the Ball up experimentally, caught it, and then tossed it outward. “C’mon!”

He was still exhausted, and he stumbled slightly as it materialized; then he shook his head and turned towards him. “Eevee Eev?”

“Well,” Ren said. “That worked. Now…” He sat down; Diego walked over to him and after a moment the Eevee followed. “We need to give you a name.”

"A name?" the Eevee asked curiously.

"Like, I’m Diego," I offered. "He tries to come up with nicknames, I think, so that if we ever run into another Pokémon just like us, he doesn’t get confused."

"I… see," he said slowly, then looked up at Ren curiously.

Ren mouthed some words silently, apparently considering. Occasionally he’d shake his head slightly, or close his eyes in thought. Suddenly he seemed to come to a decision. “You seem to like to bite things,” he began. The Eevee nodded slowly and I chuckled nervously under my breath. “So how about… Fang?”

"Fang?" the Eevee responded, sounding slightly surprised. He scoffed. "Far too barbaric… But at the same time, it’s got a nice ring to it…" He cocked his head, considering. "Yes. After due consideration, I have come to a conclusion." The serious air dropped suddenly. "I like it!"

The suddenness with which his mood changed was somehow hilarious to me. Before I really knew what I was doing, I’d collapsed backwards onto the ground from laughing too hard.

Ren obviously took this as a positive sign. “I take it you like the name, then?”

I was still laughing extremely hard, twitching on the ground.

"Come off it, Diego," Fang muttered. "I’m not that funny."

With difficulty I pulled myself together. “That…” I paused, still short of breath. "That’s…a matter… of opinion…"

Grudgingly, it seemed, he grinned. "…Point."

Ren yawned suddenly. “Um, sorry, guys. But it’s almost one in the morning. I need to get some sleep…”

I nodded, realizing suddenly that I did as well.

“Fang. You want to sleep in or out of your PokéBall tonight?”

Fang glanced toward the Ball. "In."

Ren nodded, getting it more from the glance than from the sound. “Come back, then.” Red light lanced out from the node on the Ball. It covered Fang, then became semitransparent, and after a moment it receded back into the Ball.

I stared at it for a moment, thinking.

…"They’re not that bad, you know…"

I shook my head and walked over to Ren, who himself was walking back over to his sleeping bag. “G’night, Diego.” He glanced at the Ball. “’Night, Fang.”

"Good night, Ren." The meaning would have gotten across, even if the words didn’t.

And without another thought, I lay down next to Ren and fell asleep.

8. Surprises in Violet

The next day we managed to get to Violet City sans further run-ins with vengeful Pokémon. It couldn’t really be called a large city, more like a big town; in many ways it reminded me of Ren’s hometown, except that there was what could actually be called a ‘downtown.’

This occurred to me as we entered it; there was no immediate physical change, but rather a change in atmosphere. The people around us were tenser, seemingly in more of a hurry; some short of breath; some with focused expressions. All of them were undeniably local residents of this ‘downtown,’ and Ren, it seemed to me, was moving at an exponentially slow pace compared to these others.

We did not go straight to the Gym, as I would have thought, but rather made a stop in a building similar to that where I had first awoken from the fever. Ren, muttering something about needing a break, sat down on one of the undeniably comfy chairs on the sides of the large room; I transferred myself from his shoulder to an adjacent empty chair, and he sighed.

"Not tired, are you?" I asked rhetorically.

"I’m fine, Diego,” he responded. “I need to relax, though. I don’t want to go up against a Gym Leader tense.”

I cocked my head. "Wouldn’t you get that way anyway?"

He did not respond; apparently I had taken a different perspective on that thought.

Fang popped unannounced from his Ball, making me jump and Ren start; he landed on the floor and slipped, and this changed the situation from startling to funny, and both Ren and I began to snicker.

"H-hey!" he complained, getting back to his paws. "That wasn’t funny!"

"I think your sense of humor’s kind of messed up, Fang," I said, giggling slightly. "It seemed perfectly funny to me."

"Yeah, well, you try jumping onto this floor. It’s more slippery than it looks!"

"Not in a temper, are you, Fang?" I sobered. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to aggravate you."

He made a motion best translated as a shrug and jumped up onto the seat next to me. "Don’t worry, Diego. I wasn’t in a temper. You saw me in a temper last night." He broke off. "Anyway, are we going somewhere or not?"

"We are, but Ren’s got to catch his breath first. He’s going to the Gym…" I explained what Ren had told me the previous morning.

"Diego!" Both Fang and I started and turned towards the sound—syllables I remembered very well.

Pachirisu came bounding toward me, a huge grin on its face. Fang glanced at it, a confused expression on his face. I jumped down as Pachirisu slowed, smiling back at it. "Hi, Pachirisu. What’re you doing here?"

"Well, I came with Brandon, of course," it scolded good-naturedly. "And he’s here ‘cause he wants to visit Falkner."

"Falkner? Who’s that?"

"Well!" it said, surprised. "You’re here to fight him, aren’t’cha?"

I blinked. "Wait, you mean Falkner’s the Gym Leader Ren wants to battle?"

"Yup. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t know."

"I’m not exactly worldly-wise, Pachirisu…" I said. "But anyway…"

Ren opened his eyes again as Pachirisu’s shrill cry echoed through the Pokémon Center. He looked up to see the squirrel-shaped Pokémon dashing towards Diego, and he smiled. Brandon was grinning, too, as he walked up, and chuckled as the two once again entered an animated—at least for Pachirisu—conversation.

“Ren. How’re you doing?”

Ren stood up. “Alright, I guess. You seemed to leave in kind of a hurry back in Azalea.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, but I was sort of on a schedule.” Ren started to apologize, but Brandon cut him off. “Don’t worry, Ren. I’m not really on one right now. I only gave Falkner a general time.”

“Falkner, the Gym Leader?”

“Yeah. I’m here to talk to him, maybe have a battle with him…” he paused. “But seeing as you’re here, you’ve probably got that on your to-do list, huh?”

“I-I do,” Ren admitted meekly.

“Well, alright then. Want to make sure you’re ready, though?”

Ren stared, confused. “What d’you mean?”

“I’m offering to battle you, Ren, to see how well you’re likely to do against Falkner. Oh, don’t worry,” he added quickly as Ren gaped at him. “I’ll go easy. My Pokémon don’t hid hard if they can help it.”

Ren relaxed. “Alright, if you say so…” He looked over his shoulder at Fang, whose eyes were still on Pachirisu. “Two on two, then?”

“Hm? Oh, is that Eevee yours?”

“Yeah. His name’s Fang. I caught him last night.”

“Good job, Ren! I hear Eevee are rare in Ilex Forest.”

“Th-thanks…” he muttered. “But it was more a case of it attacking me…” and he explained what had happened the night before. When he finished, Brandon was staring at him, an interested expression on his face.

“That’s actually very interesting, Ren.” He paused for a moment, apparently thinking. “An Eevee with a vendetta against humans? That’s kind of a dramatic reversal, isn’t it?” He shrugged. “I’m more interested, though, in what you said Diego looked like.”

“Huh? You mean when I said… Fang said he’d come with us, whether he won or lost.”

“Yes, and that’s my point.” Brandon sat down on a chair next to Ren’s, and nervously he sat down too. “Think about it, Ren. Pokémon don’t speak English, though they can understand it. You’re sure that’s what the Eevee said?”

“Positive.”

Brandon “hmm’d.” “Has this happened before?”

“What d’you mean?”

“Have you or either of your Pokémon been in circumstances where that happened? That is, where unsaid thoughts were the same, or perhaps if Diego or Fang were thinking something and you happened to say it out loud?”

“I…don’t know.”

“Can I ask?”

Ren shrugged. “I…suppose. Diego,” he called, and the Pikachu turned towards him. “Come here for a minute, bud.” The Pikachu obediently came over and jumped into his lap. “Pika Pikachu?”

“Diego,” Brandon greeted him, and his head turned toward the Trainer. “My name’s Brandon.”

“Pika Pikachu Pi?”

Brandon glanced at Ren, who shrugged.

“If you’re asking, yes, I’m Pachirisu’s Trainer.” Diego nodded. “Uh, I’ve got a question I want to ask you.”

“Pi?”

“Think carefully, please. Has there ever been a time where you were thinking something and Ren said it out loud?”

“Pikachu!” Diego responded immediately, nodding quickly.

“I…see. More than one?”

“Pika!” Diego affirmed, nodding, and held up two digits.

“Twice…” Brandon mused. “Thanks, Diego.”

“…Pika Pikachu.” Diego nodded and went back over to Pachirisu.

And again, from nowhere, words that weren’t his entered Ren’s mind.

“He said… ‘Sure, if you say so.’”

Brandon nodded. “…Incredible. Just incredible. You’ve only known him for two days, correct?”

“Three. If you want to be specific, two and a half.”

Brandon chewed on his tongue for awhile. Ren said nothing, unsure what the other was getting at.

Finally the other Trainer looked up. “Alright, then. This is just incredible, though.”

“What’s so incredible, Brandon? I’ve always been good at reading Pokémon. Maybe his stance told me that.”

“No, Ren, it didn’t.” The other took a deep breath. “I’m not sure how it could have formed so quickly, but… You and Diego are linked.”

“Linked?”

“Yes. Mentally. It manifests as occasional telepathy. It happened to me, too, with my Torchic Koshiro and my Poochyena Ys’Rayl.”

“Telepathy? …Good joke, Brandon, but neither Diego and I are psychic.”

“You don’t have to be. Look at me. Besides, many self-professed psychics never achieve such a state.” He chewed on his tongue again. “The more in sync you are, the stronger it gets. At its weakest it translates thoughts randomly, like a few minutes ago. But say you’re in battle, against a tough opponent like Falkner. Provided you know what Diego can do, how he fights, you two can become more in-sync to the point where you don’t have to tell Diego what to do—you think it, and he does it.”

He took a deep breath. “I can show you.” He reached down and pulled a PokéBall from his belt. “If you feel like having that warm-up battle…”

Ren nodded. “Alright. I’m intrigued, I guess, and I can’t outright deny it. Let’s go. Diego, Fang! Come on.”

“Pachirisu, let’s go.”

Brandon went to the counter. “Pardon me, Nurse Joy…” She looked up. “Is there a battlefield currently not in use?”

