In the Ranger’s Shadow (Pokémon/Pokémon Ranger)

[Mirthful_Machine]

"Fucking government rush jobs and their lazy motherfuckers." I say to the empty room. Not that I don't understand or even think the people who put the buildings together were lazy. Just rushing to meet a time frame, probably so someone could get bonus pay of some kind. I don't like having to fix it afterward, though.

I'm finally home for the day, after one of the most annoying work days in recent memory, I can relax now. Two days to the weekend. Just have to make it through.

I briefly consider cooking something, before deciding to just toss an instant meal in the microwave. Sitting down to eat, I glance at my phone to see if I missed anything. My eyes linger on the top contact, untouched for more than a year now. For the thousandth time, I consider calling her brother and then dismiss the thought.

As I return my attention to my food, my phone buzzes. It's Roxx, saying she and Sam are grabbing drinks on Saturday, and asking if I want to join. That sounds nice, and I'd like to, but… I don't feel like it.

Cold water feels so nice after the one-o-six-degree Colorado summer sun. A stinging along my hand tells me how tired I am. I clearly cut myself on something today, it's not deep, and it isn't bleeding at all so I just clean it and move on.

I get messaged back, Roxx sent a frowny face at my denial.

I consider the half-assembled metal on my desk a moment before deciding I'm just too tired to bother. As nice as it would be to finish the damn thing, I just haven't had the energy or the drive recently.

Just Two days to go.

Sleep takes me for the night and I prepare to continue the cycle again.

***​

Thursday. Wake up at six, eat, work, skip lunch, go home. And find my outside lamp busted.

"Why today?" I ask the world as I stare at the broken light above my door. I know it's turned on, but even waving my hand in front of it does nothing. Taking a closer look at the bulbs I can tell I don't have replacements anywhere, though given that neither are turning on I'm guessing they didn't burn out. That's assuming a bit on the wiring, but this house isn't that old.

Whatever, I'll fix it this weekend. Not like I had much else planned anyway.

I spend a minute making two cold-cut sandwiches—and realize I need to restock soon—before sitting down in front of my TV. Idly surfing the channels. I don't find anything interesting to watch by the time my meal is gone, saves me the trouble of pulling myself away I guess.

Looking in the mirror after I've undressed, my left shoulder's got a pretty big bruise where I got whacked earlier today, it's not too dark though, and will probably be gone by next week. It does sting a bit when water starts hitting it, that's fun. ha.

One more day.

A sudden loneliness hits me as I climb into bed, and now I know I won't be able to sleep well tonight. Maybe I will call James on the weekend then, to see how Abby's doing. I hope she's better, at least. I'd love to be able to talk to her again, though perhaps without any sharp objects present.

***​

Friday. Wake up at six-thirty, eat—very—quickly, work, skip lunch, go home.

And now I'm convinced that the universe is fucking with me. Someone took my welcome mat, which is just weird. …Although more concerning is the small hidden compartment under the eaves I made is broken open. Fine, whatever, I'll replace the locks tomorrow.

I ready an instant meal and get a text from Sam as I sit down. Apparently, someone just came looking for me at the current site, as in, literally just now. Leaving aside what the hell Sam is still doing there, why would someone be looking for me? And why at the site? I ask if he can get a name, but he just responds that she already left.

Eh, I'll deal with it tomorrow as well, so there's half my weekend up in smoke now. Great.

I knew I was forgetting something, I need to remember to buy more soap tomorrow, too. Eh, it's one day, I'll live. My shoulder is still a bit more yellow than it should be, and it still stings in the shower, but it does look like it'll vanish by Sunday.

I take a moment to look over my bedroom desk, the unfinished fountain still sitting there. I haven't had the desire to work on it for two months now which… is starting to eat at me. The thing had started as metal art, a hobby I thought I might—and I did, at first—enjoy after a neighbor brought it up, and then I started getting ideas. Now, it's a fountain with a layer of clear acrylic protecting… some of it, little metal stick figures sit on brass logs around the edges, and a little campfire sits in the middle with flickering LEDs wound inside and a low-pressure spout right in the center. I really need to try to work on that at some point.

Settling in, I'm exhausted enough to black out quickly. I can even sleep in somewhat.

***​

Fuck! I wake up with pain shooting through my stomach. What!? Why!? Wait, Abby?

Abby's here and she's… Shit, she's swinging a knife, again. How did she get in? Fuck, that's where my spare key went!

Her face is slack but her eyes are wild, she's clearly having another episode. How did she even get here? Does James know she's here? Why did-

That doesn't matter, I need to stop her, to get some help! But I'm so tired, so drained.
I try to move, but I can hardly gather any strength and she stabs me again. I can't move anymore, it hurts too much, and I don't have any energy.
She stabs again.
And again. It hurts.
And again.
And again. I'm so tired.
And again.

Finally, I pass out.

***​

Why is… it so hard to… think? Wasn't there something… important happening? Why… Why can't I… feel myself? Where am… I?

Does… it matter? It's so… comfortable right now…

So peaceful.


So weightless.


So… so… tired…

No… I need… need to stay awake… Why?

What… what's that feeling…?
Ohgodwhatintheshittingchris-

***​

I snap awake. Jesus, was that all a nightmare?

No, I'm not in bed, that wasn't waking up, and It's too clear, too vivid. The memories aren't fading like they should.

Am I in the afterlife? …No, I'm pretty sure I passed that on the way here.

Okay, so, I remember dying… I was in pain and too tired to do anything. Then I was just hanging there, wherever that had been. And then something YANKED on me and it felt like I was flying through space. It was all blurry and heat and light and way too much all at once. And now I'm… here.

I think I might be alive again? Except for the fact that I'm currently in the air, that's a little hard to acknowledge and still think, 'Gee, guess I'm not dead anymore'. I look down and see… Nothing there. Great! Maybe I am still dead.

Except that, I'm… mostly certain I'm not out there anymore.

However, looking around, it just looks like some burnt-out old cabin. There's what had to have been a couch of some kind, in pieces and set away against one wall. A fireplace that definitely had a fire go out of control at some point on the wall opposite the 'couch' in the far corner. A Burnt wooden table sits next to what has to be the door to a kitchen hanging open on the other side of the small room. A door that seems to lead outside. A shattered sliding glass door to a balcony. Oh, and the vine-y plants covering absolutely everything in the room.

I look around again, trying to figure it all out.

And possibly now the meaning of life, fuck.

Actually, shouldn't I be panicking? Am I in shock? Can I be in shock? I'm just going to think of something else now. Like where am I? Or… Well shit, maybe the meaning of life is relevant right now.

Not that where or why I am answers the bodiless mystery. I look down again and still see nothing. Great, again. Maybe I should see if there's a mirror in here somewhere. Looking around, the only door that doesn't lead outside seems to be a kitchen door. So I try moving and… Float? Neat, another point in the 'still dead' column. Anyway, I float through the doorway.

The doorway that seems way too large to be normal. I'm going to ignore the fact that this place looks like it was built for giants unless—and hopefully not until—it becomes relevant.

The room gets brighter and slightly redder as I enter, strange. And I was right, this is a small kitchen space. Stove-top, check—though it's of the wood-burning variety. Empty pantry, check. Counter-space and hooks for hanging cookware, check and check. No fridge, and no space for one either, interesting, although the lack of outlets neatly explains it. So this might be some camping or vacation cabin of some kind.

Everything is dirty and beaten down by time and disuse. And on the other side of the room from the door I just entered through is another door. Which, if this is just a small cabin like it seems to be, should lead to a bedroom. I'm hoping there will be a mirror somewhere, either in the bedroom or a bathroom.

As I go to open the door though I realize something that I really should have earlier. I have no arms.

I swear to Christ that if bringing a guy back disembodied is someone's idea of a funny joke I'll find them and make them kill me again. Although now thinking about not actually having a body, my next course of action becomes clear: Float through the door.

So I start pushing myself into it, and that kind of works. I actually do go through the door after a bit of trying. Except the door also moves once I do, since it apparently wasn't latched well. So it sort of sticks to me as I also pass through it.

I'm getting a distinct poltergeist feel from all this.

This room was definitely a bedroom at some point, the lack of windows is odd but there are even the remains of a wooden bed-frame piled against a wall, though it's all just as dilapidated as the rest of this place. And there, in a corner and leaning against one wall, a full-length mirror.

The mirror is cracked and corrosion has started eating away under the glass, but it's still reflective enough to see myself.

Not disembodied at least.

I look almost like a small, blue-gray balloon surrounded by a cloud of darkness, with some kind of mantle coming off the bottom of my… Head? I think that's my head, it's roundish with bright, glowing, fiery red and yellow eyes, what looks like a ring of perfectly round, crimson gems of diminishing sizes floating above where it meets the mantle, and… two hair things? They look more like tendrils or tentacles made of hair than actual hair, and as they get further from my body the color changes from the dark blue-gray of the rest of me to the same color as my eyes.

I know exactly what I'm looking at.

Holy shit it's been years since I last had time to actually enjoy the series but no one forgets something that made up that much of their childhood.

I'm staring at a misdreavus.

…How the hell?

Not 'How the hell am I here?' Or 'How the hell do pokemon exist?' Those are now very easy to answer.

The afterlife clearly exists, therefore magic, therefore pokemon, therefore… Here, I guess.
But how the hell did we know about them? No, wait, the answer is probably some variation on the previous one.

So then, am I alive or dead? Eh, ghost-type, so I doubt it's that simple.
Secondly, how much did our world get right about this one? I don't have a real answer to that one yet either, as I don't look exactly like a misdreavus from the games, and I highly doubt a whole world of knowledge could be conveyed through mysterious means.
And thirdly, am I on fire? I ask because of the smoky cloud around me.

Looking closer at myself, there are some clear differences from what I remember. Then again, I'm pretty sure that this isn't some game or cartoon with limitations on visuals. Reality has randomness, variations, and a 'real' clarity that—I really, really hope—can't be replicated. How much can I trust my memories of pokemon? Jesus, how much can I even trust my own senses?

