Primal Waters (Pokemon: Legends-era SI Isekai)

A/N: Not gonna lie I forgot this site existed. So, you all will get Chapter 2 early in comparison to AO3 and SB, as they'll have had waited a week whereas you guys only got to wait three days.


"You know, Boss," I thrusted my now significantly slimmer arms into the salty air as I exclaimed, "You could've spawned me on a goddamn beach!"

I huffed and let my arms drop onto the small wooden raft I found myself on. With a grunt, I sat up and leaned over to look at the ocean's teal surface. As expected, the slightly older form of May gazed back at me. Her skin was tanned from several journeys, and her build had evolved from the very slim physique of her youth to a lean build with slightly pronounced muscles. She… I looked to be around sixteen or seventeen years old, definitely past her adventures with Ash and Brock. Hell, Max had probably started and finished his first journey already.

My head suddenly started pounding, and I groaned in pain as I gripped my head. A multitude of memories flooded in, showing an indistinguishable blend of watching the Pokemon anime and movies and experiencing the events firsthand. I heaved a few breaths to calm my heart as the pounding of my head and the ringing in my ears slowly faded away.

"And here I was, hoping to not have tinnitus anymore," I said broodingly with a chuckle.

I slowly stood up and widened my stance as the raft wobbled freely through the open ocean. Looking around, I took stock of my situation.

"Okay, so, for my height at sea level, I can only see about two-and-a-half nautical miles out, give or take. And I see…" I cupped my hands around my eyes and slowly turned in place. "Absolutely nothing. Great!"

A quick search of my person revealed nothing but the clothes on my back. No pokeballs, no dex, not even a pokenav. I only had on a navy shirt with a stylized Blaziken mid-kick, loose pink sweatpants, plain-looking sneakers, and thin, white athletic socks.

"It's roughly either ten or two," I muttered as I gave the sun a quick glance through narrowed eyes. I sat back down, cross-legged, and rubbed my temples. "Alright, think think think… What can I do?"

Can't go toward land because I can't see any. Can't call for help because I can't see any humans or Pokemon. Won't know north until a couple more hours pass, so I can't orient myself. I have no provisions of any kind, so I'm dead in roughly three days from dehydration if I don't exert myself.

If I don't find drinkable water, I die.

If I don't find food that's safe to eat, I die.

If I don't get to land with both of those things, I die.

At this point, I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, grimacing at the length and thickness of it all. A blended memory surfaced and I paused, before I slowly looked around at the water that surrounded me.

"Surely not…" I muttered.

I crawled to the edge of the raft and stared at my reflection. I took a breath and cupped my hands around my mouth before I dunked half of my head into the water.

"Haaa~un Haaa~aaaun..." I sang into the ocean. I then pitched it up slightly, "Haaa~un Haaa~aaaun…"

I repeated this several times, changing the key and shifting the length of the notes every time until I ran out of breath and had to come back up for air. I waited and looked around, checking for any rising dark spots signaling a Pokemon coming up to the surface. After several minutes of nothing happening, I repeated the song. This continued many times over until my throat was sore and my neck was starting to feel hot from the sun.

"Noon…" I idly commented after a quick glance at the sky.

I swallowed my spit and kept my breath even as I continued to plan.

Maybe I could make a shitty sail by ripping a board off of the raft and tying off the top of my sweatpants while ripping the inner section in half? Ugh, I'd get sun burnt all over quick if I did that. Rip a board off and use it for a paddle? Without an idea as to where land is I could end up going in a direction without any in a single day's travel. Fuck, I could be beyond a single day's travel from any landmass regardless of direction with my limited speed, even with both a sail and a paddle.

Sigh… Alright, test the boards for any loose ones at night so I don't burn through my energy during the day. Until then keep trying Manaphy's song to get a Pokemon's attention.

And hope to Boss Llama that a storm doesn't tip me over in my sleep...

I nodded to myself and went back to sticking my head in the water and singing like a weirdo for another hour. Part way through one instance my breath hitched, making me inhale a bunch of salt water. I lurched up and coughed while trying and failing to steady my breath as my lungs burned harshly. My hands gripped the side of the raft until my knuckles turned white, my chest heaving as I hacked out the last bit of water.

I wiped my mouth and spit into the ocean with a grimace as I muttered, "This fucking sucks."

"Pal…"

I lurched around, eyes wide. On the other side of the raft was a familiar blue dolphin Pokemon looking at me with obvious confusion and concern in its eyes as it tilted its head.

"A Palafin?" I said in surprise as I gaped at it.

"Pal?" It cutely tilted its head in the other direction.

I smiled wide and crawled closer to it without falling over the side.

"Boy am I glad to see you, Palafin," I said happily. "I'm in a bit of a spot here."

The Palafin spun slowly in place, taking in our surroundings. It came back around and slowly nodded.

"Pal.. Fin Pal?" It asked with a frown.

I sighed and said, "Just me, sadly. I don't have any food or drinkable water either." I shook my head with a frown. "I'm May."

I paused after I said that and my brow twitched in annoyance.

You could've just asked me to lie, Boss.

I blinked, splayed out my left hand, and asked, "Are you a boy?" I splayed out my right. "Or a girl?"

Palafin booped its nose against my right hand, making me smile and retract them.

"Then girl," I said with a grin. "Whatever you're doing with your skin? Stunning."

She preened and did a backflip in the air with a cry before coming close to the raft.

I giggled and said, "You're welcome." I cleared my throat and sobered up. "Palafin, do you know where the closest landmass is? Preferably one with other humans? Or a Chansey clan at least?"

My talking partner tilted her head in confusion. She started to mime something, but was interrupted as a much larger Palafin suddenly breached the surface next to us, a thoroughly unamused expression on its face as it looked at the smaller one. She blanched and half submerged herself in embarrassment before rapidly speaking to the larger 'mon, using a heavy mix of words and body movement. She flicked her tail in my direction a couple of times near the end before settling with an awkward smile.

The larger 'mon turned to stare at me and then the raft with a raised eye ridge.

I swallowed my nerves and said, "I know we're strangers to each other, and you have no reason to trust me. But, if it will not take you too far away from your territory, please help me. If not by yourself then by asking another Pokemon who can. I know that this will sound manipulative, but I will die here without help." I pressed my head to the raft in a rough kowtow.

They were both silent for a few moments. I slowly lifted my head to see the larger Palafin looking down in thought.

"Pal…" It sighed with a masculine tone. It looked up at me and nodded. "Pala."

I grinned wide and muttered a wet, "Thank you."

The two Pokemon dove under the water and disappeared from view. A few moments later the entire pod breached all around me. Several of them began to push the raft with their noses, making me stumble as it began moving and picking up speed. I crawled to the front and held on tight, sighing in relief as I felt the wind cooling my body down and drying my hair as it whipped behind me.

The smaller Palafin stuck close to me for a while, animatedly chatting about something I would never understand. I just smiled and nodded along as the occasional Finizen swam up and rubbed against her side before rejoining the bulk of the pod.

The sky stayed sparsely cloudy as we traveled for the rest of the day. As sunset neared, my stomach was constantly growling for food, making me grimace and hunch over slightly. The Palafin who constantly stuck by me looked at me in worry, but I waved her off.

"I can last until you help me get to land," I said with a twitchy smile to try and soothe her. "I need either berries or cooked meat, and I can't get either right now. Honestly, non-salt water is my main concern."

A light bulb seemed to go off above her head as she suddenly trickled a weak Water Gun onto the raft. I immediately cupped my hands under it until the hollow filled up. Once it was overflowing, I slowly brought it up to my face and sniffed it before dipping my tongue into it.

I looked at her earnest expression and said, "To be safe, let's not do too much of this. I don't want to risk getting sick with help so far away."

At her hesitant nod, I slowly swished and drank the cool water, making sure to take my time with it.

Tastes fine, I thought with emerging hope. The memory of the single time I played Oregon Trail went through my mind. Let's hope I don't get dysentery, or something worse.

Regardless of the potential issues of drinking from a water type attack, the immediate relief of hydration was more than enough to raise my morale. I sighed, a smile on my face, and laid on my back near the edge of the raft closest to Palafin as I used my arm to shade my eyes from the sunlight of the setting sun bouncing off of the ocean surface.

There was a sudden splash and a heavy weight landed on my legs, making me grunt and lurched upward to see Palafin staring at me earnestly, a smile on her face.

I looked at her flatly and asked, "What are you doing, Palafin?"

She shrugged and cuddled between my legs, a content expression on her face. I rolled my eyes as a soft smirk crossed my lips and I lightly rubbed her head. She seemed to enjoy it as she closed her eyes and leaned into it with a soft Paaal…


"Land ahoy!" I cheered out as the soot-marked peak of a mountain came into view on the horizon.

Palafin and several of the Finizen cheered happily alongside me. The leader of the pod just huffed in mock annoyance and rolled his eyes like an old man. It took nagging from his daughter and other relatives, but he did finally soften towards me as I told him bits and pieces of May's journey and offered some training advice the day prior, which he took begrudgingly. Regardless, I was both extremely hungry from lack of food and still very thirsty as I only partook in Palafin's Water Gun a handful of times.

I grinned wide as the water slowly changed from the open ocean's deep blue to a gorgeous light blue-green that stuck around due to the lack of contaminants that would usually make the water murky.

Haven't seen water this pretty since my port visit to Spain, I thought with a grin.

I grew happier the closer we got to shore as more and more Pokemon came into view, from Wingull and Pelipper flying in the sky to Marill, Goldeen, and various other water types swimming around. Several of them were skirting around the pod, obviously curious about why ocean Pokemon were so close to land. I waved wildly at a buff looking Azumarill who kept between us and a couple of Azurill and an older Marill. The Azurill duo gleefully waved back with the ball of their tails, making me giggle. A curious Horsea approached as we began to slow down and started conversing with the perimeter defenders. It leaped into the air slightly to get a look at me as I waved at it as well. As we passed some rocky formations spearing into the sky, other flying types like the Taillow line and bug types like Beautifly and Volbeat fluttered about the shore, thoroughly enjoying the warm, cloudless day.

I dove into the water for the last bit once I saw sand slowly coming into view. Palafin cheered and swam alongside me, a giant grin on her face as she bumped against me a few times. I grinned wide and grabbed onto her dorsal fin.

"Let's take a lap!" I called out.

"Pala!" she agreed as she tensed.

I took a breath and held it as we went under the water, disturbing the underwater guards as we rocketed past them. We swam through the clear waters around the various rock formations, accidentally knocking a snoozing Corsola off of its perch and scattering a small cluster of different water types.

Was that a Piplup? I thought as a familiar small shape was sent crashing into a Feebas.

I patted Palafin's side and she rocketed into the air with a bright cry.

"Woohoo!" I cheered alongside her as we came back down.

I then proceeded to bellyflop the water's surface with a sharp Clap! and slowly sink under. The first thing I saw was a Poliwhirl who was holding its gut and spinning in laughter, making me grimace and glower in embarrassment as I felt my cheeks warm. Palafin swam over to me, mirth in her eyes as she nudged my stomach, making me flinch. She hooked my arm around her and softly breached as she slowly took me back to the pod, where her father was near shore and staring at us in annoyance.

"Sorry," I croaked out as I slowly got my feet under me and walked over to him. I nodded deeply with a smile and said, "Thank you and your pod for all of your help. I would have died out there if not for you."

His expression changed to a soft smile as he nodded back. He then softly booped his nose against my leg and gave a cry. In response, the pod turned around and started their long journey back out to the open ocean. His daughter looked at me sadly as she hesitated, looking between her family and me. I just rubbed her head and sides with a small smile.

"We'll see each other again," I said warmly. "The world isn't that big and there's only so many paths to travel."

She brightened and swam around me rapidly before splashing into the air with a cry and rejoining her family.

I sighed as they quickly faded from view. After a while, I turned to look at the raft by my side where it just floated about innocently. I then turned to the shore.