“Um, yes,” she responded. “None of them are occupied, at the moment. Out back, of course.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

He left the Center. Ren sighed, and with Diego and Fang following him, went after Brandon.

Admittedly, I had no idea why Brandon had asked me those questions; I figured it was important in some way, however, and it confirmed my belief that the occurrences Brandon had asked me about were more than flukes.

We were, apparently, not yet going to the Gym, but rather around the outside of the building, to a flat space covered by white lines that, to my annoyance, converged into the shape of a PokéBall. I pushed the thought from my mind as Ren stopped on one side of the area, Brandon on the other.

“Start with Fang, please,” he called, and Ren nodded, shrugging. Fang moved forward into the interior of the lines and paused.

“I’m assuming, then,” Ren added, “that we’re both going to use, um…”

“Unlinked Pokémon, yes,” Brandon finished. I saw him look down at Fang. “I noticed you staring at my Pachirisu. Don’t like him, do you?”

Fang growled. "Too noisy."

“That’s what I thought,” Brandon responded. “Then let’s do this. Pachirisu!” The squirrel-shaped Pokémon poked his head through Brandon’s legs. "Yeah?"

“You’re up.”

"Alrighty!" He bounded around Brandon and faced Fang in the center of the battlefield. "Hi there! I’m Pachirisu!"

Fang growled. "I noticed."

"That’s my line, Fang!" I called out to him.

He ignored me. "Alright, sparky, let’s settle this."

"Not very friendly, are you?" Pachirisu asked curiously.

"Not to Pokémon who never shut up, I’m not!"

"Fang!" I called desperately. "Settle down. Do your best, but don’t go overboard!"

Fang’s already quite bushy tail puffed out further. "I know that, thank you very much." I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was trying very hard to control his temper.

“Calm down, Fang,” Ren said finally. “Relax.”

The Eevee sighed. "…As you wish."

“Pachirisu,” Brandon muttered on the other side of the arena. “Don’t hit him too hard.”

"Okay!"

“But do hit him. Discharge,” he added lazily, and the match began.

I would have called it a tie, with Fang attacking with all he had and Pachirisu holding a large portion of itself back. Both hit each other about the same amount of times—but Fang collapsed first, muttering something about shame and dishonor, so Pachirisu won the match.

“Come on back, Fang,” Ren called, his voice still tense. He held out Fang’s Ball and the red beam shot out, encompassing Fang and absorbing him. “Take a break. And don’t feel bad, you gave it everything you had.”

He put the Ball away. “Well, I guess you’re up, Diego.”

I stepped forward and dropped to all fours, somehow excited to be battling even though it wasn’t someone I’d planned on fighting.

“Nice battle, Ren. Pachirisu, good job. Come on back.” Pachirisu was absorbed back into his Ball, and Brandon pulled out another. “Now we see just how strong you can make your link.” He tossed the Ball. “Ys’Rayl! You’re up!”

As Pachirisu had told me, Ys’Rayl was a Mightyena, and a large one at that. He took a look at me and made what could have been called a grin, looking back at his Trainer. Brandon’s face could have been cut from dead stone: impassive, cool—and behind that a ruthlessness that told me there was no chance he’d hold back this time.

I gulped, suddenly very nervous. Ys’Rayl turned his head back towards me, and attempted a friendly smile—though it only vaguely appeared as such on his face.

"Don’t worry, little guy. This’ll be fun."

"You’re in far better a position to say that, sir," I replied, and the Mightyena chuckled.

Then, with absolutely no warning, with Brandon maintaining absolute silence, he attacked. Reflexively I leapt backwards, but did not attack; Ren had not yet told me anything.

“Iron Tail,” he called, and I moved as fast as I could. Somehow the huge Ys’Rayl was faster, and all I managed to strike was air. Ys’Rayl attacked again; I jumped again, straight up and over him, but before I’d landed he’d spun around and slashed at me.

The impact sent me forward about three feet, and I gasped as I landed and slid forward. I was on my feet again quickly. I turned to face Ys’Rayl, my back throbbing.

And then suddenly something changed. I knew with perfect clarity what to do, and now Ren was as utterly silent as Brandon as the Mightyena and I clashed in the center of the arena, both of us always just missing the other.

Then suddenly Ys’Rayl stumbled; behind me Ren gestured, and though I did not see it, I instantly did as I knew without a doubt he was telling me to do, and let out most of what was left of my power in a single, huge discharge.

Ys’Rayl howled, and both Ren and Brandon gasped; I did not hear them, consumed in the attack, and in the strange feeling of clarity I’d had since Ys’Rayl had successfully hit me.

Then in a rush it all stopped. I collapsed to the ground, half a watt from blacking out.

Around me, there was utter silence. Then, vaguely, I heard Brandon recall Ys’Rayl to his PokéBall, and the two humans talked for awhile. I lay, barely conscious, on the ground, breathing heavily, and wondering what in the world had just happened. After awhile I simply blacked out.

9. The Aftermath

When I woke, the first thing I realized was that my back was still throbbing slightly. It was an interesting coincidence, I noted, that the throbbing seemed to focus into a line between the right side of my upper back and the left side near my tail. With the stripes there, I fancied, it almost made a ‘z.’

The second thing I realized was that I was still facedown, though on the same sort of semi-comfortable bed I’d been on when I’d first awakened from the fever. I was back in the building, I guessed, and wondered how long I’d been out.

I was still tired, not wanting to move, but I was already too awake to fall back asleep again, and with an effort I sat up.

“Diego!” I turned around. Ren was sitting against the wall, and he had the look of someone who’d seen a ghost. He stood up suddenly and rushed over to the bed. “You’re alright, aren’t you?”

"…Yeah, I guess. What happened?"

“You shocked the stuffing out of Ys’Rayl, that’s what happened!” he exclaimed. “Did you have to shock him so badly? You had me worried sick!”

I lowered my eyes, hung my head, and drooped my ears. "… I’m sorry, Ren. I was… I was just…"

“Shh,” he interrupted me, and knelt down so he was on eye level with me. “You don’t need to explain it. I know. I guess I shouldn’t have told you shock him so forcefully.” He sighed. “You’ve been out for almost six hours. Nurse Joy said if you’d expended any more power you would have seriously injured yourself.”

I sighed. "Sorry…"

“It’s not your fault, bud.” Ren hugged me lightly and I winced. “Huh? Oh, does your back still hurt?”

"A little."

“I guess it’s my turn to say sorry.”

I shrugged. "You didn’t know. It isn’t your fault. What happened?"

“Ys’Rayl slashed you pretty hard. You were bleeding, though not seriously. Nurse Joy says you’ll do fine once the pain goes away, but she added that if anyone looked closely they’d see the barest hint of a diagonal line between your stripes. It’s not really a scar, but…”

I shrugged again. "Can, uh, can I make a request?"

He looked at me.

"Can we pass on Falkner for today?"

He grinned. “Are you kidding? Fight Falkner, after all of that?” He chuckled. “Nah. We both need our rest.”

I nodded blearily. "Yeah, thanks…" I yawned. Ren picked me up gently and after a moment I fell asleep in his arms.

Ren held Diego in his arms for a few minutes after the Pikachu's eyes had closed and his breathing told the Trainer he was asleep. He took a few deep breaths, stroked Diego a final time, and laid him back down on the table.

Hands in his pockets, he went back out to the waiting room. Brandon was in the middle of a call, he noted, apparently to Falkner. Ren sat down on one of the chairs, and Fang--who'd been staying out here with Brandon--came over and nudged him worriedly. "Eevee, Eev Eevee Eev?"

Ren nodded, noting that he couldn't hear Fang's voice in his head like he had Diego's. The little Eevee's meaning came across clearly enough, however. "I'm fine, Fang. Just a little tired."

"And no wonder!" Brandon said loudly as he walked back over to Ren. "You ought to get some sleep, man. Diego's fine, right?"

"Yes," said Ren quietly. "He's fine. He woke up, but he fell asleep again in a few minutes."

Brandon chewed on his tongue. "Ys'Rayl's still unconscious, but as far as they can tell there's no permanent damage. As you've probably figured out, the link has no effect if one or both of the people affected by it is unconscious."

Ren nodded. "I thought that might be the case. But I couldn't sleep without knowing if he was okay. I just..."

Brandon nodded. "I understand, Ren. No disrespect to Fang, but a Trainer's first Pokémon tends to have that effect."

"Eevee," Fang said in a gallant sort of way, and Ren detected understanding.

Ren pulled a blanket from the bottom of his bag. "I'm gonna go to sleep now, if that's alright with you..."

Brandon nodded. "You of all people deserve to, Ren."

Fang jumped up onto Ren's lap and curled into a small fluffy ball. "Eevee, Eev. Eevee Eevee."

"Something to the extent of 'I'll sit here and keep you company,' perhaps," Brandon suggested, and Fang nodded.

"I'll stay here, too," Brandon added. "See how many people recognize me. Bet you five bucks less than ten will." There was no reply. Brandon turned and saw that both the Eevee and the Trainer had already fallen asleep. He grinned and pulled out his PokéNav again.

10. Aerial Ace, Falkner!

I woke up again some time later, finally feeling something like myself again. The pain in my back was gone and my electrical level felt almost normal. I shook myself, snuffled a bit, and sat up.

Rather than Ren coming in a few minutes later, it was Brandon, with Fang following at his heels. 'Diego! You little patch of static carpet, how're you doing?'

I blinked. 'I'm fine, Fang. Um, "static carpet"?'

'It was the best I could come up with on short notice,' he admitted, and I giggled.

"Diego," Brandon said, and I looked up. "You're doing okay now, right?"

'I'm fine,' I responded rhetorically. 'Though I'm kinda sorry about Ys'Rayl.'

He probably knew from my voice what I was talking about. "Ys'Rayl? He's fine. They gave him back to me this morning."

'Where's Ren?'

"Ren? He's still sleeping. Fang was awake, though, so he came with me."

I nodded. 'So...Can I go now?"

Brandon nodded. "You can go, yes, provided you want to and are up to it."

'Want to? You're asking if I want to?' I put emphasis on the last two words. Fang cackled. 'Of course I want to.' I hopped down off of the bed and found that the floor was indeed as slippery as the Eevee insisted. I kept my balance, though, and as Fang cackled some more I looked up at Brandon. 'Let's go.'