I'm going to hope it's enough that I'm not completely fucked.

I look away from my reflection, trying to feel out my body now that I have a sense of what should be there.

The slow crawl of sensation along my body is certainly an experience. Going from nothing to something makes me wonder why I didn't notice not feeling my body when I woke up. Maybe I'd just been too shocked?

Oh, I can feel those.

My 'hair' tendril things definitely aren't just hair, I- Um… Anyway, I can move them, and even rearrange them? That's neat. And weird, really, really goddamned weird. It's like I can merge them into just being hair, or split them into… Seven? Seven tendrils I can use almost like arms. Not hands though, I think if I wanted to pick up anything with them I'd need to wrap the tendril around whatever it is I want to grab. Can't really extend them at all either, the farthest they can reach is just a bit past my 'dress'.

I guess I should call it what it is, a dress. Or maybe a skirt?

Oh shit, am I still a guy? I have no idea how to check, because how the hell is any of this happening? Although, does it matter all that much…? No…? Yes…? Maybe, I decide, though not immediately at least. And I honestly don't care about how feminine I look, I'm a pokemon now, I can rock this.

Oh. I… Uh… fuck.

It's all hitting me now.
I'm about to start panicking.
I got stabbed to death and now I'm here and I'm this and I just- Shit, shit, shit!

No! Calm down. Deep breaths.

I can't breathe. Oh fuck, I'm not breathing!

Don't think about it! I just need to stay calm! Don't pani-

***​

Okay, I think I'm a bit more calm now. I don't exactly feel any better, but I choose to believe that I will be able to stay calm. Now what? Do I just set up shop right here and start haunting the place? Or… keep haunting it?

Nope, ignoring that thought. And all the implications thereof.

I should look outside, I suppose.

It's dark out, but I can see the sunrise not far off. The sky growing ever so slightly lighter at the horizon. I don't recognize anything beyond the basics, which isn't surprising. The cabin is in a small dirt clearing, there are trees, an overgrown path, a small twenty-foot cliff that the cabin's balcony hangs over, and mountains way, way off in the distance.

I have no idea where I am and the last game I played was Pokémon White almost twelve years ago, so I'm lost. Completely, utterly, lost. My best bet on navigation is that the mountains I can see are to the north—assuming the sun rises in the east here—which doesn't really help me at all.

Ow.

What?

Ow!

It feels like pins and needles across half of me all of a sudden. Why? …Wait, that half of me is in the sunlight. Really!? The fucking sun? It might not be any kind of real pain, but it is across a lot of my… surface? Yeah, I'm just going to float back inside now.

Returning inside and back to what is now my mirror, I begin looking at myself again. The feeling vanished as soon as I was out of the sun, which is good. Although now that I'm looking for it… Was my body what was hurting? I brush a tendril over my head to confirm. Hmm, yeah, not there. So where was- Wait, was the pain in the cloud around me?

Oh, that's strange. So I can feel that cloud too… Can I move it? Maybe? I'm definitely getting… some kind of feeling from it when I focus. I try, I don't know, pushing on it?

And the cloud expands to fill half the room. Which is odd because I can't see it directly, only through the mirror. I try pulling it back instead, and it shrinks until it's not there anymore.

My skin looks strange now that I can see it clearly in the mirror, it's like fuzzy, semi-translucent cloth with a deep, flowing darkness underneath. I- That's just weird.

I'm getting distracted. So, if the cloud around me is what hurts in the sunlight. Was that to protect me, or was that just the cloud reacting with the sunlight? Hmm, I think I can test that fairly easily.

I float into the main room and over to the sliding door, and… Should I be doing this? Eh, Fuck it. I stick a tendril out- You know what, I'm just going to start thinking of them as arms. I stick an arm out and…

It doesn't hurt. so I guess I can go out during the day, that helps. Though, I'm fairly certain I don't know enough about anything out there to be comfortable wandering around just yet.

Now that I think of it, how strong am I? What can I even do? I know I can float through things—sort of at least. Back to the mirror I go.

As I return through the one-and-a-half rooms of what I am now calling my cabin—because clearly, no one else cares about it—something starts to feel off. I stop halfway through the kitchen and try to figure out what's different.
I'm col- No, I feel cold air. I wasn't feeling the cold earlier. I… wasn't feeling much of anything, really. Now I do though. I feel the temperature and the breeze. I can smell the world around me, rich earth, plants, and rot.

It only takes a moment to make a theory and test it. I pull on some of that same feeling I shoved around earlier and it all stops. No breeze, no cold, no smell, and as I keep pulling even the world itself sort of fades. Not entirely, but it's less there. Except it still is? The cabin is mostly gone from my view, but I can still see some of the trees around me, although I can only make out the ones near all the lights.

"That's a lot of bugs," I say, realizing it's the first time I've actually spoken since I got here. My voice isn't what I'm used to. It's much higher and… resonant? It sounds like something out of an old fable, the kind meant to teach kids not to follow strangers into the woods.

I don't want to think about that, back to the bugs.

They're bright, but that's the only part I really have words for. Literally, I've never seen these colors before, what the hell am I looking at?

Well, uh… Mostly they're a very light ____ with a few other colors mixed in. I see some with a very bright ____, some with darker ____, a few with searing ____, and even some ____ patches farther away.

…I'm really not going to think about that too hard. Ever.

I can tell my sight drops off after a distance, but there is still so much I can see.

All of the bright points in my sight are clearly pokemon. And for a moment I think it's aura, like in that one movie, what was its name… Lucario And something? But that had a much longer range and a lot less color. And this is definitely 'sight', I need to be looking at something to see it.

Then again, how much can I trust any of what I 'know' to be accurate to the real thing? Especially from a kid's movie.

I'm not sure how long I just watch the world like this, maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour. Eventually, I push back on myself and I see the world normally again as I drift into the bedroom once more.

I look in the mirror and I'm not there. Only my eyes are visible.
Right, ghost. I did something when I was moving myself around and now I'm mostly invisible.
Great! But actually great, this time, I did want to find out what I could do and this is something useful. Now I just need to feel around myself—goddammit me—some more to figure it out. Time to get to it.

***​

I think I've figured some things out.

My cloud is a whole lot of weird something that I can just let out and pull in at will, and it does some strange things if I try. Mostly smokey swirls so far, which I can see but they don't look right in the mirror.

The invisibility isn't so much 'invisibility' as it is 'phasing' out, and I'm pretty sure I was doing it unconsciously when I was moving the cloud around earlier. The more I phase out the less of the world around me I feel, right up until I start seeing the world as a bunch of colors again, I can even move through things without any issues at that point. And when I'm phased out I can actually see my cloud directly, which is strange, because I can still see through it without issue, too.

I think I can also fly pretty fast if I try, and faster if I'm phased out. Hmm, is that a lack of air resistance?

And I can get loud, wall-shaking loud. Honestly, that speaks well of whoever built this place that it held up to a fire, a clearly long abandonment, and then something so loud shaking it from the inside.

Now, I know I should try to figure out some Moves—if those are a thing here—but I don't really want to go out there and fight. Granted, I don't know what I need to survive. So It's still a good idea, just in case.

Now, I don't really want to go out there and find myself in a fight. Granted, I also don't know what I need to survive, so I might need to anyway. And, if I can trust anything from the games and the few bits of the shows and movies I remember, I should have a way to defend myself.

So, Moves.

Do they exist? I want to think so. While I was working out how to control my new ghost-self I did feel… is power a good word? I felt Power trying to do something. But it felt incomplete somehow like I was missing an important piece. Nothing for it but to keep trying I suppose, and I'm suddenly very glad I have a mirror.

Returning again to my bedroom, I begin trying to move that power around once more.

***​

This is getting me nowhere. I've been at it all day and nothing, no Moves whatsoever. And I can feel something while I'm trying, but it's not doing anything and it makes me want to scream.
Whatever, I need a break. The sun is setting now, Time to head outside. Worst case? I go invisible and fly my way back here.

No, don't think like that. I'm a ghost. I probably can't die again, but there are definitely other dangers out there. Maybe, I don't know. I really don't want to get in a fight or possibly caught, but I also think I'm starting to lose it and it hasn't even been a full day yet.

Anything's better than sitting here and thinking too hard about my former life, death, and new maybe-life.

Floating outside I take stock of the clearing again. There's a rustling in the trees and- I taste something? What is…

It tastes like anxiety? Why does it taste like- Wait, no, fucking how does it taste like- How the shit do I know what anxiety even tastes like? And why is it taste and not something else? I- Oh.

I've just made a horrifying discovery about what I eat now, haven't I?

What in the actual, literal hell. It's gone now, the taste vanished almost as soon as it came. But where did it even come from? I don't see anything around me… but I know what will let me see through the trees easily.

A bit of pulling on something and the world around me goes all strange colored and dark. And no sooner have I started looking around when I see some of what I'm going to call not-light—because it isn't light—spinning off another mass of not-light… a pokemon very close by that looks like a massive, chubby mouse that's now running away. The flare of not-light just hangs there for a moment, then it starts slowly moving towards me.

Um, is- is that an attack? Should I dodge it? Yeah, I probably should. Dodging out of the flare's path, I keep watching to see what it's- Oh, and of course, it's tracking me and getting faster. God I hope it doesn't hurt too much-

What the fuck? What is that amazing- Fear.

I uh… No, that's not creepy at all. Why would eating that kind of thing be frightening on a fundamental level? I just- Why? And how? How do you eat emotions? This is next-level weird, what the fuck new body? …What the fuck new world?

Although, on the one hand, I'm not sure if it even hurt whatever just ran away. So, maybe a good thing? On the other, I'm eating emotions. And that's just a little, absolutely terrifying.

…Also I'm not hungry?