It was a mixture of soft sand and rocks that swiftly jutted upward to my left to form a cliff. To the right, the beach wrapped around and faded from view. To the center was an oppressive amount of trees and foliage with no obvious trodden path in sight. The larger versions of the locals were eyeing me warily as they got their young behind them, not quite sure what to make of me. A small trio of Machop were eyeing me for a different reason, a competitive glint in their gazes.

I ignored them and returned to the raft. With a huff I hooked my arms underneath it and lifted one end out of the water and began walking backwards toward the shore. I heaved and grunted in exertion as the bulk of the raft began to leave the ocean, my sneakers digging into the sand and creating divots while sweat mixed with salt water and trailed down my brow.

"Oh, there's actually logs as the base," I muttered in surprise as I got a look at the side of it.

At least I can- "Shit!"

My shoe hit a slick spot and I crashed to my back and yelped as the raft fell onto my legs.

"Grrruuuuck!" I gasped out in pain and clenched the raft tightly as I grit my teeth and growled out harshly.

I struggled to catch my breath as I looked around to find that a majority of the local Pokemon had scattered at the sudden excitement. I inhaled gasping breaths as I grabbed the underside of the raft and tried to lift it, but the poor angle and weight meant I could barely shift it before it settled back onto my legs.

I laid back and took another look around. The trio of Machop who were eyeing me earlier were now huddled together as they stared at me.

"Can you help me?" I called out to them. "I can't lift this by myself."

They looked at each other before the largest one slowly approached. The smallest tried to pull them back but they said something that made them calm down. They power walked over and easily grabbed the underside and hefted it off of me like it was nothing.
With the provided room, I crawled backwards far enough to where I was out of the way. The Machop dropped the raft unceremoniously and clapped their hands together, dispersing some wet sand that got onto them.

I sat up and rubbed my legs as I said, "Thank you." I took a breath and held out my hands and asked, "Are you a boy or girl?"

For a moment they looked at me weird, and pointed.

I smiled warmly and said, "Thank you, big man, I really appreciate it."

He puffed up at that and flexed with a smile and a laugh, making me giggle alongside him.

"Yes yes, you're my big and strong hero," I hyped him up as I slowly got to my feet.

At this point his fellows had made their way over, as had a couple of other Pokemon who had grown curious about the strange human in their midst. It was at this point that my stomach aggressively growled, catching everyone off guard.

I gripped my gut with a grimace and said, "Sorry. I've been out on the ocean for almost three days. I really need some food and clean drinking water before I drop."

The middle Machop perked up at that and ran a little ways into the forest nearby. At the same time, a pudgy Marill timidly walked over and gestured at itself before sending out a weak Water Gun. I got down onto my knees and let it fill my hands up before I carefully drank it down. With a grateful sigh, I rubbed the Marill's head. It tensed up at first, but quickly leaned into the affection with a soft cry once it realized that I wasn't hurting it. The Machop came running back, a bundle of three different berries in its arms, a Cheri and Oran berry fell out of its grip onto the sand where they were swiftly picked up by a passing Wingull. It came up to me and held out the small collection of berries with an awkward smile.

I grinned wide and said, "Thank you. That's very kind."

I took the berries into my arms and took care to ignore my roaring stomach as I slowly ate into an Oran berry. I smacked my lips in thought as berry juice ran down my chin.

"That really isn't sweet at all, huh?" I asked rhetorically before taking another bite. Once I finished the Oran berry, I nibbled on a Cheri berry.

"Oof," I said with a grimace and an exhale. I coughed and stared at the gathered up Pokemon in disbelief as a spicy heat built up in my mouth. "You guys like this one?" I gasped out.

The Marill turned out to be a sharpshooter as it spat a Water Gun into my mouth. I swished it around and swallowed before giving it a thumbs up in thanks. A couple of them shook in amusement as they laughed out their names. I just looked at them flatly before shaking my head and trying a Pecha berry.

"Oh, that's much better," I said as I swiftly tossed the rest of it in my mouth.

I glanced at the amount of berries I had left then at the group surrounding me. I noticed that a few more were beginning to cluster further away near the cliff or in the trees nearby as their curiosity couldn't quite beat out their wariness.

With barely a thought, I handed everyone in my immediate vicinity a berry. They all tried to give the berries back, but I just pushed them closer to them and aggressively ate another Pecha berry from my small pile. With juice staining my shirt I gestured at their berries before popping a Cheri berry in my mouth and immediately regretting it.

"Go on," I said with a full mouth. "Eat up. I feel weird being the only one."

The biggest Machop grabbed the Oran berry I shoved toward him and patted the sand off of it before eating it in one bite with an appreciative smile. Seeing this, the rest did the same to varying enthusiasm.

I just grinned and continued to eat with them as I thought, The humans of this time are crazy, thinking that all Pokemon are just hyper-aggressive monsters out for blood.

"Do you guys know where other humans, like me, are?" I asked as I finished my last berry.

The group tensed up at that and looked at each other.

"Maaa…" The biggest Machop said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

I sighed and said, "Let me guess: Overly fearful or aggressive to anything within their territory?"

At their rapid nods, I slouched in a pout.

"Figures," I muttered to myself. I hummed in thought as I sat down and leaned backwards onto my hands. I groaned as nothing came to mind and I rubbed my face. "Unfortunately, I think I need to meet with them."

At this, several of them tried to stop me as I stood up and patted down my clothes as best as I could. I just smiled gratefully at them and waved them off.

"I don't need you guys to take me there," I said carefully. "I just need you to point the way."

The big Machop grumbled to himself as he paced back and forth for a moment. He rapidly spoke to the gathered Pokemon and they all engaged in a quick conversation. Whatever they were discussing, he eventually sagged and nodded. He looked up at me and pointed inland, then at the sun. He made a wide circle motion with his arm then gestured to the left. He then repeated the circle motion twice.

I slowly nodded and said, "Travel inland." I pointed at the forest. "For one day," I made a circle after pointing at the sun. "Then turn left and travel for two days."

He sighed and nodded sadly, sagging slightly.

"Hey," I said as I leaned over to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry. I might not be a match for a Pokemon in a fight, but I'm no slouch against a regular human." I stood up and clicked my tongue in worry. "Finding a safe spot to sleep without encroaching on a Pokemon's toes might be an issue, however." I ended up shrugging and said, "I'll just use the trees, I guess."

I waved goodbye to them, making sure to thank them a couple more times now that I no longer felt hungry or thirsty for the first time in days. I stopped at the entrance to the forest and found a relatively straight, downed branch. Aware that they could still see me, I removed the extra offshoots and held the lengthy piece of wood in a two-handed grip. I frowned, seeing its length in relation to how dense the forest was. A quick snap and I now had two shorter lengths of wood I could dual wield if necessary.

I took a slow breath and held my head high as I entered the forest, the dense foliage rapidly swallowing the view of the beach and worry-filled Pokemon. The calls of various Pokemon was simultaneously muffled and amplified by the vegetation in a way that made me feel surrounded on all sides. I tried to not let it get to me as I attempted to project an aura of confidence as I walked deeper into the island…? Continent?

Technically speaking, every landmass is an island, I thought with a chuckle.

It was noticeably darker and cooler in the forest as the mountainous trees blocked out the sky with their all-encompassing canopy. Despite this relief from the sun, the humidity was still strong. It was a more physical sign that the version of May I had been pushed into, not Brendan, was the one to move to Hoenn from the much cooler Johto region.

An unexpected rustling to my left made me freeze. A slender tan and brown form slithered out from the underbrush, a large berry in its mouth. The Linoone froze when it saw me, its fur poofing out slightly to make itself look bigger.

"I don't want a fight," I mumbled as I averted my gaze and took a few slow steps backward.

Linoone hissed at me, spraying berry juice everywhere as it took off running, immediately disappearing in the bushes. I waited for a few heartbeats before sagging in relief. I sighed and continued on.

I imagine the deeper I get, the closer I'll get to other humans. The closer I get to other humans, the more wary and apprehensive the Pokemon will be. I need to be careful.

I took my time, making sure to stay relatively straight on my self-imposed path and to not rush things so that I don't burn through my recently gained calories too quickly. Hours passed my by as I did this, with only a handful of other interactions with the locals to make things interesting. I paused at a small clearing clustered with boulders of varying sizes and stretched with a groan as I took a break from roughing it. I sat atop one of the larger rocks and just… took in the atmosphere of my current situation. I couldn't help it as a large grin crossed my face.

I'm in the Pokemon world, I thought with glee as I huffed out a laugh and my hands gripped my knees tightly as I tittered back and forth.

Of course, Boss Llama couldn't let me be happy for too long as I heard the snap of a branch and buzzing wings behind me. I leaped off of the rock and crashed onto the ground on my stomach. A microsecond after I heard a crunchy slice. I turned over to see a Scyther standing next to the rock, one blade arm outstretched as the corner of the rock slid off and fell to the ground with a dull thunk, from being cut cleanly in two. The Pokemon glowered at me like I was the bane of its existence. Coupled with the glint of light bouncing off of its blade made me capitulate immediately.

"I apologize if I'm in your territory!" I shouted out as I kneeled before it in an attempt to calm it down. "I only meant to rest for a moment before being on my way. I mean you no harm or disrespect."

Scyther growled out its name and pulled its arm back for another attack. I flinched and dove out of the way in the nick of time with a bastardized dodge roll that jerked my shoulder. I quickly stood up, grasping my shoulder with a wince as Scyther yanked its blade out of the dirt. It snarled and pointed directly at me.

Silver energy flared around it as it suddenly blurred in front of me, arms ready for a dual slice to cleave me into thirds.

Quick Attack, my brain helpfully provided as I saw my personal reaper right in front of me.

"Maaaa! Chop!"

The big Machop came from nowhere with an aggressive cry as he crashed into the Scyther's side, sending it sprawling. He stood in front of me in a brawler's stance, fists ready, with a look of determination on his face. Scyther stared hatefully at him as it slowly stood up and cracked it's neck.

I shakily exhaled and said, "Machop, it's strong and your attacks won't do much. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Machop's stance sagged slightly before he shook his head and tensed back up with a nod. I nodded back and walked behind him as I tried to recall as much of May's personal experience as possible with my knowledge of the games to reinforce it.

"Alright," I said. My voice sounded firmer, more confident and ready to give commands. "Keep mobile, dodge whenever possible, and keep an ear out for my commands. You ready?"

"Chop," Machop said with a firm nod.

Scyther tensed as its wings flared with a silvery-blue energy.

Wing Attack.

I thrust out my hand and shouted, "Go!"

They charged at each other simultaneously. Scyther's superior speed was evident as it made it to Machop before he could manage five steps. His instincts were strong, however, as he intentionally slid into Scyther's leg, knocking it off course and crashing into a rock with a grunt. He then snapped to his feet and Karate Chopped the Scyther's limb.

The quad-resisted attack, as expected, didn't do much to the strong bug-flying type. In fact Scyther let out a crackly laugh as it swiped at Machop before standing up.

I growled and shouted out, "Leer every chance you get! Get those defenses down!"

Machop followed my instructions to the letter as he kept himself moving in unpredictable directions, only stopping to Leer when the opportunity arose. The Scyther snarled and got angrier as Machop's smaller form made him difficult to hit for the larger 'mon.

Not to be outdone, I kept moving as well. I knew better to be stagnant in a fight. Legends showed me that as much as May's memories did.

Fucking Giga Impacting Snorlax, I thought with a growl.

I did my best to keep a boulder between the fight and me as I watched for any available opening. Machop was able to get one last Leer in before Scyther snarled and slashed him away.

"Focus Energy into Low Sweep!" I called out, "Send 'em crashing!"

Machop rolled to his knees and swept his eyes all over Scyther's form as it flew in, one blade drawn back and glowing with a pale green energy.

Fury Cutter, May's memories provided.

"Now!"

Machop planted a hand onto the ground and spun, his foot flaring with orange energy as Low Sweep cracked into Scyther's legs. This sent it crashing to the earth and the move faded as its concentration broke. Machop took the initiative and leaped onto its chest. Arms pulled back and smashed down onto any part of the bug's body they could reach as Machop started a nasty ground and pound.