Ren blinked his eyes open and found himself staring into another pair of eyes--large, brown eyes. He opened his mouth, thought better of it, and stared back at the eyes. They seemed to smile, and moved off to the side. Ren suddenly found himself on the recieving end of a Pikachu's attentions, the slightly rougher static pouch rubbing up against his cheek. He began to laugh, then reached up and pulled Diego away. "Hey, bud, ease up on the static."

Diego giggled. 'Sorry, Ren.'

Ren grinned and hugged him tightly. "Any time, Diego, any time!"

On the other side of the Center's waiting room, Brandon stood with his hands in his pockets, staring across at Ren. Ys'Rayl glanced up at him. 'Something bothering you?'

Brandon shrugged. "I'm curious, that's all. How long did I know you before the link between us developed?"

Ys'Rayl was silent for a moment. 'Two months, perhaps. Koshiro's told me before it took about a week and a half for his.'

Brandon nodded. "That's what I thought. Look at them, Ys'Rayl," he said, pointing with his eyes.

'Their link is strong.'

"Yes it is, Ys'Rayl. They've known each other for half of a week. Just half of a week, and the link between them is as strong as the one between you and I."

Ys'Rayl looked back up at him. 'Not jealous, are you?'

"Me, jealous? I'm one of the most succesful Trainers alive today, and I'm only sixteen. No, I'm not jealous. I'm intrigued."

Ys'Rayl shrugged. 'Intrigued. That could be construed as jealousy, especially considering the way you're standing and glowering right now.'

Brandon pulled his hands from his pockets and looked down at Ys'Rayl. "Glowering? Who's glowering?" He shrugged. "Let's go, Ys'Rayl." The Mightyena obediently followed him as he left the Center. "By the way, did I mention that I won a bet that Ren never agreed to...?"

This is it, then, I thought as I looked around. This is the Gym...

It didn't look very imposing. Quite the opposite: it looked almost relaxing. The building was, apparently, open-air, with large open windows and evenly-spaced, square holes in the cieling, which, I imagined, were most likely closed in the event of bad weather.

"Can I help you?"

Beside me, Ren jumped, and I spun toward the voice. A young adult human was standing behind Ren, with black-blue--almost purple--hair, covering his right eye. The one visible eye was black and piercing, and he stared down at Ren in an imposing sort of way.

"Uh, s-sorry," Ren stammered. "We're looking for Falkner."

"Talkin' to him," the other responded. "I take it your after your first badge, then, huh?"

"Um, yes, sir."

"Ditch the 'sir,' man. I'm not that old," the other chuckled. "Call me Falkner. What's your name, then?"

"Uh, I'm Ren. This's my Pikachu, Diego."

Falkner looked down. "Funny. Most people end up introducing me to their starter."

I looked back up at him, but the way he held himself made it impossible to tell anything about him--though I hazarded a guess that he scowled more than he smiled.

"I'm no different," Ren said, grinning.

Falkner's visible eye blinked. "He's your starter? Since when have they been offering electric types as starters?" He scowled, his face seeming to do so automatically, and I blinked innocently up at him.

"They haven't, sir. He was--"

"Family tradition?"

"No, sir, I--"

"How'd you get him, then?"

"Well, sir, I--"

"Ditch the sir."

Ren faltered, and Falkner grinned again. "Um, what I mean to say is that I found him the night before I was supposed to be a Trainer. I'm from Azalea, and I spent a lot of time in the forest near there, and..."

"You found him there," Falkner finished. "I won't inquire further. You're here to battle, anyway, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"S'what I thought. Shall we?"

Falkner walked around Ren to the other side of the Gym. I noticed on the floor the same marks that had been on the ground when I'd fought Ys'Rayl.

"He your only Pokémon, then?" Falkner called, gesturing at me.

"No," Ren responded. "I've got one more."

"Not to sound like a self-preservationist, but can you use the other one first?"

Ren muttured something about this becoming a habit and sent Fang out. "There you go."

Falkner grinned and snapped his fingers. Another person came, seemingly out of nowhere, and stood at the middle of the battlefield, outside it. He made a show of clearing his throat, then announced with the air of someone shamelessly seeking attention, "The battle between the challenger Ren from Azalea Town and Falkner, leader of the Violet City Gym shall now begin. Each side shall use two Pokémon, however, only the challenging party will be able to switch Pokémon."

Falkner grimaced at the man, but threw out his own PokéBall. "Pidgeotto, show 'em your grace!"

"Fang," Ren said quietly. The Eevee looked up at him. "Try to keep your cool this time. Do your best."

Fang looked out at the Pidgeotto on Falkner's side of the field. If he was fazed by the size he didn't show it. He looked back up at Ren. 'Alright,' he said simply, and walked out onto the field.

"Combatents ready?" the announcer called. Both Falkner and Ren said yes, and Fang and the Pidgeotto simply stared daggers at each other. "Then begin!"

To the Pidgeotto's credit, Fang had to admit, it was fairly strong. But whether it was holding back or not he couldn't tell.

Maybe he was just this good.

The little Eevee and the gigantic bird Pokémon were once again figuratively sending death from their eyes to the other; both of them were breathing heavily and both very obviously worn out.

'An impassé solves nothing, Ren,' he muttered. 'Standing and staring won't win the battle.'

Ren seemed to have come to the same conclusion, as Fang could hear him murmuring, considering. Fang looked past the Pidgeotto to Falkner, and the other's face was still expresionless.

Ren seemed to come to a desicion. "Scratch!"

"Dodge, Pidgeotto!" Falkner responded as if on reflex as Fang scurried forward, growling. "Wing Attack!"

"Move, Fang!" The Eevee jumped hurriedly to the side, and the large bird's wings only stirred up air. Before it had fully recovered its balance, Ren called out "Tackle!" Fang threw himself at Pidgeotto, knocked it off balance, and tumbled past it, coming to a stop back on his side of the field, too dizzy to move. The same thing had happened to the Pidgeotto, however; as it tried to stand, it fell over to one side and stayed there. For five seconds there was silence. Then: "Both sides are unable to battle! The battle is declared a draw!"

Fang cracked open an eye and saw Falkner staring at Pidgeotto, then at him, apparently aghast.

"Come on back, Fang," he heard, and the world seemed to shimmer and fade to gray. "You did great, Fang," he heard dimly. "Take a break. You deserve it." The little Eevee nodded slowly and closed his eyes.

"Alright, so there's more to you than meets the eye," Falkner said, his voice strained. "Nothing that small has ever taken down my Pidgeotto."

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment," Ren responded. Falkner said nothing, but as I looked at him it seemed as though he was attempting to hide a smile.

The Leader's visible eye blinked. "Second one, then," he said, sounding resigned. "If you can beat me without a type advantage, I shudder to think what your electric type can do." He smirked. "If I were anyone else, I'd probably go ahead and give you the badge now."

"Against regulations, sir," the referee barked.

"Recheck your list, Smitty, 'cause I never saw anything to that effect." Falkner sounded bored. "It's a moot point, anyway, 'cause I'm not anyone else." The referee reddened slightly but looked over at Ren.

"Diego," he said, and I took my place in the arena.

Falkner's visible eye stared at me, and I saw the same intensity I'd seen on Brandon's face the day before. He scowled, reached down to his belt, and threw another Ball into the air. "Noctowl!"

The word to best describe it was suffocating. It stared at me with its large eyes, and I suddenly felt the world around me fall away...

"Diego!" Ren's voice came from a long way off. "Don't look into its eyes!" I snapped back to reality and tore my eyes away from the Noctowl's hypnotic gaze, focusing instead on its breast. It screeched in annoyance.

"Combatents ready?" the referee called again. Behind me I heard Ren murmer assent, and I focused intently away from my opponent's eyes and nodded. "Begin!"

"Wing Attack!" Falkner cried, and the Noctowl spread its huge wings and dived for me.

"Move!" I threw myself to the side and rolled, just avoiding the huge wingspan. The Noctowl screeched again, turning in midair and coming for me again. I froze.

"Iron Tail, now!"

I gathered myself, leapt, and flipped--and hit nothing. The Noctowl had backwinged and stopped just out of range, and as I landed ungracefully flat on my stomach, my eyes reflexively sought Ren's--and instead found Noctowl's.

"Hypnosis," came Falkner's voice from behind me.

And suddenly I was floating again, lost in dreams and fantasies--and then I recognized the feeling, and white hot anger burned its way past the dreams.

Suddenly I felt again the feeling I'd felt when I'd fought Ys'Rayl, and it was as though Ren was sitting just behind me and murmuring quietly. I heard every word perfectly.

"...Wake up..."

My eyes snapped open, and in my anger I lost control of my electricity. As I leapt back to my feet, growling and sparking, I spun around and looked the Noctowl full in the eyes. Impressively, being covered by feathers, it blanched.

"Calm, Diego. Calm." The words were murmured quietly in the back of my head, seeming to carry a cool peace with them.

My eyes did not leave the Noctowl's, but it continued to stare at me as though in fear, paralyzed.

Then, very calmly, I enunciated, 'You strike fear into the hearts of others. Now you know how it feels,' and behind me I 'felt' Ren nod.

"Thundershock."

The Noctowl didn't even try to move, despite desperate cries from Falkner, and as the electricity faded from the air it collapsed silently to the ground.

For a full ten seconds or more Falkner stared at me, then at his Pokémon, then at the referee. After about thirty seconds, the ref cleared his throat nervously and said in a much quieter voice than he'd used previously, "Um... Noctowl is unable to battle. Diego wins the match, and, um, victory goes to Ren from Azalea."

"Yes!" Ren laughed. "We did it!"

I ran back to him, the 'omniscient' feeling vanishing as he picked me up, still laughing. Behind us there was the sound of a person clapping. Ren turned.

Brandon was leaning against the wall next to the door, applauding enthusiastically, and beside him Ys'Rayl stood looking dignified. The Trainer chuckled, stepping forward. "You know, as short as that was, it was one of the most exciting battles I've seen in a long time."

Falkner walked around the arena towards us, still shaking his head in a bemused sort of way. "You didn't tell me to expect anything like this, Brandon..."

"Should I have?" Brandon chuckled. "A little surprise is good for you, you know."

"He flattened my Noctowl," the other said in a sort of whining, pleading voice. "I thought I'd seen something when that tiny little Eevee took down my Pidgeotto in a draw, but no one, not even other electric types, has ever taken down my Noctowl in less than three minutes--especially after using Hypnosis!"