Nope! Not going to think about it! I'm just going to float into the trees now and try to ignore any tastes around me.

…

It's… actually really nice out in the woods. Noise and life all around me, wherever this forest is. I'm not even trying to be invisible floating through the trees, and nothing's bothering me so far.

Actually, I hope my childhood didn't lie to me. Most of the noise is from bugs, though I do hear the occasional sound that must be a bird of some kind. But I had thought that pokemon could communicate with each other? Or… maybe they are and I can't understand it.

Oh, I don't like that thought very much, moving swiftly on.

I know my eyes are giving off light now, I'd thought it was just some kind of night vision at first, and yeah, I definitely have that, but it's more than just that. Things I'm facing get brighter, and the closer I am the brighter it gets. I'll need to figure out if I can control that.

The forest is… Well, the trees are all, uh, trees. They're leafy and green, but some have odd leaf shapes and bark patterns while others are more recognizable. The plants around the trees are also semi-recognizable to anyone who's actually been in a forest before, though I also don't recognize some of them. There isn't just 'grass' but grasses, sticks, saplings, old leaves, ferns, wildflower buds, and… frost?

It's too green to be fall, so I think it's just coming out of winter here. Hmm, anyway.

I've passed a lot of pokemon at this point, most are sleeping, some glance at me before going back to whatever it is they're doing, and others watch me until I pass. Most have color or pattern variations I wasn't expecting, like that red-streaked roserade that didn't even acknowledge me as I drifted by.

And there really are a lot of bugs out here. What shocked me most was that there are regular insects here alongside the pokemon, even if that really shouldn't have, thinking about it. What shocked me the second most, specifically about all the insectile pokemon, was the sheer diversity of size between them. Some are tiny, the size I'm used to from insects. Many others are big, much bigger than I am. Most are somewhere between, not huge, and not small.

I don't think I've seen that same level of size difference with the other pokemon around. Also, I'm… well, smaller than before. I don't have a good reference point yet, but I'm definitely somewhere between 'small' and 'tiny.'

As for birds, I've seen a lot. And I can name them, too! There are starly, taillow, spearow, a single swellow, and a few doduo. Most were asleep up in the trees, except for the doduo and swellow, they all watched me, and the doduo were on the ground. Also, I think doduo only sleep with one head at a time?

And there's more.

I saw three tiny pichu watched over by two pikachu, groups—Gardens? Groves?—of roselia and something that looks like a massive flower-bud bunched together every so often, two shinx sleeping on top of a luxray—and holy shit its stare was intense—a river where I learned that buizel are like otters and hold hands while sleeping, a large mound of buneary all piled up together on top of a lopunny, and a purple, overgrown boulder that has to be a pokemon… that I didn't go near because the leafeon laying on top of it scared me.

There are also quite a few suspicious-looking plants, but they don't bother me and I don't bother them.

It's all so beautiful, so magical. I wish I could show this to…

Goddammit, this is just making me feel lost and lonely. Fuck.

I'm not stupid enough to try and meet the new neighbors in the middle of the night, especially when I'd bet I look scary in the dark. But I'm definitely, definitely going to try once it's day again.

I drift upwards, looking for a better view of the woods. It's a sea of green all around, though I also see lights to what I think is north-east, east, and south-south-east. Those have to be cities of some kind, and I'll need to check them out at some point.

To the north, I see far-distant mountains rising so high they disappear above the clouds, consuming the entire northern horizon. It's wonderful, it reminds me of home, and I want to keep looking at it all, but I know I should get to my cabin soon.

Home. No, don't think about it too hard.

I sigh to myself, and I begin tracking my way back above the trees, it's easy to see the clearing my cabin is in from here. But not having anything to distract me, my thoughts move to my new state of being again.

I don't think I sleep anymore, I haven't felt the need since I found myself here and I'm not tired now. It has to be coming up on twenty, twenty-two hours since then, but I'm not tired.
That used to be a dream before, not needing to sleep. So much more time for anything I could want, and I don't know what to do with it now. I don't even know what I can do with it now.

I don't think I need to worry about food, I'm pretty sure I don't need to sleep, and I don't even breathe anymore.

I need a hobby. Or a project, or anything really, something to keep my mind occupied so I don't start losing myself. But I doubt I can find the tools or materials for one of my old hobbies right now.

Nothing else comes to mind though. …Shit.

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

It's been days of trying to use Moves now.

And staring at a wall.

And giving in to screaming. …Repeatedly.

Still nothing. Still feels like I'm missing something so, so obvious. This fucking sucks. Whatever, it's morning again and I told myself I'd try to meet the neighbors once the sun was up. That was a few days ago, but who's counting?

Shortly after I float outside, while trying to figure out what to do next, I'm startled by a booming female voice, "You're th'one who's been causing that racket!?"

I spin for a moment, several arms flailing until I find the source.

She's tall, scary tall, eight and a half feet at least with two thick yellow lines going up her sides to- No, a line encircling her neck. Dark orange fur giving way to cream around her stomach, hands, and tail tips, with some kind of crest-fin thing coming off the back of her head.

Webbed hands on hips with their blue fins out to the sides and squinting at me is a floatzel, her expression changing from annoyed to surprised. Again something looks different from my memories, but I'm… expecting that now. I think?

One mystery—sort of—solved though. Even if I can't place the accent, I can understand her. More questions now.

What changed? How can I even- Don't think about it.

"…You're a fresh one, aint'cha." She says. Then quietly enough that I struggle to hear her, "So small. You just a kid?"

Am I? Shit, I was—possibly re—born less than a week ago.

Is that why my mood is so unstable? Ha! Fuck no, but I'd bet it isn't helping.

Don't think about it.

While I'm having another internal crisis, she speaks again, louder this time, "You scared my son half to death with all that noise." I flinch at that. I knew I could be loud, knew I was being loud. But I hadn't thought of what that would mean for everything—everyone, I correct myself—around me.

"Sorry," I say, genuinely feeling it.

She sighs, expression softening somewhat before speaking again. "I believe ya kid."

"No, I-" I get out before she interrupts me.

"Look, I know a spook like you ain't a normal kid what needs fussin' over," she says placatingly. And then glaring at me, "But you do need to apologize to my son, come on." And with that said she turns and starts walking.

Doesn't need fussing over? No… Just don't think-

Oh god.

This pokemon knows something about ghost-types that I don't like the implications of. I've been trying to put a lot of things out of mind because fuck I don't want to think anything about that right now, but she has me doing it anyway.

Where do ghosts come from? Why am I here when I died as a human in a completely different universe?

Am I just some dead man's memories inside a pokemon?

I don't fucking know, do I? I felt that yank when I was out there, but that's just a memory, isn't it. Fuck I don't like this, but according to the—now very concerned looking—giant poke-otter, I don't think ghosts mature like other pokemon. Do they- Do we all start with memories of past lives?

"Kid? Are you… naw. You wouldn't be screechin' like you was if you were okay." comes a worried, faraway voice. "I'll be right back."

I want to disappear, to go back to that all-consuming peace I felt before.
Can I even die again? I don't think I want to be immortal.

I can't breathe. I don't breathe, but I wish I could, Just to help calm myself down.

I don't know when I start crying—god, it's been twenty years since I cried last—but I'm hanging there and I don't want to move or cry or stop crying or sit here or- Why can't I go back to that peace?

***​

I'm a hollow shell. I don't know when I hit the ground but I did. I feel empty, nauseous, and completely exhausted, I want to throw up but I can't.

"Here hon, this'll make ya feel better." Says a gentle voice, right before something is placed in front of me.

I try to focus on it and see some kind of small frui- No, a berry, and It's green, that's all I can bring myself to care about it. I look up and see the floatzel crouching there watching me, she looks a little worried now.

Can I eat berries? I do have a mouth, even if I don't seem to normally use it to eat.

Whatever, why the fuck not at this point. I wrap an arm around the berry and move it to my mouth.

It tastes like cough syrup without the bitter tang, but I swallow it like she wants me to.

Looking less worried now, she says, "Good, and here, since you probably didn't like that one." She sets another berry down, this one pink with lighter blotches on it.

I look up at her again and it takes me a second to realize that I'm already feeling better.

Glancing down at the berry I ask, "What is it? What was that?"

Looking back at her I can still see and taste the traces of her earlier worry, but she smiles anyway, "A cure for whatever ails ya. And that there's a treat, just cuz I think ya need it." She says. And while motioning me to it, "Go on, eat."

I already trusted her once, though I don't think I was—or am—in a healthy state of mind. So I eat it.

Good god it's sweet. It tastes like someone took the sweetest, ripest strawberry I've ever had, and made it twice as sweet, and it's so fucking good.

Once I'm done I glance up at her. "Sorry."

now shaking her head, "Don't be. Not for that at least." And then looking straight at me, "What had you twistin' yourself in knots like that?" With how she's looking at me I don't think I can make myself lie to her, not that I think she'd believe me if I said I was okay.

I don't try to stall myself, I need to say it. "Why am I here? Am I me or am I someone who remembers being them?"

She stares at me a moment before her gaze moves to the ground between us. Then one of her hands moves to her muzzle and starts rubbing it. "Damned," she breathes. "That kind of thing really is normal for you spooky-types huh?" Sighing, she looks up now, hand going from her muzzle to her ear, "Don't know why anyone's here hun, don't think anyone knows." She's silent for a bit after that, and I notice that yellow line of hers swelling up a bit before flattening out again. Finally, and a little uncertainly she asks, "Do ya feel like… you?"

Do I? I guess I do, but I've been so busy trying not to think about my last life. All the stress, the job I loved at first, the burnout from years of the same shit over and over again.

Abby.

Wonderful, beautiful, smart Abigail. How she stopped being herself, stopped wanting to go out, stopped reading or wanting to eat. The first time she swung a knife at me, The second tim- No, that wasn't her.

I still love my parents, but I haven't- Stop.

My friends from work- Stop.

How long was I drifting out there?