Scyther's growl turned into a roar as it threw Machop off with a smack and sent itself into the air with a single flap of its wings. It turned and glared at me with fury in its eyes as its limbs shook, a dark purple bruise swelling on its cheek and chest. It stomped forward, the sheer rage emitting from it made me step back in equal measure.

"Maa!" Machop cried out as he Karate Chopped the back of its head.

"Focus on the wings!" I ordered. "Keep it grounded!"

What started was a brutal back and forth as Machop did everything in his power to disable Scyther's wings. Not to be outdone, Scyther slashed around him like a madman, as much as it hit Machop, it destroyed rocks and felled a rather unlucky tree. It got a hard hit in and sent Machop crashing through a rock. Luckily though, it seemed his efforts were fruitful as the Scyther's wings twitched, but couldn't vibrate enough for lift.

"Tsch… Sssscytherrrr!" Scyther roared out as it crouched, pure rage in its eyes at being damaged in such a way.

Its wings struggled, but they managed to glow a silvery blue once more as it threw itself forward.

Shit!

I bolted over and grabbed Machop in a roll, just managing to get us out of the way of a devastating Wing Attack. Its attack didn't stop, however, as it flew through the last few rocks on its return trip.

I braced and quickly muttered, "Machop, I need you to-"

He shoved me aside, his body writhing with an orange miasma. He crossed his arms in an X in front of him as a look of pure determination was on his face. Scyther roared and crashed into him, kicking up a cloud of smoke and loose dirt.

I was sent rolling away from ground zero as my back hit the felled tree.

"Machop!" I yelled out in worry as I struggled to stand up.

The dust quickly cleared, revealing Machop, heavily injured but still standing, firmly holding on to Scyther's blades. Scyther thrashed but wasn't able to escape the grip of the smirking fighting type.

"Maaaa…" Machop softly growled out as the miasma flared. "Chooop!"

He rolled his body and threw Scyther over his shoulder, sending it cratering into the ground with a thunderous Thoom! as the ground cracked and pebbles shook. One of its wings was clearly broken as the impact made it bounce off of the ground. Its exoskeleton was shattered with spider webbed fault lines covering its back as spittle flew from its mouth.

Not yet finished, Machop grabbed his opponent and spun in place before launching them skyward. They hung up there for a second before they came crashing back down in the same spot.

Revenge into Seismic Toss, my brain provided as I slowly made my way over to the two Pokémon.

Machop held firm as Scyther struggled to stand before it collapsed, out cold. He waited for a moment before sagging and wavering from side to side. I ran over and steadied him, a look of awe on my face.

"You did great, Machop," I said softly with a massive smile on my face.

He shakily patted my arm and nodded with a smirk.

"Maa Chop," he said with a jittery breath as he finally straightened up.

"Well," I mentioned with a small grin. "That's twice now you saved me, hero."

He tensed for a moment before laughing, bracing a hand on his knee. I couldn't help but laugh along with him.

I sighed, then froze as a thought occurred, "Machop, you told your parents you were following me, right?"

Machop froze mid laugh as a look of pure 'Oh, shit' crossed his face and his complexion paled. He pressed his hands to his head and he hunched over as his knees shook.

"Ma… Choke," came a sudden voice from the surrounding treeline.

Oh, fuck, I thought as my face paled. His parent's an Alpha.

The massive Machoke slowly stepped into the destroyed clearing, the other two Machop from the beach were right behind it, peeking out from behind its legs. It stared at me, radiating power, and I rapidly stepped away from its son as I averted my gaze and kept myself small.

Machoke ignored me entirely from that point, obviously seeing me as a non-threat. It looked around the clearing, seeing the destroyed rocks and the felled tree, then the unconscious Scyther still at Machop's feet. Machop, to his credit, stood straight and wore his injuries with pride as he looked his parent in the eyes.

They had a heated back and forth that clearly started as a parent scolding their child, if Machop's sagging form meant anything. But, their tones shifted away from stern to conversational as Machop spoke for a time. Machoke only interrupted twice with what was probably a brief question, which their son rapidly answered. At the end, Machop walked over and stood in front of me and seemed to posture.

Machoke huffed out an exhaling chuckle as it shook its head. Machop sighed in relief and turned to look up at me with a smile as he pointed at his parent.

I, slowly, looked at them to see them staring at me with a neutral expression on their face. They looked me up and down and paced around me. Despite my wired nerves, I kept calm and stood strong and looked ahead. When they came back around, instead of diverting my eyes I looked up at them. We stared at each other for a time, the entire time I felt my left hand repeatedly clenching and unclenching to keep my knees from shaking.

They finally snorted in amusement and patted my head with their massive hand, disrupting my already ruffled hair. They took one last look at Machop, nodded, and turned and walked away, the other two following close behind.

I sagged and fell onto my butt once they left. Machop came over and grabbed my arm, a look of worry on his face. I patted his hand slowly.

"I'm fine," I said softly. "That was just… a lot." I was quiet for a moment. "Did you… did you tell them you were staying with me?"

He nodded, a firm look on his face. He slapped a fist to his chest and gave a sharp cry of his name. I giggled and patted between the fins on his head.

"Good to know that I have such a brave protector by my side," I said warmly. I groaned as I stood up. "Now, let's find us some Oran berries."

A good bit later and we reentered the clearing with a bundle of Oran berries between us. As we dug in, Machop especially to heal his injuries, I placed roughly a quarter of my berries in a row in front of the Scyther.

"Ma! Chop Ma!" Machop complained as he saw me do this.

"Enough," I firmly stated, not quite snappish, as I turned to stare at him.

Seeing I was serious, he quieted down.

"They may have started the fight, but that does not mean we can treat them with disrespect," I said as I placed the last berry and walked far enough away from it to not be a threat. "Every opponent, regardless of temperament, personality, or personal opinion deserves respect for being willing to fight for what they believe in. I don't care if it's for the greater good, for survival, or just for following orders. If they fight with us or against us, you will treat them justly. Am I understood?"

Machop was quiet as he stared at me, before he nodded firmly. He then took two of his berries and placed them with mine. I smiled at him as he returned and patted his shoulder. At this, he smiled in return and went back to nibbling on a berry as he kept his eyes on the Scyther.

A little while after we finished eating, the Scyther gasped and grunted as consciousness came back to it. It slowly looked around, froze when it saw the Oran berries, then jerked when it saw we were still here.

"Scy…" it growled as it struggled to stand.

"Calm down," I said warmly. "If we wanted you dead, why would we have gone through the effort of getting you those berries? Please, eat. You will feel better."

It shifted its eyes between the two of us before returning to the berries in front of it. It growled again and tried to flare its wings, but cried out as the broken one twitched. The pain flared bad enough it crashed back down, its head right next to a berry. It gasped for breath, wincing each time, as it stared at it.

It let out a firm exhale as it ate several berries whole, sagging in relief as the pain started to fade. With its eyes trained on us it ate the rest of the berries and shakily stood up, anger and embarrassment in its eyes. I just smiled and nodded at it while Machop crossed his arms with a tiny frown.

"Be nice," I said as I poked the side of his head.

Machop groaned and said something that made Scyther pause. It then snorted in mild amusement as it stared at me.

"I'm sorry," I suddenly said.

They both froze at this.

"I don't know what the other humans did, but, I'm sorry." As I continued, Scyther just stared at me with an unrecognizable expression on its face, "I just hope that like how no two Pokémon are the same, you'll come to realize that no two humans are the same either. Yes, we can be mean. We can be aggressive. We can be cruel. But, most of us are nice. You just have to give us the chance to show you."

Scyther snorted and jerked its head to the side. It then slowly walked out of the clearing away from the two of us, presumably back to its nest to recover from its injuries.

I sighed and said, "Shame. I would've liked to have a Scyther on our team."

"Ma!" Machop looked up at me with disbelief on his face as he gestured to the destroyed clearing.

I just raised an eyebrow and rhetorically asked, "So you wouldn't want a Pokémon that strong fighting alongside you?"

He froze at that and took another look around. He sighed and shrugged, giving a small nod at the end. I smirked good-naturedly and pat between his fins, then stretched my arms as I stood back up.

"Alright," I said as I popped my back. "Let's get moving. I want to get to a good resting place before nightfall."

Machop nodded and took the lead as we started this journey together. He easily parted foliage out of the way with firm Karate Chops, clearing just enough to allow me relatively smooth passage. Thankfully our travel was uninterrupted, either the sound of our fight or his parent's recent presence spooked the locals enough that they didn't want to bother us. Sporadically through our trip, I verbally thought out different training ideas.

"That you know how to use Revenge tells me that you're decently strong already. Tomorrow morning I want to take the time to get a gauge on your strength, stamina, and moves so that we know where to start. From there… we'll just have to wait and see what happens with the humans."

Machop nodded from his place in front of me as we broke into another clearing. This one had no trees at all, revealing a darkening sky above with little points of light starting to emerge. I looked around and didn't see any other Pokémon other than a small duo of Silcoon and Cascoon cuddling in a nearby tree.

"This'll work," I said as I placed my hands on my hips. "Do you know of any Pokémon who could give us trouble tonight?"

Machop thought for a moment before shaking his head and giving a thumbs up. He looked proud of himself, having only seen me do it a couple of times before. I snickered and patted his head. I looked around and took a mental guesstimate as to the length of the clearing's edge.

Eighth of a mile, maybe, I thought with a twitch of my nose.

"Alright then," I stated as I took off my sweat pants and hung them on a low hanging branch. "Let's do some laps around this clearing to burn a little bit of energy. I have a feeling that I'm going to need to do a lot of workouts if I want to work with you properly."

He had stars in his eyes as he enthusiastically nodded in agreement. We both took a brisk jog and started running around the edge of the clearing. A random passing Zigzagoon looked at us like we were a bunch of morons and continued on its way.

With my long legs I was able to easily get ahead and even lap Machop, much to his slighted pride. This caused him to pick up speed, but I snapped out.

"This is for distance! Not speed!" I said as I heard his footsteps get heavier, "It's a marathon, not a sprint."

He grumbled about it, but did slow back down. Despite my own personal experience with this type of exercise and the body of an older May who had gone on numerous journeys, I was only able to manage about eighteen laps before I had to stop due to the burning and tensing of my legs. I stood tall and placed my hands behind my head as I slowly walked to keep my legs from locking up, making sure to take deep, slow breaths.

Machop, seeing this, seemed to contemplate between stopping himself or continuing on. A fire lit in his eyes as he chose to continue jogging. He passed me several times over as I did two more laps around the clearing at a casual walking speed before I saw him suddenly stagger mid stride.

"Alright," I announced. "Two lap cool down like I did."

Thirty-two, I idly thought as Machop mimicked me by placing his hands behind his head as he slowed down to a walk for the last few laps.

He came over, looking proud of himself as his breathing steadied. I could see his legs shaking slightly. With a nod of acknowledgment, I pat his head and gave him a grin.

"Let's finish with some slow stretches," I stated as I spread my legs shoulder width apart and began several stretches to work the legs, each lasting ten seconds.

Machop's previous bulking efforts made this into a challenge for him as he struggled to do some of the stretches. At the end of it, though, he had a large smile on his face as he followed me to where I hung up my sweat pants. I swiftly put them back on and sat down against the tree and sighed in relief as I gave one final stretch of my legs.

"We'll need to see if we can find a water type tomorrow," I mentioned as I felt my body sagging from the day's activities. "You might be able to drink from a stream, but there's a strong possibility that I could get sick. Either way, we can't sustain ourselves on just the juice from the berries we eat."

Machop slowly nodded before an idea seemed to come to mind. He ended up patting his chest and nodding firmly with a smirk on his face.

Adorable, I thought with a small grin.

I laid back further and closed my eyes.

"Wake me up when it's my turn for watch, alright?" I muttered as I felt sleep quickly take me away.