Brandon was still grinning. "Rules're rules, Falkner. He did beat you."

Falkner grumbled. "I can't deny that." He looked at Ren, and I clambered around to my Trainer's shoulder as he turned towards the Leader. Falkner took a deep breath and said with a manner that told me he'd said the same thing many times before, "In commemeration of this event, and in recognition of your skill as a Pokémon Trainer, I hereby present to you the official Johtoen Pokémon League Zephyrbadge." And, despite his defeat and the fact that his hair was starting to droop low in a depressed sort of way, he managed to look relatively cool as he flipped the badge up into the air--and it came down straight into my paws.

'Oh,' I said, slightly confused. I stared at it a moment and then handed the badge to Ren.

Then everyone was laughing, even Falkner and the stoic Ys'Rayl, and the Leader was still catching his breath as he said goodbye to Ren and I and we left the Gym.

11. Heading Back Home

We made another stop at the Pokémon Center, where Ren handed both Fang and I over for a general checkup, and about half an hour later I, feeling much refreshed, was on Ren's shoulder once again as we left Violet City, heading back the way we'd come the previous morning. The sun was beginning to set, and I didn't see us making Azalea before sundown. Ren agreed, and with slightly less protest from me, retired to the forest again as the sun fell below the horizon.

It got fairly dark very quickly. Ren built a secure fire, which Fang sat in front of and enjoyed very much, while Ren leaned back against a relatively smoothe tree trunk and gave the Zephyrbadge a closer look, and I sat just outside the ring of firelight and tried to make sense of everything that had happened.

Primarily, I was curious about the feeling I'd gotten twice now, both times in battle. And how for some space of time after that--though I'd noticed between the Pokémon Center and the Gym that it was not permanent--Ren and I seemed to be able to communicate on the same level.

I considered that. I knew for a fact that my physical vocabulary did, and had since I'd grown out of infancy, still include only three syllables. I was not speaking Ren's language. Moreover, Ren had been speaking quietly during the battle, with me in a state that I certainly would not have heard him in--yet I'd heard him perfectly clearly.

What did Brandon mean when he said 'unlinked Pokémon'? And 'how strong you can make your link'?

I glanced at Ren, but he seemed to absorbed in his own thoughts.

Does this have anything to do with those times Ren said what I was thinking?

I brought my forepaws together and turned my head at an angle. And how did I end up here anyway? Why can't I remember anything?

I sighed, suddenly depressed, and Fang looked at me. 'Diego? Something bothering you?'

'I...' I stopped, uncertain. '...I suppose you could say that.'

'Come closer, man. Aren't you cold?'

I moved over next to Fang and laid down on my stomach. 'Not really.'

'Something's bothering you, Diego. I can tell.'

'I just...' I sighed. 'Don't remember. The first thing I remember is waking up in Azalea Town and meeting Ren. Nothing before then, except maybe one or two memories from my early infancy. Everything else is just one big gray spot.'

'Maybe you just forgot.'

'Fang, I know for certain that it's nearly impossible to spontaneously forget something. Something happened. I was waiting for someone, and...' I paused, trying to force myself to remember, and succeeded in giving myself a headache. '...I just don't remember.'

Fang nuzzled me. 'How old are you?'

I sighed. 'Since I don't know how much of my life I can't remember, I don't know for sure, but I'd say maybe just over a year.'

'There's no way that much of your life can be gone forever, Diego. You'll remember eventually.'

I looked at him, the idea that had been dominating my thoughts since I'd begun thinking passing my muzzle. 'Yes, but what if I realize that I don't want to remember?'

We got back to Azalea the following morning, the sky overcast and murky, and I was still depressed, lost in thought. Ren had noticed almost immediately, as I'd eaten very little earlier, but despite his questions I said nothing, hanging onto his shoulder in a kind of morose way, and every now and then he'd glance at me, but I'd look away.

As we passed officially into Azalea he pulled me off of his shoulder and held me at arm's length in front of him, staring intently at me. I kept my head down.

"Diego," he murmurred quietly. I didn't move. "Diego. Look at me." I blinked, but my eyes remained downcast. "Please," he added, and I glanced up at him. "What's wrong, bud? Really, you've got to tell me."

'I don't want to talk about it.'

"That's very apparent, but I don't care, Diego." He very carefully moved his hand and stroked my left static pouch. "If there's something bothering you, tell me."

'...No...'

"Please," he said again. "I don't like seeing you like this, Diego. Especially not after we've won a badge."

'...I...'

I shook my head. 'I...'

Ren slowed to a stop and sat down on a bench. "Diego. Please. You don't have to be afraid to tell me anything."

'...I...' I scrunched my face up, leaning forward into his stomach. '...I know,' I finished, my voice muffled by his jacket.

He stroked me gently, and I felt a kind of inoppressive, slow, quiet peace. After a moment I pulled my muzzle away from his jacket, turning my head. 'I'm sorry, Ren... I didn't mean to make you worry... I'm just really confused right now.'

"Confused?" he asked gently.

'I just don't remember anything, Ren...' I blinked a few times. 'I know there's a whole bunch to remember, but there's nothing there. I've lived a whole year, Ren, and I don't remember any of it!' Unable to help myself, I buried my face in his jacket again. He held me and rocked slowly, saying nothing. And oddly I was grateful that he didn't.

'...I just...' I said eventually. 'I...'

"I can't imagine what that's like, Diego," he said quietly, still rocking, still holding me. "But you shouldn't dwell on the past, even the past you can't remember."

I shuddered slightly, drysobbing.

He said nothing for a time. Then, quietly...

"Diego."

I pulled myself away from his jacket again and looked up at him.

"There are things about you that I'll never understand, but I'll tell you something I know for a fact already." He smiled at me. "I know for a fact that you're an optimist, even if you don't think so, and I know for a fact that one day you'll remember--even," he added, before I could say anything, "if there are things better left forgotten. Don't worry about it, Diego. Don't dwell on the past. It's not like you."

'Ren...' I tried to smile back up at him. '...No. You're right. It's not.' I shook myself as though the depression were a sheet of water, shaking it away and actually succeeding in smiling at Ren this time. 'Thanks.'

By the time we arrived back at Ren's house, I was back on his shoulder, looking around curiously. A few people stopped to talk to Ren who'd not done so when he'd left Azalea, and I'd introduced myself or Ren introduced me, and then we moved on.

Grinning, he opened the door to his house and walked in. "Mom!"

Mrs. Ashlocke poked her head around the kitchen door. "Ren! Back already?"

"Yeah." I leapt down from his shoulder, realizing suddenly that despite having been in this house only once before, the smell was already familiar to me, as was the smell of the town outside. It carried a bit of Ren, certainly, but there was more to it--a kind of wooden smell, from some of the furniture, I supposed, and--I paused, sniffed again. An odorless 'smell' that dotted the house at intervals, and seemed to remind me of rain.

I blinked, and began to follow it, surprised I'd not noticed it before.

"Diego?" Ren asked from behind me. "Something up?"

'I smell something,' I said simply, and began to climb the stairs.

"Smell?" he walked slowly behind me. "What d'you smell?"

'I don't know,' I muttered, sniffing again. 'Something I missed before.'

Adding furthur to my confusion, the 'scent' led straight to Ren's room, where, to my amazement, it seemed to be so pervasive I couldn't believe I'd missed it days ago.

He followed me to the doorframe and stopped. I glanced back at him, to find that he was looking at something on his end table. I followed his gaze, jumping up on his desk chair to get a better view.

It was a photo. And, undeniably, that was where the 'odor' was coming from. '...Ren?'

"That's what you smell, isn't it?" he asked, looking at the photo.

I nodded. '...Who is it?'

He walked past me and picked up the photo, stared at it, then set it on the desk in front of me. It was a man who looked very much like Ren, I noticed, except his eyes were black and his hair was tied back into a ponytail. I didn't bother to look at the rest of the picture.

'That's... That's your...?'

"My father," he said, quietly. "Three years ago."

I blinked up at him. 'Is he...?'

"He went to Hoenn that summer. Said he was going to climb Mt. Chimney. He never made it to the top."

I said nothing, staring at Ren. He glanced at the photo one last time, then turned it downwards so there was nothing to see. 'Ren, I'm so sorry...'

"It's ancient history, Diego," he said, staring out the window, but there was just the faintest hint of sadness in his voice.

'But I've been imposing all this trouble on you and all along, you--'

"Don't worry about it!" he snapped, and it was the first time I'd heard him sound cross.

For a moment I sat, dumbfounded, in his chair. Then, very quietly, I got down and left the room.

Fang burst from his Ball, thoroughly annoyed. 'That was uncalled for!'

Ren looked down at him. "Without Diego around, I have no idea what you just said." He sighed and leaned his head against the window.

'I don't care whether you can understand me or not, Ren! You know what I said!'

"You're upset with me," he said somberly, eyes closed.

'Upset!? You just snapped at him for no reason! Of course I'm upset!'

"No reason?" Ren chuckled humorlessly. "You mean, no reason? There was a very good reason."

'Ren!' Fang snarled. 'Listen to me!' Ren's eyes opened and found the little Eevee. 'So what if your dad's gone, right? That's what you think! You don't like talking about it, do you?'

"No, I don't like talking about it."

'So you just jump on the first person--the first Pokémon--who dares bring up the subject!?'

Ren said nothing.

'It hurts, Ren, I know it hurts! Hell, I know almost better than you how much it hurts! But if you don't want to talk about it, say so! Don't just jump down someone's throat!'

"Fang..."

'Ren. Listen. I can hear more in that Ball than you think I can. I can tell that you hurt Diego. I can tell that you're suddenly depressed, suddenly you don't feel like doing this anymore.'

"...."

'Pull yourself together, Ren. Go find Diego and apologize.'

Fang curled up on Ren's bed and stared at him, the expression on the Eevee's face motivating the Trainer to do just that.

Ren found Diego standing outside, looking as though he'd just lost the best thing in the world. The wind was beginning to pick up, and the Pikachu's ears and tail fluttered in a sad way as it gusted past.

The Pikachu looked up as Ren closed the door behind himself, but looked down again, obviously afraid of another outburst. Gingerly Ren set himself down on the porch next to Diego, and tried to think of what to say.