Fuck.

I can't go back, can I?

I've been distracting myself as best I can, trying not to think about my situation. I couldn't keep that up forever, I've been on the brink of a meltdown for a while and it finally happened. At least before I died I was doing… I- I wasn't okay, was I?

I feel myself start to cry again, maybe I truly did need this to happen. No, Not this, this is too much, but something like it at least.

I've been silent for almost a full minute, the floatzel is looking worried again. "Yeah," I say, not wanting to keep putting it off, "Yeah I think I do."

She puts a hand gently on my head. "Okay then. Let's get you apologizin' to my boy, then see if we can't have you feelin' better tomorrow too." She moves her hand to one of my arms and starts to stand, pulling me with her. Christ, I'm tiny compared to her, maybe that's why she pegged me as a kid.

"um… do you have a name?" I ask, tears drying and feeling extremely awkward as we leave the cabin clearing, presumably in the direction of her home.

She scratches her neck with the hand she's not using to guide me, "Some o' the humans around here started calling me Marshal…" She hums, looking back over her shoulder, "Years ago now, it's stuck with everyone so far." She's looking around now, seeming to want to avoid looking at me. After some awkward silence, she finally asks, "Did- Sorry, do you?"

Don't think about it. She brought up a good point earlier. Just don't think about it right now.

"Charlie." I manage to say. Her expression shifts, looking like something just fell into place.

She was right, I still feel like me. Don't think about it.

"Right, sorry. That's gotta be hard on you, and I'd hate to think if I made it worse." She says. I can see it on her face, hear it in her tone, and taste it in the air, she means that.

Just don't focus on it right now.

My honest response comes without thinking, "I think it would have been worse if you hadn't been there."

Stay calm.

She looks at me, then back behind us thoughtfully before nodding to herself, "Okay." Is all she says.

I need to ask, I need the reassurance. "I'm still me, aren't I?" I speak the words quietly, wanting to make them heard and afraid of them at the same time.

She's silent again, then, "You remember a name right? Probably a bit more I reckon, th'rest is up ta you."

Ah, shit, direct confirmation, and a choice.

She was right though, I remember being me, not someone else. I just need to focus on that.

"I'm not the first ghost you've met, Am I?" I ask her. She seems to know enough about them—us—that I can't be.

My guide shakes her head, "Naw. But I only met four others I didn't have to chase off, you're th'fifth now." She says before we descend into silence.

We're still walking, neither of us has said anything for a bit, and she's still slowly leading me by the arm. She's still treating me like a kid.

Do I tell her? What does she already think of me?
Does she think I'm only getting flashes of memory, moments of being someone else?
Does she think I was some trainer's pokemon, maybe some pet?
I don't want her to start treating me differently. But would she, if she knew?

I'm not even sure how much it all matters. I don't think my old life means much here, aside from my own thoughts, and I can only remember so much about Pokemon.

"You know I'm not a kid, right?" I say. I don't want her to keep treating me like a child.

Not even bothering to look at me she responds, tone frighteningly even and unyielding, "I know. But y'are compared to me, and just lookin' at ya I can tell you were sheltered."

That makes us lapse into silence, because firstly: Wow, stern mom treatment. Secondly: How old does she think I am? Or… I was? And thirdly: Ow, my pride. Even if I know that that's not entirely inaccurate to say about me here. At least now I have an idea of what she thinks I was, a pet. I briefly consider correcting her but choose to remain silent.

With the conversational lull a thought I'd pushed down resurfaces: How can I even understand her?

Her voice is strange, the more I focus on it the less I hear her words. I go from hearing words to barking noises that sound a bit like variations on 'floatzel.' And oh my god the weird accent is still there, but the meaning in her words doesn't change. That's a little creepy, but I want to put that down to 'Pokemon can understand each other.'

Except I haven't understood the others I've heard talking, so it's back to weird.

And then another thought surfaces: Can I trust her?

I've had a strange feeling in her direction ever since she got close to me, and I don't know how to describe it, it's just… something.

But I've also been able to taste the emotions coming off her—god that sounds creepy—a lot more clearly since she started holding my arm. She's concerned about me, but it's mostly an undercurrent of self-assuredness with simple joy running through it. It's making me feel…

Goddammit, what I eat affects my mood, doesn't it?

Or maybe I haven't been eating enough. I thought her joy was making me happy, but that's not it. I don't feel so empty anymore. I actually feel kind of full? I don't think it was the berries, it's not the same feeling as when I was human, I feel… whole? It's definitely an interesting feeling, I don't think there's a single word that can describe it. But I'm also feeling significantly better than I have the last two days, which…

I've been trying not to think of what I eat, and I was starving myself without realizing it. Shit.

Ignoring my thoughts was obviously a bad idea in hindsight. Why didn't I realize what I was doing, fuck! And now that I know I'm going to have another breakdown at some point if I keep putting this off, what do I need to do?

I need to really think about my situation without ignoring everything I find too uncomfortable or disturbing.

Christ, okay, Marshal will probably help if it gets too bad. Let's start with-

"And here we are! Buizel, out of the berries, I know you're in there!" My guide all but yells, voice blasting out over the small lake we're now at, cracking a few scattered sheets of ice.

We were in the middle of something, right.

I look out over the lake and it's as beautiful as the rest of this place, startlingly clear water spreads out at least half a mile in front of us, some sheets of ice drifting around the edges, and waves fading from when Marshal called out a moment ago. I can see a small pier on the other side of the lake, so people—humans. I need to break that habit—have been here.

And about forty feet to our left on a more southern stretch of the shore, I see a small, fuzzy, orange otter poke its head out of the bushes. Face red and eyes downcast it slips into the water, I can taste the shame from here, though not literally, this time.

No, wait… Why can't I? Come to think of it, Marshal had to get pretty close before I could taste… No, fee- Nope that's just as bad. Before I could Sense her.

I almost phase out before I realize Marshal might not take that well. She somehow notices, however, but instead of getting angry she just smiles at me.

"You nervous about saying sorry to my son but not me?" She asks, genuinely enjoying the teasing question.

"It's not that," I say, trying to pull my thoughts together. "I've had a few realizations since you found me."

She nods thoughtfully, "How long have you been there?" She asks. Then looks back to what has to be her son, as the small otter, only about twenty-five feet away now, practically boils himself alive with his blush.

I wonder how I can see that through the fur?

"Two- No, three days."

I can feel her focus whip back to me. Glancing up to her, I see an appraising gaze looking back. After a moment she says, "Well, you're somethin' special then, aren't ya?"

What's that supposed to mean?

My confusion has to be all over my face because the giant just smiles knowingly and looks back to the comparatively tiny pokemon now only ten feet from us.
But I can taste the… victory? No, there's some of that in there but I think she's more satisfied about something.

What the hell lady? I need to ask her what she means by that, but I think we're about to start the protective mother section of the proceedings.

As the buizel starts to leave the water he wastes no time in addressing his own transgression, eyes downcast, "Sorry momma." I can taste the shame now.

After that, Marshal just raises an eyebrow, seemingly waiting for more. A full minute passes in silence.

At least I know what she wants from me beforehand now.

The little guy practically starts glowing red, eyes trying to look anywhere but at his mother, "I'm sorry for eating your berries when you said not to, cause you want to save them to plant more."

That makes Marshal give what I can only call a motherly smile to the small weasel, "Good, and I know you feel bad about it. So let's just leave it at that." Then she moves her eyes to me. "And this is Charlie, they've got somethin' they need ta say to ya."

God how I wish I could say I haven't been here before, but both my parents did the exact same thing when I was younger. And the longer I wait the more awkward it's going to be because she's not going to push for it. She's going to watch and wait, letting her sheer presence and my own shame do the work, even if I do have enough experience to not fall into that particular parental trap.

Steeling myself in an attempt to stave off some of the awkwardness, I turn to the buizel. And, in as steady a tone as I can, say "I'm sorry for scaring you, I knew I was being extremely loud, but I didn't consider what it meant for everyone else." …Nope, still feels pretty much the same as when I was a kid.

Marshal nods approvingly at me, even if I can see the ghost of a smirk on her face, but the buiz- Buizel, I need to start correcting myself. Buizel just looks a bit scared now. "You're the shrieker we all heard?"

Before I can answer, His mother steps in. "They're just a ghost, you'll see them occasionally. Most aren't all that friendly though, they don't got what it takes to stop and accept help. Too busy ignoring their problems."

Oh, is that what she meant about me being special? She thinks I hadn't been trying to do exactly that. Or maybe she knows and was happy she put a stop to it, and the 'special' part was because I let her help me.

"And on that thought," She says, turning to me. Oh yeah, definitely that second one. "You think you'll be okay on yer own now?"

I almost say yes, the response ingrained from decades in human society, but stop myself. And actually try to think about the question.
As much as it pains me to admit: No, hell no I won't be okay on my own just yet. I have too many questions about… Everything. Even if I don't ask her any of them, I know that I'll need the support, if she's offering.

"Probably not," I say. And that makes her smile.

Goddammit, she's been two steps ahead this whole time hasn't she, leading me to the answers she thin- she knows I need.

How smart is she?

I realize I need to stop letting my thoughts show on my face when her smile gets even wider, "I have been around a while hun." is all she says before picking her son up by the scruff and walking into the lake.

Once she's in the water I see that yellow line of hers swell until she looks like a life raft. Then she turns around and falls back with a large splash, before setting her son down on her stomach and beckoning me to follow. I can't think of a good reason not to at this point, so I float after them.

As I move up to them, Marshal speaks, soft and low, "I know this might sound like empty talk to you boy," She says while looking at Buizel, then she looks at me, "Maybe not to you though, kid, and it's a lesson we all learn the painful way eventually." Now looking back at her son, "The hard things in life don't get easier if you wait for them. I learned that the painful way, and I don't want you to learn it that way, but I don't know if you can otherwise. So just promise me that you'll listen to what I teach ya and do your best with all th'rest."