I woke up to a brightening sky overhead. My back was tense from laying on the ground, as I had evidently slid off of the tree at some point during the night. I sat up and looked around in confusion, only to find Machop sitting a few paces away from me and sluggishly turning every so often.

I yawned, which blended into a growl as I stood up and asked, "What part of 'wake me up when it's my turn for watch' did you fail to understand?"

It took him a moment to recognize that I was there, hands on my hips and stomping a foot in annoyance. He jerked to his feet, almost stumbling back down in his exhaustion, but managed to catch himself. He slowly stiffened up and looked at me.

"Maa…" He tried to say something but was interrupted by a big yawn. "...chop."

I pursed my lips and picked him up with a huff, ignoring his disgruntled struggles. I planted his rear in front of the tree and forced him to lean back.

"Sleep," I said firmly as I held him there until he finally stopped trying to move. "I'll get us some berries to eat. We'll talk about this later."

He mumbled his name a couple more times but was quickly snoring, a line of drool trailing down his chin. I shook my head in disbelief and turned to see a couple of giggling Shroomish who swiftly bolted once they noticed me looking at them.

I looked around and thankfully saw a bush bursting with Pecha berries nearby. One berry picking expedition later and I had a large bundle piled in my shirt. I carefully sat down and dropped a third of the berries next to my snoring companion as I ate my portion for breakfast. After I finished eating, I took off my sweat pants like last night.

Fucking hate working out in sweat pants, I mentally grumbled as I sighed in relief after hanging them on the same branch as before.

I clapped my hands and dropped to start some push-ups…

I managed fifteen.

"This is sad," I grumbled into the dirt as my arms throbbed.

With a soft sigh, I stood up and started some light full body stretches to loosen my muscles up. Afterwards, with a glance at the still sleeping Machop and the untouched pile of food, I started jogging around the clearing like last night, this time at a slightly quicker pace.

Machop snorted himself awake as I passed him by on my last lap. He jerked around mid-yawn and rubbed his face. I watched as he looked down at the berries then at me, crust still on the edges of his eyes.

"Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty!" I called out sarcastically, "Glad you could join us!"

He tried to join me on the jog, but I snapped an arm to the food.

"Eat," I said sternly.

He grumbled, but did as I said. I joined him after my cool down laps and stretches and sat down in front of him. I just stared at him with a slight frown.

"Do you understand why I was disappointed in you this morning?" I asked plainly.

He froze, swallowed the food in his mouth, then looked away while nodding.

"Look at me," I said as I pointed at my face.

He turned to look at me. I took in his expression, saw that he looked legitimately chastised, and sighed.

"For the sake that we haven't been together long, I will explain so that there is no misunderstanding," I said softly, my voice shifting to a more caring tone. "Machop, I was disappointed because I asked you to wake me up when it was my turn to watch over us. You did not do so. Instead, you let me sleep and stayed up all night and into the morning when you should have gotten some shut eye. Now, I did not tell you when to wake me up, so that is my failing."

He jerked his head to say something, but I held my hand up to stop him.

"It is my failing. This… dynamic of ours is new to you, so it was my responsibility to explain what I expected of you. I failed to do so, so that is my fault."

I bowed my head to him. In response he started flailing his arms and rapidly saying his name. I raised my head and patted his as I continued.

"Because of this, we are now behind schedule for your training, as you had to get some sleep and a late breakfast. This will push our journey to the humans on the island back further. Now," I sighed and smiled at him. "What I expect of you in regards to watch is this: You will be vigilant. You will stay moving, not sitting or standing in one place, with your head moving to keep an eye and ear out for anyone who would harm us. Understand so far?"

He nodded firmly as he took in my words.

"The end of your watch will be when the moon is at its apex in the sky. At which point you will wake me up for my portion of the watch so that you can get some sleep. Was I clear with everything?"

He nodded again and yawned.

"Unfortunately," I said, making him pause. "Your punishment is that you will have to forgo sleep until your watch ends tonight at our next stop. Now up you get and get to jogging!"

I clapped my hands, making him jump up and start jogging around the clearing, leaving his remaining berries behind. As he did so, I started another set of stretches before doing push-ups again, this time managing twenty. After his laps and stretches, I grabbed a number of sticks and jabbed them into the dirt across the length of the clearing roughly equal distance apart.

"Now then," I said as I stood before him, hands on my hips. "Welcome to suicides! Your goal for this is to sprint from your starting point, which is where I'm currently standing, to the sticks, and back. You will repeat this at a full sprint for every stick I put in the ground until you've sprinted across the entire clearing. Any questions, comments, or concerns?"

He shook his head. I nodded in response and stepped aside with a conspiratorial grin on my face. He took position and narrowed his eyes in focus as he dug his front foot in slightly. I got into a runner's position next to him, making him glance at me in surprise.

"What?" I asked with a smirk and a raised brow. "I won't make you do anything I'm not willing to do. If you beat me I'll help you learn Fire Punch. How does that sound?"

He perked up at that as a competitive glint flashed in his eyes. On an unknown signal, we both took off toward the first stick at the same time. I learned immediately that while my longer legs might've helped me when we're jogging at the same pace, Machop had significantly more power available and quickly got ahead.

Until he slipped on the damp grass and skidded over two feet past the stick.

I stuck my tongue out at him as I slid early, my sneaker lightly tapping the stick as I sprinted back to the start for the next leg. He proved a quick learner, however, and caught back up during the return of the second part, then out-clipped me for the rest of it.

He was jumping with joy, stars in his eyes, as he congratulated himself for beating me as I gasped for breath on my last leg. I was barely able to stop myself from hunching over as my vision darkened at the edges and I started pacing and breathing slow and deep to calm my still sprinting heart.

"Good job," I wheezed out.

He looked at me in worry, but I waved him off. Once my heart and breathing slowed back down to normal, I rubbed his head and picked up the berries. I shoved them into his arms.

"Finish your breakfast on the road," I said as I slipped my sweat pants back on. "I want to get to a new spot by sunset."

He nodded and led me out of the clearing. The moment we left, I heard the sounds of Taillow and Zigzagoon get louder as a number of them replaced our presence.

"Now, about Fire Punch," I said a bit into our travels.

Machop perked up and he quickly tossed the last berry into his mouth and clenched a fist.

"Obviously, you already know how to mold the needed energies for your fighting type moves. That is not in question. What I want you to do while we walk is think of things that you find hot. It doesn't matter what it is. The point is to think Fire." I waited a moment as he obviously started visualizing whatever it was that came to his mind. "When it comes to your energy, I want you to imagine… Hmm…" I paused for a moment in thought. "Imagine a berry, doesn't matter which one, imagine it bouncing back and forth in random directions, and every time it does it gets a little bit hotter, a little bit brighter. Do this over and over and over again until it's just a white hot blur."

I stopped and got onto one knee, catching his attention as he turned around. I clenched a fist with a smirk.

"Imagine that berry is in the palm of your hand and you're using its heat for your attack. Think you can do that?"

He nodded with a grin, his tongue sticking out between his teeth. I huffed a laugh and stood back up as we continued on.

It was nearing sunset when we heard the sound of rustling bushes, making us freeze. Machop jumped in front and readied himself for a fight as I ran through an imperfect memory of what might be in the area.

A tiny Happiny walked out from the bushes, a stone in her adorable grip. She paused when she saw us standing there, tilted her head, and smiled as she gave us a cheerful wave.

"Aww~" I cooed as I leaned forward, overtaken by how cute she was. My voice was noticeably higher pitched as I said, "Hey there! What do you got there?"

Machop relaxed as I dropped to my knees. Happiny bounced over to us, a giant smile on her face as she held out her Oval Stone for us to look at.

"That's a really pretty stone you have there," I admired with a stupidly large grin on my face as Happiny started excitedly chattering her name.

Machop, evidently used to dealing with younger Pokémon, nodded along with all the seriousness that her topic of conversation deserved. He gave her a smirk and a thumbs up when she finished her story. She tilted her head in confusion, not immediately recognizing the sign for what it meant, but preened in glee anyway.

"Hey, Happiny," I interrupted.

"Happi?" She tilted her head as she turned back to me.

"Are we near your clan?"

She nodded rapidly and pointed to our right with a bounce in her step.

"Do you think they would mind if we stayed with them for the night?" I slowly asked. "It's getting dark soon, and I don't want either myself or Machop to sleep in a tree or get bothered by another Pokémon."

She tilted her head in thought before slapping a paw to her chest and nodding. I grinned in relief and stood up.

Then bounced off of something and crashed back down onto the dirt.

"Happiny!" Happiny waved with an ecstatic grin.

I saw Machop turn around and look behind me, then immediately blanch in shock. I slowly turned over to see who arrived.

I saw pink.

I looked up. And up. And up.

Blissey smiled down at me with all the grace of an angel. Her form, however, was more egg-shaped than spherical and flexed with strength. If Machop's parent was power unrivaled, Blissey was power purely focused.

My first thought was, That's two Alphas in two days.

My second thought was, She stayed a healer so that she could keep her enemies alive for longer.

"Blissey!" She said sweetly, her voice soft and not at all terrifying.

"Uh…" I mumbled for a moment before I shook my head. Standing back up, I ran a hand through my hair and asked, "Did you hear all of that?"

She nodded. I pointed at myself and blinked.

"You won't have an issue with a human mingling with your family?"

Her smile didn't change, but her eyes turned slightly mocking as she calmly placed her paw on my shoulder.

"Machop!" Machop shouted out as he shook my body.

Happiny was looking at me in worry while Blissey calmly spoke over us. I blinked, confused as to how I ended up on the ground. The last thing I remember was…

"Understood," I gasped out as I sat up. "Won't be a bother."

Blissey just smiled and nodded, and started walking away. Happiny hung back for a bit, giving me one last look, before chasing after her. Machop helped me to my feet as he grumbled darkly to himself. I wavered slightly, straightened up, and rapped him on the head, making him flinch.

"Don't annoy the healer," I said seriously. "That's one of the unwritten rules of combat."

He stared at me as I rolled the shoulder she touched. He tilted his head in confusion and I nodded in response.

"There are many unwritten rules of combat. The only two you need to concern yourself with are 'Don't annoy the one who heals you' and 'Don't annoy the one who feeds you'. Keep those in mind and you'll do fine in just about every scenario. Got it?"

He nodded. I just patted his shoulder and headed in the direction Blissey and Happiny went, Machop by my side.

A/N: I'm terrible with names so I apologize in advance.

We waved goodbye to the small clan of healers as dawn broke. Happiny bounced on top of her Alpha's head as she aggressively waved her Oval Stone around and shouted her name across their den. We left feeling refreshed and healthy, as Blissey was amicable enough to have a couple of the younger Chansey look us over. They took extra care of me in particular as, from what I was able to discern, they wanted to take the opportunity to learn as much as possible about the human body in order to heal us better. I offered up what little I knew, which they all seemed to absorb like a sponge as one force fed me an egg.

Machop and I, fully and properly refreshed for the first time in days, quickly got back on track toward the humans who lived in this section of the region. He took the time to try out the advice I gave him yesterday. Every so often he would glare at his clenched fist as if he was trying to force it aflame with his vision alone.

I poked his forehead with two fingers, catching his attention, as I said, "Don't do that, you'll injure yourself. You know better than I do that you can't force it, it has to happen naturally." I rubbed the back of my neck. "After a few days, if my advice doesn't work, we'll try something else. Worst comes to worst, I'm sure we could bug a local fire type for some pointers."

He gave me a weird look and pointed at the ever-present volcano near the center of the region.

I just nodded with a shrug and said, "Yeah? I want to go to the peak of the volcano at some point anyway. Might as well make a day of it when we do."

He just sighed and shook his head as we continued on.

A while later, I flicked the back of his head with a stick. He rubbed the spot and turned to stare at me in disbelief.

I just stared back at him with mirth in my eyes as I calmly stated, "Constant vigilance."

He narrowed his eyes slightly before slowly turning back around. A few minutes passed and I flicked him again in the same spot. He leapt away this time, a look of annoyance on his face. I stared at him and mouthed the words. His upper lip curled and he mumbled to himself, more than likely mocking my words.