"Hey, Diego," he said quietly. "I'm sorry. Really, I didn't mean it. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"Pikachu," Diego muttered, and Ren was surprised. Not an inkling of what Diego had said reached him.

...I made it worse than I thought it did.

"Hey..." he said, still very quietly. "Honestly, bud, I don't know what to say. Maybe sorry's not enough, but..." he trailed off. Diego looked up at him, a sad expression still dominating the Pikachu's face. Tentatively Ren reached out an arm and stroked the Pokémon's static pouch again.

'I'll for...Pika Pikachu,' he said quietly.

"...'I'll forget this if you do'?"

The Pikachu nodded slightly and closed his eyes. Ren continued to stroke the static pouch for awhile, then picked Diego up and went back inside.

12. Bugged Out

Straight from one Gym to another, huh? I thought as we stepped into Azalea's Gym. A second later I was nearly knocked off of Ren's shoulder as the variety of smells washed over me. I shook my head and sneezed, rubbing my nose with both paws, and Ren laughed. The noise attracted the attention of a young boy standing off to the side, and he came forward, smiling. "Ren, good to see you."

"Damien," Ren greeted the other. "Bugsy around?"

"Oh, come on, Ren," Damien grinned. "What, you're a Trainer and now you're all business?"

"Well, no," said Ren. "Just wondering."

"As a matter of fact, Bugsy is around," Damien continued. "I'll go get him." He walked off.

'Who's Bugsy?' I asked. 'Please don't tell me he's the Gym Leader.'

"Yup," Ren said. "Why?"

'Do all Gym Leaders have to have names with puns in them?'

Ren laughed. "Bugsy's only his nickname anyway. His real name's Joshua, but since he's so obsessed with Bug-types, people started calling him 'Bugsy.'"

I looked after Damien. 'It seems to be more informal here than at Falkner's Gym, too,' I observed, and sneezed again. 'Sorry.'

"It is. Bugsy's a nice guy."

"Well, thanks, Ren!" said another boy, approaching from the other direction. He looked kind of like a Boy Scout, save that he wore green and no hat. His hair was a grayish-blue, with eyes the same color, and if I had to guess at his age I'd have said he was around Brandon's. As if in total opposition to Falkner, Bugsy was smiling, an expression I figured he wore a good deal of the time. "I could say the same about you," he added as he approached, and his eyes swiveled to me. "A Pikachu, huh? Aren't they kind of a rarity around here?"

"Didn't you hear, Josh?" Ren asked. "Knowing my Mom I figured the story'd be all around town right now."

Bugsy shrugged. "Man, you're stubborn, Ren. It's Bugsy."

"Whatever you say, Josh."

Bugsy grinned. "Certainly, Raymond."

Ren coughed. "Touché. Anyway..."

"Here for your first badge, huh?"

"Second. I got Violet's first."

Bugsy looked amused. "Yeah, yeah, only 'cause you knew it'd be easier with an Electric-type."

"Well, yeah," Ren admitted. "I wanted to keep with tradition, anyway."

"Tradition, tradition," Bugsy mocked good-humoredly. "You did it for types and you know it."

I blinked. 'Quite friendly, this guy, isn't he?'

Ren laughed. Bugsy chuckled.

"Anyway..." he continued. "You're here for the badge. So be it." He turned and walked towards the back of the Gym. Ren stayed where he was. "How many?"

"Two. All I've got."

"Fine. Got that, Damien?"

The other boy had reappeared without my noticing, and now took the position the referee in Falkner's Gym had. "Got it, Bugsy."

The Gym Leader grinned across at Ren. "See, Raymond? He knows my name."

"Alright, Josh. I get your point." Ren cleared his throat. "Bugsy."

Bugsy grinned at Ren again, then looked to Damien. "Don't make it too formal."

"Do I ever?" Damien responded. He pretended to clear his throat and assume a self-important stance, then slouched, triggering another laugh from Bugsy. "Alright, guys, Ren versus Bugsy, both natives of Azalea. Two Pokémon per side, 'cause that's all the challenger has, and maybe if that's the case this's a moot point, but Ren and only Ren can switch Pokémon in the middle of a battle. We clear?"

'Wow,' was all I could think to say. Ren nodded.

"Send 'em out, boys!"

"Diego," Ren pointed, and I jumped from his shoulder and entered the now-familiarly shaped, but still loathed, battle arena.

"You're starting with the Electric-type? Little overconfident, aren't you, Ren?" Bugsy called.

"It's not that. It's just that in every battle previously I always used the other one first."

"Ooh, keep it a secret, why don't'cha?" Frankly, Bugsy reminded me very much of Pachirisu, except that he didn't move around so much. "Well, I'll do this, then. Kakuna!"

'Is he joking?' I asked once the relatively small coccoon-with-eyes materialized. 'What can it do?'

"Kakuna versus Pikachu. We ready, guys?" Damien called. "Tear each other up, then!"

Neither the Kakuna nor I made any sort of offensive move. In unison, we instead turned to stare at the referee.

"What? Don't like that one? Fine. Fight!"

'That's better,' I heard the Kakuna intone. 'Honestly, the things that kid comes up with...'

"Kakuna! Poison Sting!"

Kakuna fixed its blank eyes on me and with an agility that belied its appearence, it flipped backwards, shooting something off of its point. Reflexively I stepped to the side, but the tiny thorn seemed to turn in midair and just lightly grazed the tip of my paw. On the instant, I began to lose feeling there. 'Oh, no...'

Ren seemed unaware, or else was still confident I could fight. "Iron Tail!"

I dashed awkwardly toward the Kakuna, trying to ignore the growing loss of feeling in my right forepaw. I flung myself up into the air and began descending.

"Harden!" Bugsy called.

Apparently he had underestimated my tail; or perhaps overestimated his Kakuna. Whatever the case was, the Kakuna still grunted and flew forward several feet, almost into Ren, before righting itself.

"Poison Sting!"

"Take Down!" I began moving towards the Kakuna as it shot at me, and once again despite my best efforts to dodge the pin, it still managed to graze me--this time my tail began to go numb, and desperately I kept moving, one forepaw almost entirely dead weight and my sense of balance horribly disrupted. I stumbled at the last second and tumbled mercilessly into the Kakuna, both of us shooting past Ren. The Kakuna stopped, dazed, but I kept rolling tail-over-ears and hit the wall tail-first.

Not only did this paralyze me beyond what the poison had already done, but it knocked the wind from me, and I fell forward, mouth open and gaping like a Magikarp on land--or perhaps a Magikarp underwater, too-- unable to inhale, unable to move.

"Diego!" Ren sounded horrified. Blearily I heard Bugsy call time and both he and Damien ran over to me. Ren was already there, holding me and saying something, but as I stared at him and tried to understand what in the world he was saying, I ran out of air and lost consciousness.

Reflexively, the first thing I did when I woke up was inhale, then wished I was still asleep: I had the worst headache I'd ever had, and both my forepaw and my tail were burning.

'Ow...' I muttered, needing to say something. 'Ren...'

But there was no one there.

"He's awake!" Ren cried, staring at the window.

"Let him be," Nurse joy advised quietly.

Ren didn't listen; he bolted for the door, but before he got there Damien and Bugsy had each taken an arm and were holding him back. "Rrrgh, let me go!"

"Ren, no!" Bugsy cried. "He still needs to sleep!"

Ren pulled harder, and the two boys tightened their grip on his arms.

"Ren!" Damien cried desperately. "Let him be!"

"No!" Ren cried. "Let... me... see him!"

"Ren!" Bugsy cried, and with an effort threw him down into a chair. "Listen to me. Diego's just been poisoned and suffocated. He's lucky to be alive right now, alright?"

Damien, gasping for breath, said, "He may be awake... but sleep is best for him now."

Ren stared at them, growling and looking for all the world like a wild animal about to attack.

"Ys'Rayl! Hold him down!"

As Ren leapt out of his seat, something huge and black flew straight at him, knocking him back into his chair and holding him there.

Brandon ran forward, staring at Ren. "We just keep running into each other, don't we?"

"They're not letting me see--" Ren began, but Brandon cut him off.

"I know they're not. What happened?"

"Partly, it's my fault," Bugsy said. "Kakuna numbed his paw and his tail, and Diego tried to attack Kakuna, but slammed into the Gym wall."

Brandon winced. "His lung collapsed, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did."

"And they're not--!" Ren began again, but Brandon overrode him.

"And for good reason, Ren! Listen to me. Listen!" he shouted, as Ren tried in vain to lift Ys'Rayl off of his lap. Ren paused, hyperventilating and staring at Brandon. "I understand, all right? I know how that feels. But I also know that despite what you may be feeling right now, and despite the fact that Diego may want to see you, it's best if he's left alone for now, okay?" He waved Bugsy and Damien off. "Let me talk to him alone."

He sat down next to Ren. Ys'Rayl removed himself from Ren's lap, but the Trainer made no attempt to move.

"You can hear him, can't you?" Brandon said quietly.

"I can," said Ren stiffly. "He's calling for me. I can hear him."

"Relax, Ren. Relax..."

"How can I!?" Ren shuddered. "My Pikachu is in that room and desperately wants to see me!"

"I know, Ren. I know. But he needs sleep more than he needs you right now."

"How can you say that?"

"As a Trainer with two linked Pokémon, I think I'm very well qualified to say that. Something similar happened to Ys'Rayl when he was still a Poochyena. I felt the same way you do now. But trust me. Relax. Let Diego be."

Ren hung his head, still shuddering. "No offense, but you seem to be a kind of bad-luck charm."

"I do, don't I?" Brandon observed. "First you find Diego doesn't like Balls, and I show up. Then I show up, Diego nearly kills himself, and you win the Badge. Which I saw, by the way. I saw all of it; it's just that you never looked behind you. And now Diego nearly gets killed, and I happen to be in town again."

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Ren. I can't change what's happened. But I do know that if you let Diego be, he'll get better faster." He stood. "If it helps, I'll try to stay out of your way. Come," he added to Ys'Rayl, and the two left the Center.

For awhile Ren didn't move, slouched like a dead man in his chair, his wild black hair making him look even worse. Bugsy and Damien let him be, and all the other Trainers who came in sat far away from the boy in the corner who only ever looked down at his feet.

13. Until the End

"Ren? ...Pardon me, Ren?"