I know that the last part isn't aimed at me, even if I suspect I'm the cause. So I do my best to remain out of the moment as Buizel says, "I promise, momma."

"Okay, that's a good boy now." She says while stroking his head. "Now go catch yourself somethin' meaty to eat, I've got to talk to Charlie for a bit."

"Okay, love you mom." He says, sliding off the larger otter's belly and disappearing under the water.

Marshal watches her son leave with a sigh. Then she looks at me again, "I asked if you'd be okay on yer own, but do ya think you'll be okay at all?" The worry I've been tasting hasn't gone away, it hasn't grown either.

"Probably…" I say. And realizing that's not enough, continue, "I'm going to need help, I mean…"

Oh god, how do I explain what I need and what happened to me? Should I explain what happened to me? How much can I tell her without sounding like I'm making it up?

"I'm not gonna ask." She interrupts my thoughts, proving again how she can read me. "And don't feel like you gotta tell me if you don't want to, just watchin' you think on it I can tell it's painful. If ya need help, ask. I'll be happy ta give ya an ear, a hand, and advice." She smiles warmly again, "I'm just glad I got ya out of that funk. You seem alright, for a spook."

I don't know what to say to that, it kind of makes me want to tell her more, but, with the way she's been steering me around… I shouldn't think like that, though I'm not going to tell her much just yet.

There is something I need to get off my chest, however, even if I'll need to hold—quite—a bit back.

"I was killed by someone I… loved? Used to love?" I tell her, not feeling any better, and also now extremely anxious. Though my words also get a reaction.

Her face falls, first into disbelief, then horror. Finally, I see the wheels turning in her head and her expression shifts to something softer. And then I'm slammed by the emotions coming off her, I can't even make any of them out before I don't taste them anymore. Jesus, that made me dizzy.

"Honestly can't say I expected that." She says in a low voice. "You remember that? No, don- Don't answer that." The words come in a breath as she looks away. Then, after a moment, her eyes move back to me again. Voice steadier this time she asks, "You been carryin' that around fer three days alone?" I can only nod. "Are ya carryin' any worse?"

I- Am I? I don't think so, secrets of worlds beyond or not I'm pretty sure Abby was the worst of it.
Even if I miss my friends and family. And Abby, back when she was still herself.

"I miss her. I…" I've missed her for a while now, I didn't know if I'd see her again after her brother gained the power of attorney over her. I wasn't expecting her when I did.

Marshal looks at me for an eternal second, then just lifts her arms and beckons me closer. It takes me a moment to realize she wants to hug me. And honestly? That seems like the best thing I could do right now.

As I drift closer, I can taste the sadness and… affection. She genuinely feels sorry for me. That stings my ego a bit once more, but it's a drop in the bucket at this point.

Affection?

Once I'm close enough she gently pulls me in the rest of the way. She's warm, furry, and wet. It's not the most comfortable hug, but I'm not complaining. I needed this.

There are a lot of things I'll need to figure out. However, at this moment I think I really can put all that off, for now at least.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼​

"-Since we are expecting more traffic from Sinnoh and Galar this year-" The rep from the Sienna Office of Tourism continues droning on. I'm paying attention, but it starts to become white noise after so many meetings.

At least the meetings are starting to taper off. I get that we need to know what's going to happen when all the people who've never actually met a wild pokemon decide they want to come and see Almia in Springtime, but it won't change any of our reactions to them.

Luckily, there are only a few pokemon around here that might kill someone, most will just threaten or rough up anyone that stupid. Except for the alphas, they're old enough to push back, hard. A lot of people just don't seem to understand that fact until it's holding them by the ankles and shaking them hard enough to make all the candy fall out.

"We would ask that you practice patience in such scenarios-" And he's still going. Yes, we get it, don't make the country we chose to live in look bad. Or- Not Karlos, but the rest of us did.

I want to sigh, but I hold it in. It's politics, they know we won't put the tourists ahead of the pokemon, and they know we know they know, but they still need to prove it was said.

At least things have been relatively quiet recently, so it hasn't been so bad with how few we have left.

Oh, I shouldn't have thought that.

---

​

I never really understood the lack of freaking-out or instant understanding a lot of Isekai victims have. Meh.
There are about 17 chapters of this already written, but I might not have the last two finished being edited by the time I get there.

I'm not the fastest writer, but I think I spend more time editing than I should.

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

"Just make sure ya don't let yourself fall apart now," Marshal says as I continue to float down the path to my cabin. Then more seriously, "Cause I will be checkin' on you."

After my small admission, we'd just floated on the lake while she comforted me for a bit. It was nice at first, but it started getting awkward around thirty seconds. By the time two minutes came around I'd had enough.

Once that was done though, she started asking questions about how well I could take care of myself in earnest. My answers to most of them boiled down to 'I'm not sure, I'll need to figure it out.' She was rolling her eyes a lot by the end.

But, eventually, she let me go so that I could figure out what I needed to do.

And the biggest one, the one I'd thought was so simple: Food. I'm fairly certain I haven't been eating enough over the last few days, so I need to solve that mystery ASAP. Actually… Marshal seemed to be giving me enough, so maybe I should take a look at her in 'ghost-sight' to see what's different about her.

So I'm already turning around, although I'm invisible now so I should avoid… uh…

Marshal is so bright she's lighting up the forest where I am from the lake. She's giving off so much ____ not-light that most of the world around her looks solid. What the fuck? And even though I'm definitely inside the light I don't taste anything.

So, I know basically nothing about how I eat then, perfect. And now I feel like a creep for watching her so intently, especially because I'm invisible… At least I hope I'm invisible, but I'm not counting on it anymore.

Wait, stay focused, there are brighter spots in the air around her. They look sort of like the flares I saw coming off other pokemon, but they're not flying off the same way, They leave her main light- Main body? Mass? Whatever, they leave her and start orbiting instead, circling the massive light.

That… makes a kind of sense actually. Well, no, but I can draw parallels to what I know at least. we're like emotional gravity wells, and Marshal has the mass to keep her cast off-

Are they cast off? I haven't been eating her have I? Oh god, this is exactly the kind of thought I've been avoiding because it's terrifying and- I need to stay calm, keep trying to figure it out.

Don't panic.

I continue to watch the massive form as she swims around, then dives so fast I can't follow her properly. I manage to track her again when I see a brighter flash deep in the lake, Holy shit that lake goes deep and she's fast. But now she's ascending slowly, and, while it's a bit hard to make out between how bright Marshal is and the foggy effect that has on the water, she's carrying three fish? Wait, I know what those are, three magikarp, larger than I imagined them, and she's got two in her hands while eating the third.

I had, of course, figured out that the pokemon here eat each other, but seeing Marshal do it really drove that home. And I'm now hoping that nothing around here eats ghosts, but back to figuring out what and how I eat.

And continuing to watch Marshal's 'light' makes me feel better about eating it, those flares are diffusing, growing dimmer and sparser as time passes, while occasionally more leap out of Marshal.

So I might actually need to go and hun- scavenge, I'm pretty certain eating cast-offs makes me a scavenger—for food, but that's not too bad. Though I think Marshal has more than enough to feed me, and I'll need to ask if she knows what I eat later. I need to make sure she knows because I don't like the thought of continuing to eat her emotions without her knowledge. I'd go let her know right now, but she's leveled off about fifteen feet underwater.

I wonder how well I can swim? Thoughts for later I suppose.

Got to get back home I guess. Home, fuck, I know I'm not the first person to be suddenly uprooted and need to restart somewhere else, but I think I take the gold for sheer distance, and I'm not sure if the thought that it could be a lot worse is helping or not.

At least the location is idyllic.

Phasing back to look around, I can see the plants here are thriving, the water doesn't seem to have any pollution in it and neither does the air, it smells so fresh and there's no… Smell, when I can't breathe.

I'm certain I was in shock when I first got here, then I was overwhelmed by everything, and then I was in some kind of depressive fugue state the last two days, as they're mostly a blur with a few very clear moments, which is now something I'll need to thank Marshal for, but how did I not notice that? Of course, that's not the strangest thing to happen recently, but it is weird.

What's stranger still on top of ghost-sight, tasting emotions, and smelling without a nose, is that I'm becoming increasingly certain I have another new sense, but it's so faint I hadn't noticed until Marshal was right next to me. I don't know what it is or what it's sensing, and to get anything from it while she's not here takes way, way, way too much focus. Something else to worry about later then.

Now let's see how long it takes to get from here to my cabin.

Flying, as it turns out, really is faster than walking… or being escorted by someone who's walking, since it takes me less than a minute to make it back to my new home while flying at nowhere near my top speed.

As I enter the bedroom and see myself in the mirror again, I stop and stare for a moment. It's still so surreal, seeing myself in this body. I spread my arms, all seven of them, and yeah, that looks pretty terrifying. I smile, which just makes it worse so I put my arms down. And now my smile looks more like an actual smile since I don't look like a tentacled horror.

I guess there's no point putting it off, I… Hold on. Under my skin, the flow of whatever it is isn't just a flow anymore, it's roiling, coiling like fire, and moving a lot faster than before. Why would it- No, wait, it's so fucking obvious, I just had a feast, I'm not sure how long it'll hold me, but I have energy now.

I have energy now… Shit, I really hadn't noticed how awful I was feeling, had I? I'd just been pushing through like always, but now? I feel amazing. I feel better than I have in years! Physically, at least. No aches, scars, scrapes, cuts, or bruises, and I don't feel so soul-crushingly tired.

I keep getting distracted, though not without reason, but I need to take a look at myself while I'm not in shock.

I look the same, obviously, but I do notice things I hadn't before. Such as, my skin is extremely thin, it can't be any thicker than a sheet of paper and the cloth-like look is caused by the layer of 'fuzz' over it, like there's bad reception in the air.
I'm also now sure that my eyes glow brighter the darker it is, and that I have zero control of that.
And finally, the gems around my neck also have that flowing fire in them, and it's even more intense than the stuff in my body.
Also, I think I'm ever so slightly larger than before?