I got him five more times before he finally caught me and slipped out of the way, grabbing the stick mid-swing. We stared at each other for a moment until I smirked at him. I let go of the stick and poked his forehead with two fingers again.

"Good job," I said as I walked past him.

He threw the stick aside and jogged to catch up and walk beside me. Things were quiet for a little bit...

I flicked him with my second stick.

He growled and took the stick from me, snapped it in half and threw both pieces in different directions. He crossed his arms and frowned at me, but the expression changed to one of disbelief as I lifted my shirt slightly, revealing the sheer number of sticks I had tucked in my sweat pants.

"I will make you constantly vigilant," I said seriously as I stared at him.

He just facepalmed and ignored me as we got back to walking. As the day progressed, every so often his knuckles would start to smolder but wouldn't progress any further. May's extensive training with Blaziken helped me notice the finer details. Like how the smoke started in between the knuckles as though Machop was holding something hot in his grip. Or how the outside of his fist seemed to faintly flicker a dull red every so often. All of this was telling me that he was on the right track and might succeed in the next few days depending on his tenacity.

Regardless, we kept it moving as the sun and humidity steadily rose and the forest inhabitants woke up around us. Swellow and Taillow flew around looking for food for their flocks, just as the menagerie of bug types flew and scuttled and crawled about in the tree and underbrush. Occasionally a rare Seedot or even a Lotad would cross our path. A vast majority of these Pokémon would notice me with wariness in their eyes, but once they saw that Machop and I were just walking along, they calmed down and continued on their way.

I found myself humming as we traveled. Songs would come and go as fleeting as my attention span during university classes, but I kept coming back to one in particular. I'm not sure if it was my love of the song or May's coordinator influence, but I found myself starting to sing.

"The Road goes ever on and on… Down from the door where it began..."

My voice, despite my timidness and lack of experience, seemed to pierce through the multitude of Pokémon cries that surrounded us as my confidence slowly built up. A pair of Beautifly and Dustox perched on a branch nearby to listen as we walked past. Just as surprisingly, a Nuzleaf silently slipped through a dense cluster of bushes and stared at me as I sang.

"Over grass and over stone… And under mountains in the moon..."

A rather young looking Poochyena cutely tilted its head as my song reached its ears while it was playing with a fluttering leaf. Machop, even as he focused on learning Fire Punch, seemed borderline transfixed on me. The biggest surprise was that between one blink and the next, a tough looking Grovyle had seemingly phased into existence, tucked away on a distant branch half obscured by rustling leaves.

As the song finished I opened my eyes – when did I close them? – and looked around at the audience I had accidentally built up. I felt my face pale as I sputtered and hunched down, covering my head with my arms.

"Don't look at me!" I shrilly yelled out.

To my shock and horror, a few of the wild Pokémon started giving me an applause in their own way. Machop was the loudest as he aggressively clapped his hands in front of my face with an interesting mix of mirth and genuine awe in his expression.

"This is payback for poking you with sticks, isn't it?" I asked as I glared at him.

The little bastard just smirked and nodded.

Let's see how you like when I dual wield, I thought ruefully as color slowly returned to my face.

The Pokémon surrounding us went back to their business once they realized that they weren't going to get a repeat performance. Strangely enough the Grovyle was the last to leave as it stayed in the tree until we were specks in the distance.

We traveled for a good deal longer, stopping for lunch to eat on a sizable rock. Despite knowing that the culture and expectations in this time period between humans and Pokémon were significantly different than the future, I couldn't help but glance around as we ate, half expecting a 'mon to come out from the bushes and challenge us to a fight.

Shit, I need to learn how to make Pokéballs, I thought as I finished my last berry.

It was roughly an hour past noon when we found the forest ahead starting to thin. Through the trees ahead, I could make out what appeared to be a well-worn dirt path, the first sign of human activity I'd seen since waking up on that raft.

"Looks like we're on the right track," I commented as we neared the break in the trees.

He hummed in agreement as we stepped foot onto packed-on dirt. I took a look at the slit of sky visible between the trees to get a gauge of the sun's position, then back at the path.

"Looks like it goes north," I said. I turned around to see where the other direction went. "Then goes south and curls east."

If my mental map is right, which is doubtful honestly, this might be the gap between Petalburg and the woods leading to Rustboro.

I crouched down and took a closer look at the path, looking for prints.

"Hmm…" I hummed as I rubbed my chin. To my internal glee, I saw Machop mimicking me out of the corner of my eye. I gave him a small smirk, making him avert his eyes. "Most of these prints go north... and these straight divots here. I think these are cart tracks."

I stood up and stretched my back as I said, "Let's go north, we might run into a town or village before dark if we're lucky."

Machop nodded and followed me, still working on Fire Punch as we casually walked the path forward. The path, instead of cutting straight through the forest like it would've been back on Earth, moved in long swooping curves with the landscape and only cut down the bare minimum of trees needed to be useful for a caravan.

I noticed, however, that the further we went, the less Pokémon we encountered. The less Pokémon we encountered, the more tense Machop became. Alongside this, there was some kind of scent in the air that was simultaneously familiar and new to me.

We eventually broke through the forest and out into an early afternoon sky. This part of the landscape was recognizable to me even if it was seen only through a tiny screen. The path veered right and then north down the hill to cut across a shallow pond. There were planks sporadically placed in an attempt to level out a section of the pond for carts to go across without getting bogged down.

There, off in the distance, on the other side of the pond was the decently built up township of Rustboro. Though small now, the future site of Devon Corps's headquarters had a several story building with proper glass windows. Across the way from there was a small single story building where the trainer school would be. Other than that there were numerous houses and other businesses. Far to the north was a large warehouse or factory-looking structure in the progress of being built. The most surprising thing to me was the base of what were possibly power line towers going between the town and the in-progress building.

The blended memory of seeing Rustboro City on TV from watching the anime and of May physically in it with Ash and company made me take another look around and overlay the wilderness before me with the sheer scope of what the small town becomes.

I took a breath and said, "Well, no point in hanging around up here."

I looked down and saw that Machop's hand was shaking. With a slight frown I crouched down in front of him, my hands on his shoulders.

"Hey," I asked. "You okay? What's wrong?"

Machop audibly swallowed and blinked, shifting his head from looking at the town to looking at my face. He strangled out some words, but didn't seem able to finish the sentence.

"Hey, don't be nervous," I said with a small smirk. "Just stick with me and be your handsome self, alright? I'll take the heat if necessary."

He seemed to think hard for a while before firming up and nodding sharply. He gave me thumbs up and grin. I smiled and stood up, patted his head, then started down the path.


"Halt!" Called out the guard at the edge of town.

He held out his hand in a 'wait' gesture. When we stopped he steadily made his way forward while his partner started to fiddle with something attached to the boundary wall. As the guard neared, I saw that his uniform was a dried mud-brown with rust red accents and black jikatabi boots. I also noticed his confused expression at my clothing.

He looked me over and rhetorically asked, "You're not from around here are you, stranger?"

"Afraid not," I responded. "Was stranded at sea for several days before getting ashore a few days walk south east from here."

He raised a brow at that and asked, "How did you survive the journey? The Pokémon should've eaten you before sunrise."

Pokémon, not beasts or monsters, I mentally noted. There might be hope yet.

"That was thanks to the help of my companion, Machop." I gestured to my side.

"Who?"

I blinked in confusion and repeated, "Machop."

I looked down and didn't see him next to me.

"What the…" I muttered. I looked behind me and saw him trying to hide behind my legs, his eyes shut tight. "Hey, come on… no need to be scared."

I softly coaxed him out from behind me, taking his hand in mine. Of course, that timid peace didn't last long.

"Guh geeze!" The guard yelped as he jumped back in shock.

God damn it, I groaned.

I stared at the guard flatly and said, "Quit being a wuss. Machop's friendly."

"Friendly?!" He shrilly exclaimed.

I just sighed and looked down. When I looked up the guard was backpedaling as he looked over his shoulder at a duo of figures approaching from the gates. I checked on Machop to see him taking steady breaths as his hand gripped mine tightly. I rolled my eyes as I watched the guard babble something to the two newcomers.

As they approached, I saw that the man on the left was wearing a fancy vibrantly colored robe that I had no hope of recalling the name of. He had a firm expression set on his face and a wakizashi on his hip. To his side was a smartly dressed woman who had a bundle of papers in her grip.

The guard went back to his post at the gate as his partner seemed to try and calm him down.

"Your guard done getting his crap together back there?" I asked as they neared me.

"We will ask the questions," the man said sternly with a frown.

My expression fell as my eyes snapped to him.

"Sir," I said diplomatically. "I was on a raft for three days and then roughed it through the woods for three more. All I have on me are the clothes on my back. The only reason I am alive right now is because of my friend here." With a tight grin and a hard gaze, I lifted the hand Machop was still holding. "You are obviously someone of great import who got to such a position due to your merits. Would it not be wiser to have this conversation in more pleasant accommodations than out here in the mud?"

The woman hid a sly smile behind the guise of adjusting her glasses. The man just stared at me hard before turning around without a word. Before turning around to follow him, the woman gave me a small smirk and a wink, amusement in her eyes. I looked down at Machop to see him mostly calmed down now that we weren't on the immediate chopping block. I squeezed his hand with a smile and let go. We followed them through the gates and into Rustboro proper. Almost immediately we drew stares and whispers from the local denizens.

Don't I feel welcome, I thought sardonically as I caught the gossipers' gaze, letting them know I heard them.

They froze for a moment before darting away in embarrassment, one slipping into what appeared to be a tailor's storefront and pretending to shop.

We were led to a large building near the center of town, not too far from the just as large building where Devon's HQ will be. The inside was nicely decorated with colorful floor coverings and paintings of landscapes and people hanging on the walls between candelabras. Most interesting to me was that a couple of candelabras at the ends of the entryway were being taken down and replaced with rudimentary light fixtures.

They took us upstairs to a large office with an ornately designed wooden desk and several plush chairs. The woman sat down behind the desk as the man stood behind her, his arms crossed. I took a look at the fancy furniture then at our own dirty forms.

"With respect, ma'am," I said with a smile. "I would prefer us to stand. No reason to get your furniture dirty."

She smiled at that and clasped her hands together atop her desk.

"I thank you for your consideration," she said properly. "I am Marianne Devon, the Firstwarden of Rustboro, which is the town you find yourself in. Behind me is my righthand, Argus Ishigawa. He is in charge of keeping the peace in the town and the surrounding worksites from both humans and Pokémon."

Her eyes glanced at Machop, seeing the mixture of curiosity and tenseness on his form.

She continued and asked, "Your clothing is strange to us. Can you please tell us about yourself?"

I nodded and started telling of the past week. Their expressions changed from surprise at properly learning that I was in fact stranded at sea for several days then shock once again as I told of our fight with Scyther.

"Scyther are very dangerous creatures," Argus commented with a frown. "How were you able to defeat one with just yourself and this small Pokémon?"

I smiled in response as I said, "I have plenty of experience battling against Pokémon with Pokémon. I might not have my old team with me, but as you can see beside me, I was not left completely defenseless as Machop came to my rescue."

"Rather brave for such a creature," Argus said.

I kept up the grin, though my eyes hardened as I said, "Indeed."

I then continued with my story. Their expressions showed curiosity and interest as I briefly spoke of the little training Machop and I had done.

"An alpha Blissey allowed you to rest with its pack?" Marianne asked in disbelief when I got to that part of the story.

"She," I corrected. "And yes. I didn't give her a reason to question my honesty, and she even let two of the younger Chansey look me over. They were genuinely curious about the human body because they wanted to be able to heal a human should the need arise."

"I have several questions," Marianne asked as she poured us all cups of water and passed them around, even offering one to Machop with only slight hesitation.

I smiled as I watched Machop curiously drink from the cup and responded, "I have several answers."

"Firstly, how do you know that the alpha Blissey was female?"