Ren's eyes snapped open. "Huh...? Did I fall asleep?" He looked up. Nurse Joy was standing in front of him, with a confused-yet-happy look on her face.

"Your Pikachu is awake again."

'...Ren...'

Ren leapt out of his chair. "Can I see him now?"

"Yes. Just don't be too loud, please."

Ren moved as quickly as he could without running, going back to the room where Diego had been resting.

The Pikachu looked up at him, awake but apparently still half-asleep, and tried to smile. 'Ren...'

"Diego..." Ren gently touched a forepaw, carefully making sure it wasn't the one that had been poisoned.

'Why didn't...you come...?'

"I tried, bud. I tried. They said you still needed to sleep."

The Pikachu looked somewhat disappointed. 'Maybe they were right, but still, I...' Wearily, it seemed, Diego reached out and grabbed Ren's finger. 'I need...to apologize...'

"For what?"

'Ever since... I met you... I've just caused... more and more trouble... for you...'

"Hey, Diego, don't worry about that." Ren stroked the Pikachu's stomach. Diego sighed. "So your life's not the simplest in the world. I can't hate you for that, and I wouldn't, and I don't."

Diego sighed. 'Simple, or not...?'

"Not worrying about that again, are you?"

'What else can I do, Ren? I've been in here for hours, only half-asleep.'

Ren frowned. "How do you feel, then?"

'Like I'd fall over if I tried to sit up. I've still got a bit of a headache and my tail is still burning, but my paw feels fine.'

"I wish they'd fix that official-formula antidote. It always seems to burn the poison away rather than break it down."

'Is that what that is? It's horribly unbalancing, too, which is why I'm on my side.'

Ren grinned. "I doubt Nurse Joy will let me remove you yet, so..."

'Ren, please don't leave. D'you have any idea how boring this is?'

"I can imagine. Alright, I'll stay for a little while."

'...Thanks, Ren.' A few minutes later, the Pikachu had fallen asleep again.

Ren leaned against the wall, staring at the little yellow furball. Never mind a little while, Diego. I'll stay with you 'till the end.

'Are you sure that was necessary, Brandon?' Ys'Rayl asked as he and Brandon walked slowly through Ilex towards Goldenrod.

"Yes, Ys'Rayl. It was."

'Enlighten me.'

"I don't want to be there every time something happens with his link. I want to see how he handles it, how it effects him and the Pikachu."

'You know how it goes, you know...' Ys'Rayl began.

"Silence, Ys'Rayl," the Trainer said forcefully, and for a few minutes longer they walked side by side in silence.

'Why?' Ys'Rayl said suddenly.

"...Why what?"

'I'm thinking about what you said before. They've known each other for only a little while, right?'

"Aye."

'Where'd it come from?'

"It... The link?" Brandon mulled it over for a few minutes. "I don't know, Ys'Rayl. I suppose that's something they'll have to find out on their own."

Ren stepped outside the Pokémon Center, breathing deeply. Nurse Joy had said that Diego would be fine in about another twenty minutes, so whenever he woke up after that she would be able to legally discharge him.

Ren looked over and saw Bugsy nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot. "...Bugsy?"

"Ren, I, uh..." Bugsy walked over awkwardly. "I need to apologize for that."

"It's as much my fault, Bugsy, because I told him to attack."

"Yes, but if I hadn't poisoned him..."

Ren sighed. "I'm not angry, Joshua. Don't worry. I exhausted all my anger trying to get away from you and Damien before."

"But... If the way your Pikachu fought was any indication, you would have won anyway, so..." Nervously Bugsy held out his hand, and Ren noticed that he was holding a badge. "Here."

"I can't. I haven't earned it."

"I think you have, and that's what matters, Ren. Take it."

Ren sighed again. "I don't want to argue, Bugsy. I'll take it, but only because you insist. Next time I come back to Azalea I want a rematch, though, just to make sure." He held out his hand, and Bugsy gave it to him.

"The Hivebadge."

Ren nodded and slipped it into his pocket. "Remember. Next time we fight to see if I really deserve this."

Bugsy shuffled his feet and nodded. Then with a final, muted "Sorry..." he walked away.

Nurse Joy gave me a clean bill of health and let me go upon my awakening. Finding myself able to appropriately balance, and headache-free, I got slowly back on Ren's shoulder and very carefully told him that I'd do my best to avoid trouble from this point forward.

He only smiled and said he was glad I'd try.

By this point, however, the sun was already setting, and Ren and I returned to his house. Ren explained what had happened, whereupon his mother took it upon herself to look me up and down and make sure I was fine, which proved to be, put mercifully, rather embarrassing. Ren found it embarrassing as well. "Mom, seriously, if there was something else wrong, Nurse Joy would have noticed."

"Maybe, but I always say that place is understaffed. It never hurts to make sure."

'Ren...' I began to moan after about fifteen minutes of this, and he promplty pulled me from his mother's grasp.

"Honestly, Mom. I'm not trying to be rude, but Diego's fine."

He took me back upstairs to his room, let Fang out of his Ball, and promptly changed into his pajamas, although the sun had only just set. I very carefully stayed away from the still turned-down photo of Ren's father, and Fang sat on the windowsill and stared out into the night.

The digital clock on Ren's end table read 9:30 when I realized that somehow my Trainer had already fallen asleep. Quietly I jumped back onto the desk chair and turned up the photo.

'Diego...?' Fang said quietly, and I heard him stepping quietly behind me. 'What is it?'

I stared at the photo a moment before responding. 'I'm trying to remember... my father.'

Fang nimbly jumped from the floor up to the desk, and he looked me in the eye. 'So much for "not wanting to remember," huh?'

'I don't care any more, Fang. I just want to know... something of my past, at least.' Fang nodded. 'I won't bother you, then.'

After a few minutes, I gave it up as a bad job and sat back in the chair, trying to sleep.

'What's your name?'

'Pi...Pichu!'

'Good. What's your older sister's name?'

'Pichu Pi.'

'And your little brother's?'

'Chu, Pichu!'

Grayness... Then:

'He's so observant, isn't he? I think he'll be speaking soon, don't you?'

'Yes, I do. His little brother's a handful, though.'

More grayness, and a flash of what looked like woodland with tall grass and a rusting, decomposing metal wall.

'No! The children, where are the children!'

'Run!'

'But what about--' A strange feeling, like being shrunk....

More grayness, but this one was different. This one was...

'No!' I jerked up, breathing heavily.

...A dream. It was all a dream... I tried to relax, but couldn't. Restlessly I got down off of the chair. Fang had curled up on the windowsill again, but I shot a double take at him and saw that his eyes were gleaming at me in the darkness. He jumped down, landing silently and walking over to me. 'Bad dream?'

'...I think it worked, Fang. It wasn't very clear, but I did...hear things. Voices. Familiar ones, but I can't place them.'

He smiled at me, though in the darkness it was hard to see. 'I think it did work, Diego. Something's better than nothing, isn't it?'

'I think I also remembered...' I snuffled and rubbed my nose. 'I think I remembered being captured. Someone was screaming about the 'children,' and... and...' I broke off. 'And then I woke up.'

Fang tilted his head. 'You know, you can't really be picky about what memories come when. Let it come on its own time, Diego.'

'But...'

Fang sighed. 'Worried you might have another bad dream? I'll sleep by you if it makes you feel any better.'

'You don't have to...'

'I'm doing this for your sake, whether you like it or not. Go back to sleep. You'll be fine.'

I tried to protest again, but he gave me an 'it-won't-do-you-any-good-now-go-to-bed' look. I sighed resignation and climbed up onto Ren's bed and he jumped up after me, grinning in a proud sort of way.

14. A Silver Way to Goldenrod

We left Ren's house the next morning, all of us refreshed and ready to go--until I realized where, in fact, we had to go.

Ren had stopped just in front of Ilex, glacing at me, and I looked back at him incredulously. 'We are not going in there, are we?'

"That's the only way to Goldenrod, Diego. You've already been in there twice."

'Not all the way in! We were just sleeping on the outskirts!'

All of a sudden, to my total annoyance, Ren began laughing. "What're you afraid of, Diego?"

'He has a point,' Fang said from beside Ren's foot. 'Not only are you not by yourself this time, but you're with me.'

I opened my mouth, trying to think of an appropriate reply to that, but couldn't think of one. Fang grinned, and Ren began walking again. I sighed, once again unable to come up with a valid argument.

They were right, I supposed, as we emerged from the other side of the forest and out onto a road. Just as long as we didn't end up living in there, I told Ren slowly, I could stand occasionally passing through.

One thing we noticed, however, as we traveled north along the road, was that it was extremely foggy. How it had gotten this way, I was unsure--but the sky seemed covered by clouds and so did the ground. Ren moved slowly, but this did not help. According to him, Goldenrod City was only a little ways north of here, but if it was, there was no evidence of it, and the fog continued to thicken.

The air both smelled and felt humid, and after awhile I'd given up trying to find my way and trusted Ren knew what he was doing.

And then suddenly I smelled something entirely different, standing out almost in total contrast to the heavy, humid air: This smelled faintly of something burning, and it was the sort of spicy flavor I associated with certain berries.

...What an odd combination. I poked Ren on the shoulder. 'Stay here. I'll be right back.'

"Where're you going?"

'Stay here! I think I smell something again.'

After a moment I got my bearings and started walking. It didn't take me long to find the source of the smell.

I was reminded momentarily of Fang, because at first all I could see were eyes; but these eyes were not angry, though they seemed to have a natural red-brown tint.

'Mommy?'

I started at the voice. Undeniably young, but high-pitched even for that, and I deduced it was female. The eyes seemed to float forward in the fog, and then the rest of the Pokémon's face was revealed. She was small, with red-brown fur just slightly lighter than her eyes, with dark brownish curls on the top of her head. She had large ears, and her eyes seemed to be relatively the same size as Ren's. I looked around and saw thay she had two closely-bunched tails the same color as her eyes. She spoke again, and this time I listened for and identified syllables.

'...Have you seen my mommy?' It sounded like "Vulpix."

'Um, no...' I said quietly, and the little fox seemed to waver on her feet. 'When was the last time you saw her?'

'This morning, but then this thick fog came in and I haven't been able to find her... I kept calling out, but no one answered...'

I stepped forward very slowly and touched her muzzle. 'Shh.'

Warily she sniffed my paw, and then moved forward and very hesitently smelled the rest of me. I didn't move; she was apparently young and easily frightened, and I didn't want to make it worse.