Now for something I've been hesitant about. I hook two arms under my skirt and hoist it up so I can see in the mirror.

You know, I'm not sure what I was expecting, some confirmation of my being male or female, maybe a blank stretch of skin, Possibly even a better view of my internal whatever, but…

There's nothing there. No light, no space, and most concerning of all, I can tell there's no reality, just emptiness. I don't know how I can tell there's no reality, but I can feel it, ironically enough, deep inside. A lot like how I feel a certain place isn't truly space and doesn't contain light, now that I think of it.

I don't want to go back to ignoring my problems, especially right after Marshal just put a stop to that, but I don't know what else to do with this except file it away and ignore it.

I can see both of my arms reaching into the nothingness, and that creeps me out enough to stop and right myself in the air. Looking at the tips of said arms, they're a bit 'fuzzier' than before, but that's quickly fading.

Ah, I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means, that the 'fuzz' around me isn't because of the nothing that's under my skin because that really makes me want to go right back to not thinking about it. …Except I don't want to slip back into that depression, so trying to make sense of the impossible it is.

So… Where to start? I'm dead, or rather, I died and am now a ghost. Specifically a ghost-type pokemon. Dying was an experience I don't want to think about, but I do remember fragments of what came after, and—I think—that's a bit relevant.

I just need to not dwell on it.

Out there, from what I can remember, was extremely fuzzy around the edges. Not unlike what I'm seeing around myself right now, really. Though it was hard to think at all and I'm not even sure how I saw anything out there given that I don't think I had a body at all, at the time.

…That's both a bit frightening and, strangely, comforting. I don't know why but the thought of staying me without a body feels nice.

Anyway, then we have the pokemon thing. I still don't know how we on Earth… Is this world also called Earth? Wait, it doesn't matter, focus. I still don't know how we knew about them or how that all works but it seems too fantastical to…

I'm an idiot. Magic practically needs to be a thing to explain anything about my whole situation. Which also immediately means that I don't know jack-shit about what I thought I did. Even just basic physics would… Huh.

Yeah, I think I can safely say that the physics I was taught has no power here. Hell, my skin looks like it contains vast depths even at the parts it seems like I should be able to look straight through, I can phase out of one part of reality and into another, and I eat emotions of all things. This nothingness might just be straight-up magic for all I know.

…Yeah, that makes sense, I'm looking for an explanation in my old reality when trying to understand my new reality, one that includes ghosts, strange not-spaces, and giant, talking fish-otters.

In short, I don't know enough about ghosts or pokemon and this is probably normal for us. I'd bet a lot of the stranger things I've been worrying about are normal for ghosts here, I just need to learn about them if I get the chance. No, scratch that, I'm going to make the chance to learn, once I get an idea of how anyway.

Huh, I… I think I've managed to make myself feel better about all this. So what's next?

Right, I want to keep trying to get a Move off, which I'm feeling a lot better about now that I'm so energized. I have no idea what moves misdreavus can use, but that's not going to stop me, I reach for the power I've been able to feel since the first day and push.

Two things happen at that, the first is that my mirror shatters as it along with all the dust, debris, and plants in the room are shoved away from me, and the second is the immediate migraine.

Shit, that was definitely a Move of some kind, but I didn't try to control it at all and now my head is killing me while one of my few real possessions is broken, goddammit.

Now nursing a bastard of a migraine, I move through my home till I'm at the most comfortable spot I've found so far and push myself into it because I really don't want to focus on 'the gravity thing' right now.

So I'm not going to focus on the gravity thing right now.

The couch, while barely recognizable as such, is effectively a pile of what has to be synthetic cloth and padding over wood, and is surprisingly pretty comfortable for what it is.

Now what? I've got nothing to do right now except maybe to try to get another Move off, but fuck that, not with my head feeling like this. Hmm… Maybe this is why pokemon join trainers, a chance to go on an adventure and see more of the world while being taught this stuff doesn't sound bad on paper.

…How does that even work?

I haven't seen any humans yet, but they've clearly been to the lake, and Marshal even said she'd been named by them. So it's only a matter of time before I meet one, I need to consider the possibility of capture.

God, my head hurts.

My memories of the pokemon games I've played are blurred by the years, but I need them now more than ever. I don't recall any point in Blue where anything about how pokemon consider their trainer is mentioned, but that could just be how long it's been—holy shit I'm old. Gold and Ruby are just as blank to me, Pearl is a lot easier to remember, but all the dialog is a jumbled mess in my recollection. I loved the legendary from that game though, space manipulation seemed so…

Oh.

That's right, I'd completely disregarded the fact that there are Gods here, and I've decided magic has to be real with everything I've been through so… Magic and—capital G—Gods are real, Of course there's a way back to earth, how else could I get here in the first place.

No, I'm… am I getting distracted?

Which line of thought is more important? Gods being real is maybe a bit terrifying, and magic is of course its own full can of worms entirely, but getting back is a huge deal. I… don't know how to feel about that. I'm still a ghost, and—barring divine intervention—I don't think that's going to change.

Though I think I may have already received some divine intervention à la yank, because that can't have been natural, so traveling freely is probably not going to happen

But I do want to say goodbye to my parents and friends, and if there is a way back and forth it might… be a huge mistake to use because fuck, that's another whole-ass meta-physics debate that I am completely unqualified to even attempt to touch with a ten-foot pole.

But I did somehow get here. So, was I brought here for a reason? If I was it would be nice to know what it is-slash-was…?

…

Yeah, I wasn't really expecting anything to happen, still worth a shot. And now I have another thing to worry about, thanks me, I really appreciate it.

But all that just makes the prospect of being caught more frightening. After all, I still don't know how it works. I do remember something about levels, badges, and ignoring orders, though I think those were just to make the games more fair. I'm pretty sure trainers are one of those questions I'm going to have to find a way to ask Marshal about somehow, without sounding like a complete idiot.

Also, FUCK my head hurts! It's getting better, but I think it'll be a while before it stops. What was it about tossing things around that caused so much pain?
Whatever, I'm not moving, so, given my apparent psychic power, maybe I'll try meditating to pass the time, see if that helps with anything.

***​

Meditation did not, in fact, help. Granted, I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to meditating, all I remember from when Abby was on a spiritualist kick was a focus on breathing—yeah, no—and spirituality, and given my current form… Yeah, not trying that again without guidance.

It was fairly early when Marshal came and rescued me, it's maybe a little past noon now, and I'm feeling better so I may as well go out during the day this time.

The forest is very different during the day, once I get a decent distance from my new home there's activity everywhere. Whole sections of the forest seem to move where the trees are thinner, large gardens of animate plants dancing in the sun and breeze. I see considerably less of the small insects and more of the massive ones, most of which I can recognize, even if their shapes and colors have some differences. I only see a bird swoop down to grab an insect once, and it gets forced away by the blast of poison barbs the large wurmple shoots off. Seeing a pikachu with three pichu that I'm sure I recognize marching off south is quite the sight, and I'm a little shocked when I see a bibarrel carrying a whole-ass tree off somewhere, but only a little. I don't know where all the doduo I saw before went, but the two I do see are moving fast, racing through the trees in a flicker of motion.

Once again it looks like someone brought a fairy tale to life, and once again everyone ignores me.

But there is something I need to know, I try to listen to what anyone is saying, actually focusing on it. I still get nothing. Sighing, I fly closer to one of the garden-groves I've seen.

This garden has two grotle, a few roselia, a few different bud-looking pokemon I don't know the names of, and a leafeon, all resting or playing in the sun. They're clearly talking to each other, so I try to listen in, even as the leafeon is giving me a look.

"…prime vespiquen's expecting more daughters to evolve soon too, you know?" I hear one of the roselia say, so I can understand them, but why not before?

A grotle this time, distinctly male, replies, "Oh I know, it'll be nice to have them push the beedrill back a bit, teach them all a lesson."

"Excuse me, did you need something?" Asks the leafeon, stepping towards me.

How do I handle this? Honesty will probably work best with most pokemon, won't it? Yeah, that sounds right, so honesty it is. "I was drifting by and got curious, I was just wondering what you were talking about," I say. Okay so, honesty with a hint of omission, good enough.

"Oh! Everything's just moving into spring and warming up, all the bugs are back, and we're coming out of hibernation, just catching up really." Says a bright female voice from the other grotle.

The leafeon rolls their eyes at that, "They weren't invited, Grotle."

"Let them join, it's not like they tried to sneak up on us." Says one of the roselia, making the- Leafeon sigh and chuck his chin towards the group, before he starts walking back to join the others, completely dismissing me.

"It doesn't hurt to make more friends Leaf, and it's not like they seem too dangerous," I hear Grotle, the male one, whisper.

I don't think it should surprise me that I was allowed in so easily, as far as they know—and probably in reality—I'm not a threat to them. Though, this group has the feel of a bunch of friends getting together at a bar for a night out. In the middle of the day. In the forest.
Yeah, okay, but it still has that feeling damn it! Honestly, it's just… surprisingly normal, and I'm not going to complain about that right now.

Floating closer to the group, I decide to see how well I can be social among my new neighbors.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼​

Watching that kid leave still has my gut rolling.

I'd been ignoring the noise, I figured I'd deal with it if it became a problem. Then when Buizel had come running scared saying he was frightened by the shrieking from the old human place, it did. So I'd thought another empty-headed gasbag had moved in, thoughtless and angry. But that kid was nothing like the idiots I've had to remove before, they weren't trying to establish themselves with empty threats or hot-headed bluster, no, they looked lost, even scared. Then they apologized immediately so I thought they'd be one of the nice ones and we could ignore each other after they made peace with my son.

And right when I saw just how much they were hurting inside, they started crying, not normal crying either, they might have hurt someone else with all that sound. Never heard one of them make noise like that, I've never seen one like them either though, so that might just be their kind.