"The entire line is female only," I answered. "Happiny, the first form, Chansey, the second, and Blissey, the third and final form, are a female only species of Pokémon."

She tilted her head in confusion and said, "Then how do they reproduce?"

"Pokémon can mate with a select few outside of their species, and the child will almost always be the same species as the mother."

With a slow nod as she took this information in, she asked, "And how did you know that they wanted to learn about the human body for healing purposes."

"I asked."

They both blinked at this.

"You asked?" Argus repeated.

"I asked," I stated once more. "Pokémon are far more intelligent than most would originally be led to believe. They are capable of just as many complex thoughts and emotions as a regular old human."

They didn't immediately respond to this. They just stilled and took it all in.

"Not much more happened after leaving them this morning," I finished. "We eventually found the path cut through the woods and followed it north until we ended up at the gates."

Machop jerked on my sweat pants and mimed something exiting his mouth. When I looked at him in confusion, he repeated it then pointed at me with sparkles in his eyes.

I blanched.

"What no!" I growled out in embarrassment. "I'm not going to tell them about the song."

The two of them watched us go back and forth for a few moments, their heads moving like they were watching a tennis match.

"What song?" Marianne asked with a slight tilt of her head, genuinely curious.

I glared at Machop as I felt my cheeks redden. To my internal annoyance he just continued to look excited for me as he gave me a smile and thumbs up.

I sighed and said, "Because my friend here is so desperate for me to tell you… Before we stopped for lunch I had a song stuck in my head. At first I just hummed it but did eventually sing it. The local wild Pokémon gathered around us to listen. That's it."

I gave Machop another glare, this one half-hearted, as I crossed my arms with a frown. Marianne smothered a grin as she cleared her throat.

"Thank you for telling us what had happened to you the past few days, May. That begs the question of what will you and your… companion do now?"

I paused as I realized that I didn't even have a starting point to go off of for whatever it was Arceus wanted me to do here. I looked down at Machop to see him looking up at me, seemingly willing to go with whatever I thought was best.

"In the immediate," I said. "We both need to get clean, and I need some new clothes. Something better suited to not only the climate but also the terrain. Unfortunately I don't have any money, for obvious reasons, so I would need to find work. The thing is…" I licked my lips as I thought about how large Hoenn was, not even taking into consideration the islands off the coast. "I don't think we plan on staying long term. I believe there's other things for us to do in the area at large, we just have to go find it."

"A wanderer, then," Marianne said with a slight frown. "Well, we do have accommodations available for visitors, as we do get caravans and traders from other settlements and from a tribe to the north who sends people down on occasion."

The mention of the tribe caught my attention.

Are the Draconids still up at Meteor Falls? I thought with surprise.

"We can get you access to the bathhouse and the tailor's on the expectation that you will pay them back for their services. As for work…" she paused in thought for a moment and ruffled through different piles of papers scattered across her desk. "We do have bounties out for specific Pokémon in the area that have been causing trouble."

"Bounties?" I asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

Evidently catching my change in tone, she quickly said, "Not of that sort. We just have had problems with some Pokémon in the area who have taken an issue with our camps. We don't have many people here who have experience in dealing with Pokémon in any capacity, let alone with wild Pokémon. We would just need you to convince them to stop bothering the workers either by driving them off or by, as you evidently claim is possible, talking with them. Do so successfully and the bounty money is yours."

"Hmm… I'll take that into consideration." I muttered. "Is there anything else?"

"I don't believe so," Marianne said. She looked over her shoulder. "Argus, please show our visitors to the bathhouse, tailor, and the housing complex. Let them know that she will pay them at a later date once she starts work."

Argus gave a firm nod and escorted us out as Marianne got back to her duties. We swiftly went north and a bit west towards a sizable wooden structure with several smoking chimneys poking out of the roof. We entered a main area where an older woman and several younger attendants were working. After a brief word to the matron that left her frowning slightly, Argus went outside and waited.

The matron took a look at our dirtied appearance with obvious disgust and snapped her fingers. Immediately two young women approached and led me and Machop to the right half of the building. I noticed that they stuck to my side that was opposite of Machop.

After shedding my clothes, which an attendant took to get cleaned, and a quick scrub for both of us with water from a couple provided buckets, Machop and I sighed in relief as we sank into the large soaking tub filled with hot water. There were a few other women in the tub as well, but they seemed to prefer conversing with one another than with a stranger, especially one with a Pokémon companion.

A while later, we exited the tub to find my clothes cleaned to the best the attendants could do, which was rather well, but some stains were too set in to be fully removed. Despite this I thanked them all, promised the matron that I would pay what was owed, then left to meet back up with Argus. Wordlessly, he led us back through the town to the tailor's shop I saw earlier.

We entered the small shop and was visually overloaded by the variety of color. Mannequins of smoothed down wood were garbed with either elaborately designed robes or utilitarian attire of thick cloth with very little in between. The person who had whispered about me earlier was long gone. Towards the back of the shop and ruffling through a pile of fabrics was a tall man with dark turquoise hair.

Looks a bit like Wallace, I thought, bemused, as the man turned towards us with a bundle of fabric in his arms.

He stopped cold when he saw us, his eyes immediately landing on me. There were soft thumps when he dropped the fabric as a look of horror came across his face. A sense of dread overcame me as a shiver ran down my spine.

Why does this feel familiar?

"Kaito," Argus said after taking a half step back. "Marianne needs you outfit this visitor-"

"What in the world happened to you~?" Kaito yelped out as he was suddenly in my personal space and yanking at my clothes.

God damn it, I inwardly growled.

Kaito waved Argus off as a pin was suddenly sticking out of his mouth. He dragged me deeper into the shop, leaving Machop standing there awkwardly. I was pushed onto a slightly elevated platform with actual full body mirrors surrounding me as he looked me over with narrowed eyes.

"Now, my darling customer, what are we accomplishing today~?" He asked, eagerly awaiting my answer.

I sighed and said, "Kaito, sir, if you had waited a moment longer, Argus would have told you that I needed a change of clothes with the expectation that I would compensate you at a later date as I, obviously, have no money on my person."

He froze at that for a few heartbeats, then shook his head. With a flourish, he pulled out a roll of tape with etchings on it and began measuring me, smoothly positioning my body where he needed it.

"And what sort of work will you be involving yourself in to pay back everything you will owe, hm?" He asked absentmindedly as he wrote down numbers on a small scrap of paper.

"I agreed to deal with the bounty Pokémon who have been causing problems for the worksites and camps," I answered carefully.

I heard him mutter under his breath, "Dense material… extra protection… forest colors… maybe a tunic…?"

With a nod he finished the last measurement and helped me step off of the platform.

"Very well, darling," he said simply. "Come by in the morning for your initial fitting. Once that's done it should only take me a day to get it finished."

"That quickly?" I asked in surprise with a blink. "I thought custom clothing took several visits over a week at least if you're lucky."

He snorted daintly and said, "Pish posh, darling. I am a master. I shall have you in new clothing that is both beautiful and perfect for your needs by the end of the day after tomorrow or my name isn't Kaito."

I grinned at his confidence and nodded. "Then I shall visit come sunrise, Kaito."

He bowed in response and led me out of the store where Argus and Machop were doing the typical guy thing and waiting outside looking bored out of their skulls. They both seemed to be very thankful that Kaito was finished with me as Argus walked across the street to a long building with several covered carts out front.

"This is where our temporary guests reside during their visits to Rustboro," Argus stated as we entered the main part of the building.

There was a decently-sized open kitchen at the back of the space with what was obviously a bar on the left wall. Numerous sets of tables and chairs took up a majority of the center of the room. Most of them were empty with the exception of a couple which were probably seating the owners of the carts out front. They were nursing some afternoon booze as a heavyset male brought them some kind of stew in wide but shallow bowls. At the edges of the room were hallways and an upward staircase leading deeper into the building. All in all it looked like your average inn or resthouse.

I nodded approvingly and said, "Nice. Who do we need to talk to about getting me a room?"

"That'll be me," a gruff sounding female voice answered.

We turned and saw a short woman with tied back dark red hair who approached us. Though she didn't comment on him, her eyes did glance at Machop as she came over.

"Who's the visitor?" She asked Argus with crossed arms.

"A temporary guest, Yuna," he answered. "Marianne would ask of you to house her."

Yuna raised an eyebrow, glanced at me once more, this time focusing on my clothes, and asked with a frown, "Let me guess. No money and intends on getting work?"

At Argus's nod she harshly sighed and bowed her head. She thought for a moment before raising her head and saying, "Alright." She turned to me. "Rooms are five a night. A meal is two. Keep track so you can pay me, because I won't be."

I nodded seriously and said, "I will. Thank you. I intend on starting with those Pokémon bounties first thing."

At that admission, her expression turned gauging instead of annoyed as she gave the two of us another look.

"Don't die, wanderer," she ended up saying. "Can't collect payment from a dead woman."

I wasn't able to stop my mouth as I said, "Well you could, but grave robbing is frowned upon."

She shut her eyes and slowly exhaled. "You're in room 12, end of the upstairs hall. Just make sure you pay me," she ended up saying before leaving us.

I turned back to Argus to see him staring at me with a slightly raised eyebrow. With an awkward smile and chuckle I rubbed the back of my head, making him shake his head in response.

"Thank you for the help, Argus," I said with a small grin and a nod.

He simply nodded firmly back to us and left without a word. After he left, we kind of just stood there for a moment, not quite sure what to do next. With a shrug, I looked down at Machop.

"Wanna train then get some food?" I asked with a raised brow.

I smirked at his enthusiastic thumbs up as a sparkle lit up his eyes.

Gym junkie, I thought fondly.

I woke with a start and the mixed dream-memory faded like smoke in the wind. I shifted slightly in the darkness of the room as I slowly unwrapped my arm from Machop, who had curled up against my side during the night. I silently slid the thin pillow under his head and he snatched it in his grip with a cute snore, a tiny snot bubble expanding and deflating with his breaths.

With a soft yawn, I grabbed a match to light a nearby candle. The flickering light cast jagged shadows that played tricks on my still-waking mind and made my heart lurch for a moment. I shook my head and slipped on the outfit Kaito made for me.

The first part of the outfit was a dark blue under-suit that covered the upper body, torso, and pelvis. It acted as both an insulator and an extra layer of protection against attacks. Atop this was a matching set of green tunic and pants. The tunic's sleeves were made large and flowing, but had to be wrapped and folded tight to the wrists to prevent them from snagging on branches. The torso part of the tunic was actually pretty interesting in that the front could unclasp and reveal a series of pockets and loops for storing things.

I, of course, stored sticks in there to bug train Machop's situational awareness.

The pants were simple in contrast. Like the tunic sleeves, I had to tightly wrap and fold the ends around my ankles. Once that was done, I slid on tall black socks that covered the wrapped portion. I then tied my hair back with a piece of string and tied a green piece of cloth reminiscent of May's bandana around my hair. I finished the outfit by putting on a pair of brown jikatabi boots and gauntlets made of a dull leather-like material.

The most surprising thing I found about it was how durable, yet breathable the entire thing was. I didn't really feel hot or clammy while wearing it all day, even as the humidity kicked up. Kaito really outdid himself for this. Of course, that also meant there was a substantial cost with it.

I poked Machop awake, making him roll out of bed and blearily start walking around to wake himself up. I blew out the candle and we left the room to get started on our morning workout, giving the cook a wave as we did, the scent of breakfast slowly permeating the open space of the central room of the resthouse.

We started with a jog along the perimeter barrier around the township. The main part of the town, being not that big, meant that the perimeter was maybe half of a mile. With this having become a daily occurrence for us, we managed to jog two miles in just over sixteen minutes. By the end of it, the sun had just started to creep over the eastern horizon with faint streams of sunlight piercing between the treetops.

The town slowly woke up around us as we walked to an open area away from any houses for our more physically demanding exercises. Progress was steady for me as my push-ups slowly increased from the measly twenty to a slightly less measly twenty-five. After this, we got to work on forms.