After a moment she looked back up at me and seemed to smile. 'You smell...nice. Like flowers.'

...Flowers? I shrugged. 'Um, thanks.'

She lowered her eyes again. 'I like flowers, but they make me...' She tilted her head back and inhaled. Having some idea of what might happen, I leapt out of the way, and just in time: she sneezed, and, like I'd imagined, smoldering sparks spurted from her mouth as she did so, which singed the ground I'd been standing on a second before, but also alleviated some of the fog. She sniffled and looked at me in apology. 'Dey make me sneeze,' she finished, and sniffled again. 'I'm sorry... Did I hurt you?'

'No, no, I'm fine,' I said quickly. I stepped back over to her. 'Do you want some help finding your mother?'

'Well,' she paused, and looked at me. 'I don't know. My brothers and sisters tease me all the time, and,' she sniffed me again. 'I like the way you smell.'

I looked at her. 'Well, uh, thanks, but...'

'What's this?' Fang's voice asked suddenly, and the Vulpix started. Quickly I tried to help her relax, but she hid behind me as Fang walked up.

'Don't scare her like that, Fang!' I whispered. 'She frightens easily.'

'What is she?' he asked curiously.

'A Vulpix, whatever that is, but she's not very old, she's lost, and she insists I smell like...' I paused. 'Flowers.'

Fang cackled quietly. 'Ren's wondering what's taking you so long.'

'Hold on,' I said quickly, and turned back to the Vulpix. 'Hey, why don't you come with us? If we find your mommy, you can go with her.'

'Umm...' She looked at Fang. 'I don't know...'

'Oh, don't worry,' I said. 'He frightens everyone when they first meet him, but he's not a bad guy.'

She slowly walked past me and over to Fang. '...You smell like flowers, too.' And then she inhaled.

'Be careful!' I said quickly. 'She--' But Fang had already put his paw lightly on the Vulpix's nose, and after a moment she exhaled slowly. He smiled, and she relaxed.

'You have got to teach me how to do that,' I said. Fang cackled, then turned and walked back in the direction he and I had come in. I smiled encouragingly at the Vulpix, and she followed behind me as I went after Fang.

She started again as Ren came into view, but relaxed when I showed no sign of fear. 'Who is that?'

'That's Ren. I travel with him.'

The Vulpix looked up at him in the same way she'd been looking at me out of the fog.

'Um, why do you all smell like flowers?'

I stared up at Ren helplessly. He grinned at me, then looked at the Vulpix. "You lost?"

She blinked. 'Have you seen my mommy?'

He shook his head. "You're the first Pokémon I've seen, aside from me own, since this fog rolled in."

The young fox seemed to waver on her feet again, then sank to her stomach, and to the chagrin of the three of us, she burst into loud tears.

To his credit, Fang, whom I would have expected to growl and snap at her at this point, did not, instead turning away. Ren seemed to want to say something, but couldn't. He glanced at me as if to say 'Do something!'

I stared at the Vulpix, nonplussed. What did Ren expect me to do? I was not her mother, nor did I know where her mother was. There was no other smell around aside from that of the young Vulpix in front of us, so there was no way I could possibly find the mother unless we blundered directly into her.

Finally, unable to think of anything else, I stepped forward and laid a paw on her back. Fang stared at me for a moment, then, as if to avoid being one-upped, he came over and lay next to her. At this point, to our relief, she seemed to begin to calm down. After a moment, hiccoughing slightly, she asked, 'Wh...why are you being so... nice to me...?'

'Why shouldn't we be?' I asked as Fang growled noncommitedly.

'Um... You don't even know me.'

I smiled at her. 'What's that have to do with anything?'

'...Um.' She fell silent.

'Listen,' Fang said, voice muffled. 'We're helping you 'cause we feel like it.'

'Um,' she said again, and looked up at Ren. 'Maybe... Can I, um, come with you?'

He smiled down at her. "If you want to."

She got to her feet and walked over to Ren, staying close to him as if afraid he might vanish into the fog as her mother had. '...I think I want to.'

"Alright," Ren said, laying a hand gently on her head. "...Myst."

'...Myst?' She blinked. 'Is that... my name?' Her face, which previously had been morose and depressed, lit up with a gigantic smile. 'Yay! I like my name!'

Fang shrugged; I smiled, and Ren laughed. "I'm glad you do."

15. Shattering the Mirror

We didn't see a soul until we hit Goldenrod, which seemed to burst out of the fog like some planetbound starburst. What I had considered the 'busy' part of Violet might have been filled with Snorlax; as soon as we passed within the borders of the town we were assaulted by sound and, especially for us Pokémon, of whom Fang and Myst had decided to stay outside their Balls, smells. Myst had been curious when she'd first seen the device, and, after Fang assured her it was not uncomfortable, had agreed to enter one.

The city was gigantic and, in the unrelenting fog, brightly and eerily lit. This combination made it nearly impossible to find the Pokémon Center, but after about an hour of wandering aimlessly around Goldenrod, we found it. It seemed full, but Ren found an empty seat in about the middle of the room, and sat down. Myst jumped into his lap and laid down; Fang and I sat in front of him on the floor, simply watching the other Trainers.

There was one with a large crab Pokémon that looked big enough for Fang and Myst to sit comfortably upon together, which Ren's Pokédex identified as Kingler; as well as an older man with a red, semi-humanoid Pokémon with wings which Ren identified as a Scizor and showed great interest in; there was also a Trainer who looked just slightly older than Ren with a large, tan, ratlike Pokémon, called Raticate, and a young lady with a small yellow-and-orange Pokémon that looked slightly like me, which turned out to be a Plusle.

I was looking around for another Pokémon that stood out to me, and as I did I caught the barest glimpse of her as she and her Trainer slipped out of the Center.

I only saw the backside of her, but she was undeniably a Pikachu, female, with a red ribbon tied around her right ear. As the door closed behind her my heart seemed to skip a beat, and I stared after her so long that Fang began to nudge me and ask what was so fascinating about the door.

I shook my head, bemused, and turned to him. '...Uh. Nothing.'

'Then what were you staring at?'

I blinked. '...Uh. Nothing...'

He stared at me, clearly aware that I wasn't telling him everything, but did not press the matter.

At about three in the afternoon, according to Ren, the fog finally began to vanish, and as visibility was sufficiently restored, we left the Center, which was still amazingly busy, and began to wander around town again. Ren bought some supplies and, very hesitantly, a hamburger, which he offered to the three of us but which we let him have, and he slowly ate it on his way around town, once again looking for the Gym.

It was five by the time we managed to find it, and the sign said it was already closed for the day; Ren, slightly annoyed by this, backtracked out of the city, and went back to the corner of Ilex Forest, where we set up a camp--Myst accidentally igniting the fire, but as it was in a safe place, Ren let it be and, laughing, thanked Myst. She seemed unsure of what to make of it, but after awhile she settled down near Fang, who had taken his usual spot directly in front of the fire. Ren sat against a tree again, and I sat next to him, thinking about this and that.

As night fell, Myst moved over next to me, and for the first time I noticed that she had an incredibly warm body--not just from sitting near the fire, I realized, but because she was a fire-type. She remained close to me like she had Ren that morning, and both she and I remained quiet for awhile.

She spoke first. 'Um...Are you... alright?'

I looked at her. 'I'm fine. Uh, do I look...not alright....?'

She looked at me with her huge eyes, and despite her young age I had the odd feeling that she could see right through me. 'I think you do. Like there's something missing.'

'...Missing?' I had no desire to bring up my errant past at the moment, and hoped she would not pursue the subject.

She did. 'Yes, missing. It's like, oh, staring into a puddle and not seeing yourself... Um... if you know what I mean.'

I cocked my head. '...Like...' I blinked.

"Like looking into a mirror and not seeing your reflection?" Ren suggested quietly, and I jumped, having forgotten he was next to me.

'...What's a... um... a mirror?' Myst asked.

'...Like a puddle,' I explained. 'You can see yourself in it.'

'But you can't,' she said. 'At least, it feels that way. Like overlooking yourself.'

'I think what she's trying to say, sparky,' Fang interjected from the fire, 'is that there's a part of yourself you don't want to look at.'

I stared at him. 'Fang, I don't want to talk about that right now, and besides--I do want to remember.'

'Do you?' He stared at me. 'I wouldn't try to look into your past so quickly, Diego. The thing about forgetting is that you're never sure of what you forgot 'till you remember.'

I blinked. 'Uh... can you rephrase that?'

Fang cackled and turned back to the fire. Suddenly uncomfortable with Myst on one side of me and Ren on the other, I got up and moved out of the firelight, asking that Ren let me be.

As I walked away I could feel Myst's eyes on me.

The following morning we returned to Goldenrod and painstakingly retraced our path to the Gym. This time the sign read 'Open,' but underneath it, in smaller text, it read 'The resident Gym leader, Whitney, is currently on vacation; a temporary replacement has been hired. Feel free to come in.'

Curious, Ren went inside. The building was very much like Falkner's, though it was not open air--and like Falkner's Gym, as we entered, we saw no one.

I got down off of Ren's shoulder and walked forward. 'So...Now what?'

"Replacment Gym Leader...?" Ren sounded confused. "Sure, I guess, but where is she?"

"If you were in the army, you'd be demoted for that, son!" The voice was brisk and sharp--and obviously male--and though both Ren and I looked around we saw no one.

"...In the army?" Ren asked. "What's that got to do with anything?"

There was an ominous clicking and a red dot appeared on Ren's chest; he looked down and visibly broke into a sweat. He looked back up, obviously very afraid. "H-hey, wh-what's this?" he stammered. "Listen, whatever I said, I take it back."

The dot seemed to jiggle, then vanished, and I heard the voice again, chuckling. "C'mon, kid, where's your sense of humor?" A tall man walked out from behind the bleachers on one side, wearing army fatigues and sunglasses. Ren and I stared at him as he came up to us, still chuckling. He thrust out his hand. "Jason Shock, Colonel. Heard of Surge? I'm his cousin."

"Uh, okay..." Ren shook the man's hand. "Surge from Kanto? Interesting." He still seemed tense. "Um, I'm Ren Ashlocke. I'm from Azalea Town."

Shock looked him up and down--or seemed to, because his eyes were impossible to see behind the sunglasses, and grinned. "Listen, kid, I wasn't gonna pop ya, and I ain't now. Relax."