And then every time I moved they froze, which was a pretty bad sign, but when they asked for a name it started making sense. You only think about stuff like that if you spend time around humans, so they were a human's companion, and probably spent no time fighting either by the way they acted. That's rough, I know, going from a loving family to alone out here, even if they seemed clearer-headed than most I've seen.

After that, they didn't try to wiggle out of apologizing and they were genuine about it, so that was good, but they clearly had experience doing it, so they might also be a troublemaker.

But they were obviously in a lot of pain, emotionally speaking. I don't think they even realized just how much they were shaking and crying.

And Then they told me the big one, that it was their companion that killed them. And that just isn't right! No wonder the poor kid was afraid and crying like that. When you choose a partner like that you stick with them, lift each other up, keep each other honest, good and bad, thick and thin, forever. A betrayal of that shouldn't ever happen, that's just the way things are. …Not that I don't know the feeling.

I sigh and roll over, starting my swim back to shore.

Giving them a lum was the right thing to do, but now I'll have to tend to the vine more to get a second one before next winter, or maybe even ask Torterra to help, the lazy lug. The kid really needed it, however, and I'm not going to be selfish when someone's hurting like that.

Sliding out of the water, I begin walking towards my garden to see the damage Buizel did. I doubt it was much, he's not a fast eater, but there are only so many berries the trees and vines can grow.

It isn't a long walk. I made sure to plant them close to my home.

Reaching the clearing I made for my garden, I see the sign Ryuko gave me to warn off other humans.

…Ryu hasn't been around recently, it's that time of year, but I hope she visits soon, she's always nice to be around, and Sneasel's a hoot. Plus, she seems to know how to get my garden growing better.

Garden. three years in and still such a novel thing, not just for the leafy folk anymore.

Ah, let's see here, looks like he mostly got into the oran and pecha, that's not too bad then, I would have loved to see how he picked them out of the trees without leaving marks, but they grow fast.

Just like my sweet Buizel. Hmm, Maybe it's time to see if Luxray is up for another roll-in-the-mud, maybe see if we can't make a child as strong as we are this time. Though Ryuko seems to think that's not all there is to it, and she's pretty smart.

Turning my feet around, I start heading for water again.

There's no harm in trying for a child at least, and probably a bit of fun for us in the process. Though, maybe not if I'm going to need to look after Charlie while they heal. Next year, then.

Oh, I'm already back at my lake. Charlie was the biggest issue today, so I think I'll just swim the rivers for a while, see what's new, probably see what the human kids are up to when they think their parents aren't watching, maybe try and save the less attentive ones from the trouble they're going to get into.

yeah, that sounds like a good day to me.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼​

I can't say I've made friends per se, but once the initial awkwardness had passed everyone I've met so far has been standoffish at worst. I even learned a reason behind the understanding thing and have suspicions about another.

To start with, the Grotles were friendly enough, they mostly wanted to catch up on the goings-on recently because they apparently came out of a winter hibernation that day and just wanted to be friendly. Leafeon—or Leaf, go figure—on the other hand, was a worrywart who had heard my screaming over the last few days and was accordingly suspicious. And the roselia were… interesting, I can't say I get their outlook on life, but they were friendly at least. The bud-like pokemon were apparently called budew, cherubi, and bonsly, and they were all very much children who mostly ignored the adults as they played.

I can't tell if I like the fact that I don't know whose emotions are whose when there are so many people around. It does make it easier to tune them out, but I kind of like knowing how who I'm talking to is feeling. Especially since someone there was pretty anxious the entire time, and I'd like to know who it was. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person.

Overall, I had a nice time with them, but I doubt I'll be able to find them again without making a real effort, though both of the grotles and Leaf left together, so they might be a group of some kind.

As for the understanding thing, distance definitely plays a part, sometimes I had to get really close to hear what was being said, and other times not so much, but there did seem to be a maximum distance. I also think wanting to be heard and wanting to listen helps, but I'm not sure about that yet, hmm… Something to consider later.

In any case, it's the next day now, and I don't know why I was expecting Marshal to check on me immediately, but I was, and now I'm a little disappointed in myself. Although I'm definitely feeling lonely, there's no shortage of people to talk to out here so I have no excuse not to. Even if I have lingering worries about trainers and why I'm here, my best course of action right now is to not wallow in loss and self-pity, face the day and all that, save the worries for when I have friends to hear them.

***​

"I've got some good news for you, today," Karlos says over his shoulder as I enter the kitchenette. "The next few status meetings were canceled."

That makes everyone except the man himself pause. "You mean…" Maya trails off, unwilling to say it out loud.

"Two of you get to head out today!" Karlos replies brightly, scooping the last pancake onto a plate with eggs, and handing it to me. I'd say he plays up the role, but he does have kids. "it's great timing, too, since we'll be getting a student today."

"Just one?" I ask, taking a seat to start digging into breakfast.

"Ranger or operator?" Barry asks, definitely hoping for the latter.

"I'm going to let it be a surprise," Karlos decides, waving a spatula at us.

***​

Marshal did come check on me today, before inviting me to her lake again.

As it turns out, Marshal really is a genuinely friendly and happy person, and she loves having someone to talk to about anything and everything, as I am currently experiencing. That's not to say I haven't learned some interesting tidbits, such as:
Berries will grow year-round, even if it's a bit slower in the winter.
The effects I remember from the games are mostly real here, though not quite the same.
Even the fastest-growing berries can take more than a month to mature after budding.
And finally, they grow in a lot of different ways, some on vines, some in bushes, some on—the stranger looking—trees, and some even grow like pineapples, as a thorny stalk-thing with a bunch of berries on top.

…She does seem to have a focus right now.

"And this is a lum, I'm sure you've already got an idea what they can do. Never seen an ill they couldn't cure, but the berries take nearly a year to grow, and that's after blooming. Though it doesn't have any berries right now 'cause I gave you the one it had, but that ain't your fault." Says Marshal happily, hand on a vine.

I hadn't known she loved gardening, I hadn't realized a pokemon could garden, but she seems to love it. "And this one," She continues, gesturing towards a sapling that's barely a foot tall, "Is supposed to be a 'sitrus' according to Torterra. Haven't gotten it to grow much yet, but it supposedly tastes pretty good and it'll put you right if you're…"

And then she stops, head whipping to the East, ears rising, and face breaking into a huge smile. Now with a chuckle in her voice, she says, "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to stop here today, there's someone I haven't seen in a while on her way and she deserves my best greeting."

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

I am having an amazing day. Genuinely, I needed this, just being able to do my job is a nice change this time of year.

"One report's questionable, especially from a teen boy. Four, two from a teen couple, one from a kid, and one from Emelio about 'A bunch of panicked buizel' in the area is something else." my radio squawks.

"And you're sure the kid and Em aren't messing with us?" I ask Barry for what has to be the fourth time.

He even answers this time, "Pretty sure. The kid was scared, if she was faking it she's got a great career ahead of her, and Em didn't have that look." comes the slightly staticky, entirely exasperated response. "Plus, you know, they all reported it in person."

"Why is the old place even still there at all? It's got to be ready to collapse and the kids out here wander all over the place. Karlos was one of those kids, It's that old!" I vent at the operator, just needing to say something about the building's situation, because it genuinely is old. A little over a century as far as city records can tell.

"Nobody's bothered to pay for it yet," comes the simple response. "And they might not be able to if it has a new resident. Also, stop complaining, this is a break from Spring prep and you know it."

"Yeah, I know. See if there's a ghost, figure out how long it's been there, and if It's hungry, angry, or just bored." I had seen the report, the child said they heard shrieking. Not crying or howling. "Personally, my bet's on hungry," I say into my radio. There's still a good ten minutes until I reach the old summer retreat cabin.

"Probably, yeah. Just so you know Professor Rowan has already sent a request for observation if there really is a ghost." is his response, tone dry as the Haruba.

Makes sense. Most true ghost pokemon are only seen where there are large concentrations of negative emotions. The professor's probably hoping to see a ghost type without the massive human influence of said locations. And, not to put too fine a point on it, Sinnoh's Lost Tower just isn't as big as some other countries' mourning grounds.

And Sinnoh is the closest country to us, right across the mountains to the north.

I sigh, "And he won't be sending his own people, of course." There's no question there, anyone they would be likely to send would want to bring their pokemon—with pokeballs—and would make a huge deal out of the laws here. I continue my words, now in a mocking tone with a thick Johto accent, "I can't hand their balls over to the rangers, I'll keep them out while I'm here. I'll be able to handle five trained pokemon by myself, sir. It'll be easy."

His chuckling makes it clear that he's also seen the recording I'm quoting. "Yeah, like that," He says once he's done laughing.

The laws in Almia are very clear on certain points regarding pokemon, wild or otherwise. Specifically, their rights. No pokeballs, no training of pokemon—asterisk—and a basic respect for decency, self-determination, and environmental protection. Not that trained pokemon complain all that much, it's closer to an extremely well-paid adventure than anything else for them. No, the laws around pokeballs here were made to prevent things like shoving them in a pokeball as a punishment, or locking their ball and throwing it away. Those about training are more about the sport of it, the betting, and the lack of respect treating them as fighters can lead to, and the big one, to prevent treating them like weapons.

Anyway, no one gets in trouble if Bob, Phil, and their companions decide to have a friendly match once in a while. Unless said match gets out of hand and we get called about it. Again. But that's usually more for damages than anything else.

"Who even showed you that?" Barry asks.

"The port officer, what was his name… Richter? He showed me last Autumn when we were dealing with the massive pelipper migration." There's silence for a bit as I continue walking, then a thought hits me, "Hey, do you know if that guy ever got through customs?" I ask.

"Yeah, you remember that forest fire south of Pueltown? He was training his quilava in the woods." Barry answers, and I can hear the edge of a laugh in his voice, "He got tracked down by one of the big-shots, poor guy got a very hard and swift education about rangers before being sent home."