This exercise wasn't about numbers and was instead more of a collaborative experience for the two of us. Machop ran through the many combat forms that he knew, which were basic attacks that didn't require any enhancement and could be used in a pinch, and gave me tips and pointers as he watched me slowly mimic them. Likewise, I did the same for what little I knew about a couple of martial arts forms from Earth. Him, being a fighting type, quickly picked up the boxer stance I showed him and seemed to instinctively teach himself combos. I, on the other hand, was naturally slower on the uptake.

We were so focused on our training that we failed to notice the glances being sent our way by the waking townsfolk. It was less than it had been at the start, but we still got the occasional side-eye from one of the gossips, who would then spread the news that I still wasn't performing the usual duties that their culture expected of me. They continued to think this despite the fact that their town leader was a woman as they treated her as though she was an exception to the rule rather than a potentially new status quo. Thankfully, that line of thinking seemed to be slowly phasing out and only really prevalent within the older generation. People like Marianne, Argus, Kaito, and Yuna were more modern in their beliefs and treated me no different than anyone else.

Rant about the village elders aside, we finished our morning exercises and opted to clean ourselves downstream away from the town as I still needed to pay the bathhouse matron for the prior patronage. Thankfully what little work I could find in the town itself paid me enough that I could settle with Yuna and part of Kaito. Not that it didn't stop him from trying to sell me on more fancy apparel for an upcoming festival the town was preparing for.

In completely unrelated news: I have more debt with Kaito.

We swiftly cleaned ourselves, ate breakfast at the resthouse, then made our way northeast towards a small section of mountain that would eventually turn into Rusturf Tunnel. We had a bounty mission for the lumber camp there as the men had been accosted by what they described as 'an invisible force that cries like the damned.'

"Remember what I said," I mentioned to him as the camp came into view. "We'll try diplomacy first. Only attack if the Pokémon attacks first."

He nodded with a firm frown as he flexed his fingers, stopping the smoke that had started to build up.

We entered the camp proper and looked around. A large number of workers were already up and eating from a communal pot of stew. Others were heading out toward their designated work areas while an unfortunate few were currently aside from the bulk of the workers as they were being berated by someone of evident higher authority. We glanced at each other as we awkwardly stood by and waited for him to finish.

The workers, thoroughly chastised, shuffled off to the eating area for breakfast. Their boss took a calming sigh before turning around only to freeze once he saw us. His eyes immediately snapped down to Machop before sliding over to me.

"You lost?" he eventually asked with a gruff voice.

"Right where we need to be actually," I responded. "Are you in charge here, sir?"

His eyes narrowed slightly at that. "Depends on who's asking," he said abrasively.

"The one who's been assigned by Firstwarden Devon to take care of your little Pokémon problem," I stated plainly.

"Little," he sputtered before catching himself. He gave us another look. "Don't look like much."

"You'd be surprised," I said before shaking my head. "Look, sir, if you don't want to help us, then fine. Just point us to the area your men are being bothered the most in and we'll handle it."

"Bother," he snapped out. "Listen, lady, I don't know what ivory tower you climbed down from-"

I raised my brow at that comment, making him growl and restart.

"That thing is a pest that has ran off entire teams of my best workers. I had to send them to different camps just to get them to work again, damn bug."

Gotcha…

"I'm not a lady or anything of that sort, sir." I interrupted as I crossed my arms. "My friend and I are here for the bounty. So, are you going to help or are we going to have to deal with it by ourselves?"

He growled before turning and heading deeper into the camp, gesturing for us to follow. We quickly caught up while a number of workers gave Machop a wide berth as we neared an open tent with a black 'X' stitched into the side.

"Last group got hurt by the damned thing," he growled out before entering the tent.

We stepped inside to find a number of men in cots with bandages and bruises over their forms as a nurse went around giving them food.

"This all of them?" I asked as we crossed the threshold.

"Thankfully," he said firmly, a frown on his face.

I nodded in thought before motioning for Machop to stay put as I approached the nurse.

"Ma'am," I greeted as she double-checked a set of bandages.

She turned and quickly glanced at me before returning to her patient. "You're not injured," she said. "Why are you here?"

"I took on the bounty for the Pokémon who did all of this," I said, making her stop briefly before continuing on. "I was wondering if I could ask you about-"

"Seven injured in total," she immediately stated. "One with a broken rib, another with wounds that looked as though they came from a blade. They all have severe bruising over their torso and arms. None of them saw anything, but they all heard the creature cry out as they ran away."

"No deaths?" I asked.

"No deaths," she said with a nod.

I slowly nodded and looked at the men, immediately finding the two who were injured the most. I thanked the nurse and went to the nearest patient as I eyed the bandages around his chest.

"Broken rib?" I asked as I sat down in the chair next to his cot.

He grunted out a laugh, wincing as he did so and said, "Yeah, hurts like a bitch." He froze at that. "Sorry."

I snorted in amusement and said, "Don't worry about it." I leaned back slightly. "I'm May. Me and my friend are here to deal with the Pokémon who's doing this."

He looked at me in confusion before rolling over to see Machop standing bored by the entrance next to his boss. He slowly turned back to me with a different look in his eyes.

"What do you need to know?" he asked.

"Start with what your specific job was in this group and go from there," I offered.

He nodded and laid back heavily into his cot as he started.

"I'm Petris. I was the one in charge of the team scouting towards the mountain for trees big enough to fell. We set out the other day at first light at a steady pace. It was around lunch when we came across a solid group of trees that would be perfect. Tarris, the big guy who got sliced," he gestured with his head to the last occupied cot in the row who was currently getting his bandages replaced by the nurse. "He went to do a practice cut on one of the trees when he was suddenly knocked onto his back." His expression fell a bit. "Never seen him get hit that hard… Uh, anyway, I went to pick him up but I got hit in my chest. By the time I got to my feet we were all getting battered as this thing was howling out with this piercing cry. We booked it back to camp and been in here since."

My eyes flicked from side to side as a picture started to form in my head.

"Hmm…" I stood up and nodded at him. "Thank you, Petris, that gave me some much needed information."

He stiffly nodded in response and asked, "What're you gonna do about it?"

"Just focus on getting better," I responded as I left his bedside, not answering the question. I rejoined Machop and the camp boss. I turned to him and asked, "Do you have a roll of tape or cloth used to mark trees? And a short blade?"

The camp boss stared at me for a moment before asking, "Yeah, we do. What do you need them for?"

I answered as we left the tent, "With luck, I'll be able to solve this without a fight, and I'll need to mark trees in order to do that."

He was silent as we neared a cluster of chests, one on top already open.

"What do you plan on doing?" The camp boss's brow furrowed as he reacted inside the chest. "It doesn't seem like it wants to talk."

He pulled out a roll of red cloth and grabbed a sheathed blade from a nearby table.

I took the offered items and said, "It only attacked when that team tried to damage the tree. Did the other teams only report getting run off by the noise?"

He thought a moment before nodding, "Aye, they did. What does it matter? It's still interfering with our work."

"And your teams are potentially interfering with something of importance to it," I countered. "Let me try to figure out what it is and I'll hopefully have a solution that'll keep everyone involved happy."

With that I started walking in the direction Petris spoke of as we swiftly left the boss and the camp behind. Machop, learning from my bugging- I mean, my situational awareness training, kept his head on a swivel as we roughed it through the woods without a trail to follow. The further away we got, the more Pokémon we saw crossed our path from little Seedot scuttling after an older Nuzleaf to a Taillow weaving between branches. We even saw the occasional Skitty playing with an errant leaf or twig, its pink tail flicking in a frenzy as it bolted past us.

We eventually came across a thick cluster of trees, much larger and older than the surrounding ones. Their branches were large and gnarled with several leafy offshoots providing a massive amount of cover. One of the nearest trees had a single gash near the base where an axe had struck it.

I stopped dead in my tracks and softly shut my eyes as I tried to focus on my surroundings with my hearing. The wind rustled leaves and faintly rattled branches. Off in the distance I could just make out the sound of a Poochyena yipping as it uncaringly ran through the underbrush after an older pack mate. A tingle went up my spine and I suddenly leaned heavily to the right, twisting my body as I did so, to avoid a blur that buzzed past where my back had just been. I rolled out of the way of another attack as Machop started looking all over trying to see the attacker coming.

"Ninjask!" I shouted out as I dove to the ground onto my gut to avoid a third attack. "I only came to talk! I am unarmed!"

Between one blink and the next there was a massive cicada-like Pokémon an inch from my face, making me flinch backward onto my back. Machop growled out his name and stepped forward as he barked out something, catching the bug Pokémon's attention. I took a second to rise to my knees and catch my breath as my heartbeat faded from my ears.

"Ninjask," I carefully said, making it jerk back to look at me. "I honestly came here to talk and figure out a way to settle things peacefully between you and the other humans."

It buzzed aggressively and did a lap around us in a blur before getting back in my face, breathing heavily. I slowly shifted from my knees to sitting down with crossed legs as it stared at me.

"Please, just give me a chance," I said calmly as I kept my movements minimal.

Ninjask didn't respond for several moments as it stared at me. Its buzzing suddenly sharpened before fading just as quick as it hovered backwards a few feet. It lowered itself to the ground, the buzzing dying off entirely, but kept its wings unfurled.

I nodded slowly and said, "Thank you." With a breath, I got started. "Let me see if I understand what has been happening. For as long as you can remember, these woods have either been your home or some place of importance. When the humans first started felling trees, you might've kept a more careful eye out but didn't think very much of it. Time passed, they felled more trees. Taller trees, older trees. You started getting worried. Now," I briefly gestured to the cluster of trees in front of us, yet it continued to stare at my face with unnerving stillness. "They have found this part of the woods, and felling these trees in particular is something you could not abide, so you began to retaliate."

It twitched a wing.

"You started with scaring them off with noise and it worked for a time. But then they started to get bolder, so too did you with hits on their bodies. Not enough to cause serious harm, but enough to tell them to back off. Now, they dared to strike at one of the trees, so you struck at them in return, breaking one of their ribs and slicing at another.

I took a breath and finished, "Ninjask, this cluster of trees is important because it's a nesting ground, or something similar, isn't it?"

It froze at that statement before slouching slightly with a tense nod. I nodded back and carefully brought out the roll of cloth and the blade.

"Ninjask, if you will allow me, I can wrap this cloth around the trees that act as the boundary of the nesting ground. I will then return to the other humans and tell them that they are forbidden from felling trees at or within the marked area. Would this be enough for you, or would you like more?"

Machop took this moment to offer his own words. Ninjask slowly turned to look between the two of us, and whatever Machop said seemed to have worked as it nodded at me and slowly hovered up to eye level, the buzzing now just a soft background noise. It led me to each individual tree where I snipped off a length of cloth and tightly tied it around the tree. By the end of it, the entire roll had been used up and I had tied cloth around thirty some odd trees.

I sheathed the blade and tucked the empty roll under my arm as I nodded at a job well done. I looked at Ninjask who had been staring at me for the last minute as I finished the last few trees.

"Well," I ended up saying. "Machop and I should get back and let them know about this. You shouldn't have anymore problems with the workers." I thought for a moment. "If you do, though, fly southwest for a bit until you come across the big group of humans. Find us and we'll set them straight."

At its nod, I grinned and nodded back. "Come on, Machop," I said as I turned and began walking away. "Let's head back to camp and tell their boss the good news."

"Chop!" Machop said as he waved goodbye to the Ninjask and ran to catch up to me.

He started walking ahead, making me walk faster to pass him. He narrowed his eyes and passed me again, and on and on this repeated until we were running through the woods uncaring of the noise we were making. I was gasping for breath minutes later as he congratulated himself on besting me.

"Yeah yeah," I wheezed as I straightened up and started walking again.


The moment the Machop and that strange human female left the area, a green and red form dropped from the tree it was hiding in and landed in a crouch next to the Ninjask, making it jerk back in surprise before settling down.

"Grovyle," Ninjask greeted after he gave a slight shiver to calm his nerves.

Grovyle nodded in return, his eyes not leaving the spot the two visitors disappeared. He turned back to look at the nesting area, now clearly marked, with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Curious indeed," he muttered.