Ren shrugged. "Uh, sorry, sir."

Shock actually took his shades off once he caught sight of me, staring at me intently. His eyes were a steely gray and gave me the feeling that it would be incredibly hard to lie to a man like this. Not that I had any intention of doing so.

He muttered something too quietly for me to hear and felt the PokéBalls at his waist, apparently counting them, and shrugged. "So, y'er here to get the Plainbadge, huh? Like the sign said, Whitney's out on a vacation, and I was in town, so you wanna get it you'll have to beat me an' my electrics."

Ren blinked. "Pardon me, uh, Colonel, maybe it's none of my business, but I heard that Whitney trained Normal-types."

"Yeah. What's y'er point?"

Ren hesitated. "Well, why in the world do they replace a Normal-type Trainer with an Electric-type? Besides, I thought this Gym was invariably... um... female."

Col. Shock threw his head back and guffawed. "Ha! I wish I knew, kid. I volunteered and they said awright. If ya think about it, anyway, aren' purely Normal-type Trainers kinda rare? They aren't exactly powerhouses."

Ren shrugged. "No, I suppose not."

Shock was still chuckling. "I've never understood the official rules anyway, kid. Surge'd prob'ly be able t'tell ya why I'm able t'replace her, but don' ask me."

He put his shades back on and called for a referree. "Ren Ashlocke. Azalea."

The referree was female and apparently annoyed at Shock's attitude, and nodded, tight lipped, standing beside the arena. "Pokémon count?"

"Two!" Shock called out before Ren could answer. Ren started, but said nothing when the referree looked at him. Having no alternative, she stared straight ahead. "Two Pokémon per side, then."

I looked up at Ren, but he shook his head. "I'd rather not, at least at first."

'Why?'

"Technical type disadvantage." He plucked Fang's Ball from his belt, and looked over at Shock, who grinned, his own PokéBall already in his hand.

"Fang, let's go!" The Eevee materialized, growling.

"Volten, flip the circuit!" A red-and-white ball-shaped object appeared, and I was reminded absurdly of a PokéBall.

"Voltorb," Ren's 'dex chirped. "The Ball Pokémon. Voltorb are similar in appearence to a PokéBall, and as a result have given many shocks to inattentive Trainers who mistook them for carrying capsules."

"Combatents ready?"

Ren scowled. "Hope this turns out okay. Let's go."

"Begin!"

"Volten, Thundershock!"

"Fang, dodge! Iron Tail!"

The Eevee quickly jumped over the bolt, gathered himself, and made a dash for the Voltorb.

"Move!" Shock paused. "Rollout!"

Fang moved without prompting this time, jumping straight up--and coming down just as the Voltorb rolled over the spot he'd been. I had not yet seen Fang be overly graceful--though he'd acted haughty and well-brought-up--but as he ran in place on top of the rolling Voltorb, graceful was the only word that could really describe it.

'He makes that look easy,' I said. Ren was gaping; apparently he handn't known Fang had that kind of balance either.

Indeed, Fang looked rather like an elephant on a circus ball, except that the proportions were reversed. He jumped off just before the Voltorb left the arena's boundries, and his rapid but eloquent scampering had only accelerated the ball-shaped Pokémon's rolling. The referre jumped to one side, and the Pokémon rolled straight into the bleachers, splintering them. I flinched from the noise.

Like some enormous pinball, the Voltorb continued to roll, hitting the wall and bouncing backwards. It bounced off the further wall, onto the floor, bounced once again, and came to a stop, upside down and cross-eyed, in front of Fang. He grinned and playfully pushed the ball back towards its Trainer. It grunted once, but, once its intertia failed, remained otherwise motionless.

Five seconds passed. "Volten is unable to battle!" the referree called, and I caught some kind of strangled glee in her voice. "Fang wins the battle!"

Fang trotted back to Ren, looking haughty and proud, and Ren, chuckling, stroked him between the ears once. The Eevee took up a place behind Ren, and the Trainer almost grudgingly nodded at me. "Myst's too young. I don't want to put her in too much danger just yet."

'I can take it,' I said. 'Give me a shot.'

He shrugged. "I don't have much choice. Ready?"

In answer I jumped into the arena and stared across at Shock. He took of his shades again, grinned at me, and pulled another Ball from his belt. "Plant! You're up!"

The Ball flew up and sprung open; the white energy poured out and materialized, and then it cleared.

And I found that I was looking at myself.

It was another Pikachu which, at first glance, looked exactly like me. It is extremely difficult for any human to understand, but I'll do my best to explain this. Just as there are so many different ways a human can appear--say, the color of the hair, the facial features, even the clothes he or she wears--so there are as many ways for Pokémon. There are some blatent features that humans can notice--tufts of fur, some stances. But there are things so minute that humans cannot notice them--but to a Pokémon, just like the facial features of a human, these things are obvious and easy to notice. So it was with Plant, except that there was hardly any difference at all: the most blatent difference I noticed was with the eyes, which were just slightly smaller, and the tail, which looked to me to be just slightly less pointed than mine. And even though the Pikachu's front was facing me, I knew somehow that this Pikachu had a scar just like mine, running across his back. Suddenly I was reminded of Ren talking about a mirror the night before.

So be it. I growled.

Plant laughed, and eerily I recognized that laugh--as my own. 'Why so grouchy? You haven't even lost yet!'

It was his voice that stopped me, and behind me I heard Ren inhale sharply. Once again, it is difficult for a normal human--such as you, reader--to understand, but Pokémon voices can be just as varied as human ones. It would be impossible for you, say, to tell much of a difference between the voices of two of the same type of Pokémon, but if you can listen past our so-called 'speech impediment,' we sound very much like humans. My voice, therefore, was limited to three syllables, but my speech had its own individual sound.

Or it had, until Plant had spoken.

Shock looked amused: he stared first at Ren, then at me, with a sort of proud grin on his face.

"That's...that's not..." Ren got out.

Shock laughed, and Plant with him. 'Surprised?'

'How...' I stared at him. 'How is that possible?'

'Who knows?' Plant cackled.

'In all likelyhood,' Fang called, 'you were quite possibly siblings.'

I blinked. 'You think...? But...'

'Speculation. There's no way to know.'

Plant looked at Fang. 'What d'you care, fuzzball?'

Fang looked at him with a kind of detached annoyance. 'Refrain from insulting me, my Trainer, or my Trainer's Pokémon.'

"Fang..." Ren placed a hand on the Eevee's head, then looked up at Shock. "So you've got a Pikachu that looks just like mine. What's your plan?"

"Would I honestly tell ya, kid?" Shock was still grinning. "We gonna stand 'round talkin' all day, or are we gonna get this on?"

'I'll gladly show this faker who's the real one,' Plant said loudly.

'Fake!? You...!'

The referee chose this moment to shout "Begin!" so when I launched a bolt out at Plant, I was breaking no rules. Plant responded with a shock of his own, which met mine in midair, and they both fizzled out.

"Iron Tail!" both Shock and Ren called out at once--and in our haste to hit the other, both of us missed.

"Thundershock!" The two currents met in midair and lanced away from the similar charge, splitting into a bunch of tiny lightning bolts, which avoided Shock but which Ren had to dance quickly out of the way to avoid.

There's a way to win this, Ren! I shouted inside my mind. And heard a response. I know! Hold on! Plant was coming for me again, his tail straight out in preparation to attack, and I jumped to the side, releasing a shock which Plant did not avoid, but it did little to him.

Thunderbolt! I released a larger charge--but somehow Shock had seen it coming and shouted "Thunderbolt!" just as the electricity was leaving my pouches. Once again the two electrical surges went straight for each other, and then were repelled by the like charges. Then suddenly I had an idea.

The floor of the arena was sandy, though what purpose it served officially I did not know. But it would do for what I had to do now.

Plant ran towards me again, spinning to slap me with his tail; I took the blow and rolled with it, ending upon the ground. I got back up: he was already racing towards me again, but this time I made no attempt to dodge. Rather, I stiffened my own tail and tensed myself. Just as soon as he began to spin around, I backflipped. Plant went soaring into the air, and I managed to land on my own back paws and jump up again; I flipped and sent him straight down.

The impact sent up a cloud of the sand, and I fell back down into it, eyes closed, not breathing, and simply began to grapple with Plant.

As the cloud of sand cleared, he and I were still in the middle of the arena, muzzle-to-muzzle: in the same instant I heard Ren's shout of joy and Shock's cry of dismay. In the dust cloud, we had rolled and turned each other over, and they knew it--now there was no way to tell whose Pikachu was whose.

Shock groaned. "No! Just... Zap Cannon!"

Plant's cheek pouches began to spark, and I made mine do so at the same moment, both of us preparing to release a huge amount of energy at point-blank range.

I got the drop on Plant, though, and the force of the shock made him fly backwards, past Shock, and into the wall. He bounced forward--I ignored the eerily similar expression of pain on his face--and came to a stop, still arcing slightly, beside Shock.

"Who... Who just...?" The referree was as clueless as the humans, and in answer I went back to Ren and stood beside him, breathing heavily. Shock dropped to his knees, dropping his sunglasses.

"Um... I think... Ren's Pikachu wins the match. And..." she inhaled and shouted for all she was worth (and, I thought, rather like she had been waiting to say it) "Victory goes to Ren Ashlocke from Azalea Town, and his Pikachu!"

16. Lenna

Shock, needless to say, was astounded that an 'underleveled rat' like me was capable of defeating Plant. Ren told him in no uncertain terms that I was not a rat, whereupon Shock began to laugh and, handing Ren the Plainbadge, ushered us out of the Gym.

After another temporary stop at Goldenrod's Pokémon Center, we took off north again, all of us happy to get out of Goldenrod. We were heading north, Ren told us, and going to the National Park, as there was a path through it that would lead us to Ecruteak, the next town.

So it was about sundown we reached the edge of the National Park, which was, unsurprisingly, a ring of trees. Admittance was closed for the day, but we were told we could stay around the Park if we wished.

So we set up a camp in the ring of trees, and just as we were settling down for the night when I heard a noise--not very far off, but too far to be recognized. Ren had heard it as well, so, out of curiosity, he and I went around the ring of trees west, where we stumbled upon another camp. My heart missed a beat when I realized whose:

We'd run into her.