"Hm?"

He shook his head. "The female is a strange one."

Ninjask hissed out a laugh and said, "You got that right. But still…" He took another look at the work he allowed her to do. "She acts as though she understands us, if indirectly."

"She sings as well," Grovyle commented as he tugged on a bit of cloth.

"Sings?"

He huffed in amusement as he remembered the event and said, "She sings. Started randomly singing as she and that Machop were going to the large human pack. It was," he thought for a moment. "Entrancing. Something about it captured Pokémon's attention."

Ninjask hummed in thought as he took in Grovyle's expression. He asked, "I imagine you already informed the Alpha?"

"Of course," Grovyle said, crossing his arms. "His brat of a descendant was there as well, as usual."

Ninjask took a quick look around in slight worry. "Easy with those barbs, friend. You don't know whose ears might be listening in."

"Calm down, it's just us right now."

"Oh?" A third voice asked suddenly, making them both stiffen in surprise.

They turned and watched with worry as a strong looking, heavily-scarred Gallade seemed to phase into existence as he slipped through the foliage without making a sound, a raised brow and frown evident on his face. Though he didn't outwardly appear threatening, he exuded a power that sent shivers down their forms as he stared at them.

"I'm sure I didn't just hear one of the personal guards of the Alpha's great-grandson speaking ill of him," Gallade said calmly, hands behind his back as he serenely walked toward the two Pokémon. "That would be the height of folly, wouldn't it?"

Grovyle gulped and rapidly nodded in agreement as he stammered, "It would indeed, Gallade! Right?"

Ninjask swiftly bobbed up and down when Grovyle snapped his head to look at his friend desperately.

"Quite foolish!" Ninjask offered with an awkward laugh.

Gallade just stared at them for a few tense heartbeats before solidly turning away to look at the direction the Machop and the human female ran in. Behind his back, Grovyle and Ninjask both sagged in relief.

"What is your take of her?" Gallade asked simply without turning to look at them.

Ninjask responded, nervous at first but quickly became more confident, "She didn't fight me even though I instigated. She's smart as well; seemed to have an idea of what I was protecting before she even entered the area. Whether it was just instinct or by speaking with the other humans I cannot say. Asked of me to find her or her companion in the large pack if the small group ever tries to damage the nesting grounds again, so that she could deal with it personally." He paused for a moment before finishing. "As odd as it might sound, she acts as though she understands our ways, if indirectly. She cares about us, treats us as equals."

Gallade took the information in before gesturing vaguely with his right hand, making Grovyle perk up.

"She is the same human I spoke of a few sun-highs ago, the one who sang and transfixed the Pokémon around her." Grovyle crossed his arms. "Seemed to happen by accident, if her reaction after the song was over was anything to go by. She's… confident when dealing with both Pokémon and humans, and the other human pack members seem to be swiftly relying on her despite being a recent addition to their territory. Even their Alpha and her personal guard seem to trust her. Hm…" He thought for a moment as he lightly tapped his foot. "She also trains alongside Machop, teaching each other the ways they both fight. She does appear to be the superior in the end, however, as Machop listens to her orders when training new moves or going over battle philosophy."

Gallade tilted his head side to side as he thought. He eventually nodded and turned back around, making them tense momentarily before relaxing when they saw he wasn't angry with them any longer.

"Continue your observations," he said to Grovyle. "She might be of use to our Alpha someday yet."

"Understood," Grovyle said firmly with a nod.

Gallade nodded in return, then flared his power sharply, making them both freeze solid.

"One more thing," Gallade said. In between heartbeats he was suddenly behind them with his blades glowing bright green, edges resting against their necks. "Never let me catch even a whisper of either of you speaking ill of our Alpha's line again. Am I understood?"

They both whimpered and nodded fiercely as Ninjask struggled to stay afloat.

"Good."

Gallade immediately smothered his power and stopped his dual Leaf Blade attacks. With a thwip and a brief pop of light, he teleported out of the area. Grovyle and Ninjask slowly sagged to the ground as their respective limbs gave out, their arms shaking as their adrenaline left their forms.


I calmly stood as the campsite's boss ranted and raved in front of me and Machop until he was red in the face and kicking up small clumps of previously packed dirt. The workers still in camp gave us a wide berth and dispersed quickly to try and avoid catching his ire. He finished by stopping a few steps from me, heaving for breath, as I just looked up slightly to stare him in the eyes.

"You can't intimidate me into changing the results," I said plainly, placing a hand on my hip. "Like it or not, this is the only way to keep both sides from doing something they'll end up regretting. Besides, there's plenty of more trees in these woods, so just tell your workers to shift zones."

"Do something we'll end up regretting?" he growled out as he leaned forward to glare at me. He pointed at the healer's tent. "Seven of my men are injured and unable to work and provide for their families, and you believe just avoiding the area is enough?"

I raised a brow, unimpressed, and slowly stated, "None of your men even saw the Ninjask. The only reason they heard it was because it let them." At this point I raised my voice enough for it to echo through the camp. "It could have easily killed them, and the only way you would find out after the fact would be by sending a runner to their location, only to find their bodies wasting away. So, if you ignore my efforts today and send more men out there to fell those trees, it would not lead to blood on my hands, but yours. Who's going to be the one to tell their families that their husband or father or son or whatever will not be coming home because you ignored efforts that were made to keep them safe?"

I rose to the tips of my feet and curled a lip, fire in my eyes. "Let me tell you something: it won't be me. And if I find out that you did ignore what I've done to help Rustboro – and trust me, I will – I will personally drag you to each family to explain to their faces why their loved one isn't coming back."

His eye twitched as his fists shook. He muttered, "Firstwarden Devon will hear about this."

"I know," I said with a slight smirk, raising my chin slightly. "I'm on my way to tell her myself and collect my bounty payment. See you around."

With that I walked away with heavy steps at a brisk pace, Machop on my heels, and deliberately showed the camp boss my back. It was awkwardly silent for almost an hour as the sun dipped towards evening. The local Pokémon were starting to settle for the oncoming night by getting back to their nests and burrows, too busy with their own lives to care about the two of us.

Once we were definitively far enough away, I stopped and leaned forward against a tree, my hands gripped the bark as I sharply heaved the air out of my lungs in an explosive exhale.

"Holy fuck, I can't believe I just did that," I said with a shrill laugh.

Machop tugged on my leg and looked up at me in concern. I took slow breaths as I rubbed his head and turned to lean back against the same tree, sliding down slightly.

"I'm fine," I said, out of breath. "Just… been a while since I had to do something like that. I'll be fine in a minute."

He settled next to me and kept an eye out as I calmed my racing heart. It was only a few moments later when I felt a light tapping against my side. I looked over, and did a double take as there was a positively adorable little Zigzagoon looking up at me with a tilted head.

I took a breath and said seriously, "You are adorable."

It smiled toothily as its tail started wagging. My felt my heartbeat start to slow back down to normal as my mouth twitched and fought a massive battle within myself to keep from picking it up and cradling it like a puppy.

It then made up my mind for me by jumping into my lap and tippy-tapping on my legs.

"I guess we can stay here for little bit longer," I said with sigh as I relaxed.

Machop just stared between me and the Zigzagoon, a flat expression on his face. He rolled his eyes as the Zigzagoon started to settle and curl up, but a sudden bark from the bushes made us all freeze. A large, lithe Linoone slithered out of the underbrush, a hard look in it eyes as it stared at us.

Zigzagoon just yipped cheerfully and sent Linoone a wave with its tail. Linoone leaned forward and growled with narrowed eyes. Zigzagoon sagged and slunk off of my lap and walked over to it to receive a nip to its ear. It looked at me sadly before wandering back into the forest with its head bent. Linoone sent the two of us a glare before swiftly following.

We were silent for a moment before I stated, "Well, that ruined my mood." I stood up and stretched, Machop following along. "Let's get back to Rustboro, get paid, and get some sleep."

"Chop!"


We got back to town just after dusk and the light-bearers were finishing lighting the external posts along the main path through town. The only places open were the resthouse and town hall, which we swiftly entered after briskly patting away the worst of the dirt and grime on our persons. Thankfully for us, Marianne and Argus were working late and we found them in her office.

"Back so soon," she commented with a raised brow, slight surprise in her voice. "No issues I hope?"

"Not with the Pokémon," I provided, straightening my posture before adding with a slight grimace, "might get an earful from the campsite's boss, though."

Argus's brow rose at this as Marianne sighed.

"He has been known to be difficult to work with." She said with pursed lips. She clasped her hands over her desk. "Start from the beginning."

I nodded and recounted the events of the day, from the lovely introduction of the boss chewing out some workers away from the main part of the camp, to his rather rude conversations but eventual helpfulness by showing us to the healer's tent and providing materials to assist us. I skipped over the walk and got into the meat of the assignment.

"Why would you deign to try and speak to the Pokémon when it had shown to be dangerous?" Argus asked plainly.

"I talk to humans all the time and they're a far more dangerous lot," I said with a slightly raised brow as I crossed my arms. "From what I was told by yourself, Firstwarden, the camp's boss, and the injured workers, I knew that I wasn't dealing with a plain simple 'rampant beast'. I was dealing with a being who was trying to protect something important either to themselves or their group, but didn't want to kill those it saw as trespassers unless given no other choice. And I was correct in that assumption, as it was a Ninjask protecting a cluster of trees used as a nesting grounds."

"So, what did you do?" Marianne asked.

"I used the roll of cloth the camp boss gave me and wrapped links of it around the trees acting as a boundary for the nesting ground. I gave the Ninjask my word that they wouldn't try to cut down the trees again, and told it to fly here to find me or Machop if they do."

"You what?" Argus interrupted, taking a half-step forward.

I stood my ground as they both stared at me while I said, "I gave it my word that I would ensure its nesting ground would be safe, and I keep my word. What if someone gave their word that they would protect this building, or the resthouse, or the healer's? Would you not go to them for the assistance that they claimed they would provide?"

"But to openly invite a wild Pokémon into the borders of the town," Marianne said. "It would cause hysteria."

"Then we better make sure the camp boss keeps to his part of the agreement," I said, letting the implications hand in the air before finishing, "when he comes to complain, shouldn't we?"

Argus frowned in return and twitched his nose. He leaned forward slightly and said, "Firstwarden, I do not think-"

She raised her hand, cutting him off, and said, "That is a discussion that should be held when we're not half asleep. Finish your report, May, please."

I nodded and finished swiftly, ending the report covering the camp boss's explosive reaction and my responses. Marianne sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I know you said that you have the capability to diplomatically handle Pokémon," she said flatly with slightly narrowed eyes, emphasizing the bags formed by the long workday. "But all it has done today is make our jobs noticeably more difficult."

"If it was easy then it wouldn't be worth doing because you would be doing it already," I immediately responded. "Being diplomatic will always be the more difficult path. It's significantly more difficult than just swinging a weapon around like a brute. It…" I paused and took a breath. "It might seem pointless right now, and might not make sense, not even for some time. But, someday, being diplomatic with these wondrous creatures called Pokémon will be all for the better."

She stared at me hard for a few heartbeats before sighing and opening a drawer in her desk. She pulled out a sheet of paper and small pouch. I looked down and saw it was the bounty missive.

"Sign on the line at the bottom," she said as she slid a surprisingly fancy fountain pen toward me.

I took the pen and, unused to this old style of pen, crudely wrote May's name. I grabbed the pouch and opened it, revealing a mess of coins and, interestingly, a couple of bills.

Enough to pay back the bathhouse matron and most of Kaito's, I thought with a grin.

"Thank you, Firstwarden," I said with a nod. "Are there any other bounties deemed critical?"

"Not at the moment," she responded. "Just some minor instances, but nothing as high priority as today's."

I nodded and said, "Then we'll stop by the day after tomorrow, I want to get some training in and work with Machop some more."

Marianne nodded and said, "Of course."

With that and no one speaking up, I gave a final nod and left the office, Machop by my side like always.