I wince at that. There's a reason it takes so long to become a ranger, and why they're so selective to begin with. That thought makes me look behind myself to my partner, Sneasel. I hadn't even graduated when we met, and she helped me push through. She looks back for a moment, then grins wide.

Oh no, she usually doesn't look like that unless… I smack the side of my face full force into a small tree and tumble landing face up, staring at her.

"got distracted by Sneasel again?" I hear from my left side.

"Kind of," I reply, getting to my feet and picking up the radio. "I was thinking back to school."

Sneasel snickers to herself, but walks up and hugs me to take the edge off, I feel better instantly.

"Ah, good times," says Barry over the radio.

"Maybe for you, I was on the ranger track," I grumble back, resuming my hike.

"Uh-huh, and you were lucky for it." He replies indignantly. "All I had to study were technical skills and boring law, you got to do all the fun courses." I know he's just teasing me, this is very familiar conversational ground.

"I also had to study a lot more than you, remember?" I reply evenly. I can see the cabin now.

And it's true, a ranger requires knowledge of pokemon habitats, biology, and psychology on par with most budding professors. Though with significantly more emphasis on practical application.

And a lot of physical conditioning.

"Yeah, yeah. You're at the place, go do your thing miss hero." he mocks before the speaker goes silent.

"If I have to calm them down you're buying me pizza, the good stuff from Paoulo's," I growl into the dead line.

Which is a real concern. Ghosts share some things in common with both psychic and dark-types, in that they interact with thought and emotions on a more real level, even making R.E.D's sometimes have strange effects.

I was still at the ranger academy when some Kanto professor proved that the now former mystic type was, in fact, three distinct types. Consequently, they're also considered the least understood types of pokemon, and those pokemon make for the easiest or the hardest jobs with no in-between.

Their powers just aren't understood well enough yet, though we are starting to get a handle on it. Psychics building invisible mazes or altering someone's perception of an event, dark-types blending into the world around themselves without effort and seeming to grow stronger with pain, rage, fear, and so on—I've personally seen Sneasel meltdown, it's quite the sight. And there are, of course, far too many urban legends and myths about ghosts to even begin going through, and most seem to have no basis in reality given how rare ghost-types truly are.

Now, while we don't know much for certain about ghost-types, and even less about so-called 'true ghost-types,' what we know about the 'true ghosts' is that they eat emotions. Usually just the extremes, or maybe excess would be the better word. But, they can eat actively and that's typically bad for whoever they're feeding on. Luckily for anyone who happens to run into a ghost-type, the only times they seem to do this is either when they're really starving or very, very angry.

I wait a moment longer and when there's still no response from Barry I swap my radio from operator to idle. Sighing, I march up to the front door and look at Sneasel.

She's focused now, looking around the front of the building before stepping inside. She does a little spin in place, sniffs the air, then nods at me.

Ghost confirmed. She makes my job so much easier.

"Are they here right now?" I ask her. She shakes her head. "Would they be getting enough to eat here?" A raised eyebrow, then a shrug. Fair enough. "You think they've been angry?" I ask.

"Snee~," she says, equivocating with one hand before she starts looking around. She puts on a serious expression, places one hand on her hip, and brings the other up to her chin. Then she walks to the back, through the door, and out of sight. A moment later, she returns, still in that same pose with the same look on her face, then she shrugs.

"Think we should wait?" I ask my partner. She shrugs again, my choice then. "If they're not angry it should be fine, and you should be able to get us out if things go bad," I say as I sit cross-legged on the floor and pull out the ultimate stakeout boredom killer, my pack of cards. Making Sneasel clap excitedly.

***​

Sometime later, our fun is interrupted.

"Ranger Surn to Ranger Ryuko, Confirm?" squawks my radio. Sounding tense and forgetting to use my family name, so it's probably bad.

"Confirmed," I say to my radio.

"At least three combee hives are swarming just south of the Loel Cliffs, I've counted eight vespiquen so far." her voice is flat, probably forcing herself to stay calm. I start a bit and feel Sneasel tense up next to me.

The east end of the Leol Cliffs is about two meters away from me right now.

That's bad, really bad. But I need to conform to ranger-to-ranger radio standards. Straightening myself I respond. "Acknowledged. Do you need backup?"

It takes a full minute before she responds and the silence starts to feel heavier the longer it stretches. Then, actually calm now, "Negative, the situation appears to be multiple queen ascensions rather than hive combat. Advise avoiding the area for at least four days."

Now relaxing a bit I give the standard sign-off. "Acknowledged. Confirm?"

"Confirmed." and my radio goes silent again.

"Snea, sneas?" comes a worried voice to my right.

Giving her a scratch behind the ears, I say as reassuringly as I can, "It'll be fine, there's no reason to get involved with them right now." She preens a bit, then looks morosely at our former house of cards. "Sorry about that. It's hard not to be shocked by that kind of news." She bobbles her head a bit before looking out the sliding door. it's getting darker out there.

I didn't bring supplies for an overnight. And though we could do one if needed, we probably shouldn't.

I stand and stretch before speaking into my radio, "Barry, it's getting late and we don't have supplies for overnight. I'm requesting permission to return to base for now."

The radio remains silent for about half a minute before I get a response. "Permission granted, come on back."

Okay, now to check on Marshal before then. Strictly speaking… I shouldn't, but it's not even a secret that every ranger has friends they visit while out on the job. The operators will mark the time, and they might even triangulate my location, but they all know already.

Because every ranger does it.

Not with Marshal specifically, I'm the only one at the Vien Forest west base who visits her, but with their own friends, there's a leafeon around here that Maya visits whenever she gets the chance, and I know the shinx Karlos took home to his family recently was one of the alpha luxray's, though I'd bet the fuzzy softie practically had to force Karlos to take him.

But the river alpha has a strong personality, and she doesn't mesh well with my co-workers or their partners.

I think she's fun.

I look at Sneasel and see her grin, she knows where we're going now. I can't help my own smile either, it's been almost three weeks since we've been out this way and Marshal's going to be happy to see us, too.

Leaving the cabin and turning west, we start heading for the almost invisible path between the cabin and the lake. As we approach, however, something becomes extremely obvious about the path: It's been trampled down as if something big was using it recently.

Now looking for tracks, it becomes clear exactly who's been walking it. Huge floatzel tracks run in both directions on the trail.

One of the reports was about panicked buizel.

Sighing, I mentally put myself back on the job, unhook my radio, switch its mode, and start speaking, "Update on the quest Barry, Marshal's been coming and going from the cabin, looks like about three or four times."

"The panicked buizels." He states, putting it together as fast as I did. "It makes sense, that old building is right next to her main territory. Think she scared the ghost off then?"

That's not an unreasonable assumption. If she thought the other pokemon was threatening her pup or her territory she would chase them off, after all, there aren't many that can stand up to an alpha. Not that many would try in any case, alphas being a major source of stability for any area.

"Maybe. Can't assume anything with her." I say. The line goes dead again, so I stretch and begin the short hike towards the eponymous Lake Marshal, Sneasel practically bouncing along behind me while my thoughts drift now to my other friend.

The giant is rather famous, and keeping idiotic trainers away from her for their own good is how we met. Most people are smart enough to leave an almost three-meter, five-hundred-kilo, wild pokemon alone. Really, who in their right mind thinks sneaking a pokeball into Almia is a good idea in the the first place? Even if it could contain an alpha, no alpha is going to obey a trainer.

And it was so strange seeing pictures of Marshal as a buizel after that, and not just her going from a normal, unassuming, extra adorable buizel to the force of nature she is now.
It's that the backgrounds of all the photos show how bad it was back then before the Rangers were established.

I don't think most people even think about the time before the Ranger Union, or more likely, the League, anymore.

Enough of that kind of thinking, it's history for a reason. Back to the quest at hand, tease Marshal about how cute she was once I'm done working.

It isn't a long walk, maybe five minutes at a brisk hike and I can see the lake through the trees.

Sneasel, of course, doesn't bother waiting for me and leaps onto one of the last ice sheets left, and it visibly expands when she does. There's a moment of stillness, then right on cue the small iceberg she's made is launched a good ten meters up. Sneasel remains undaunted, however, and I can hear her chittering laughter as she starts to come back down, landing in the lake.

I have something else to focus on now though, as the culprit of Sneasel's aerial adventure lands in front of me, cracking the earth and shaking the trees around us.
It's Marshal, of course, hands on hips and giving me a fake suspicious glare as she begins to stomp towards me.

"Hey Marsh, I nee-" Is all I get out before the giant of a pokemon is giving me a massive hug. "Yeah I-" And then she starts nuzzling my face for good measure, definitely not purposefully interrupting me again. "Look-" She starts licking me and that just has me laughing now. "Okay, I get it! Let go!" I manage to gasp out once she lets me push her face away. When she does finally let me go I straighten up and put on my work face and see her expression fall a bit. "I'm sorry about this Marshal, we'll be able to hang out soon, but I'm on the job right now. That cabin just east of here, the one you've been visiting, I know there was a ghost-pokemon in there and I need to know what you did with them."

Marshal blinks at me for a moment, then turns and points south to where her garden entrance is.

Following her webbed finger, I see a pokemon I'm going to tentatively Identify as a misdreavus staring back at me.

They're… not that large, maybe twenty-five or thirty centimeters in height, so smaller than other sightings. They're eyes glow, brighter than I've read about, and without pushing through the miasmic fog all true ghost-types seem to possess, so they can't be too young since they're holding it back. The colors are off from the few photos we have of misdreavus so far, more blue than the green or gray of the photos. And the texture I can see moving under their paper-thin skin like liquid fire is just… Pictures just can't do that justice.

But of course, she adopted them, what else would she have done? Acted in a predictable manner? Not the Marsh I know. No sir.

"Give me just a minute," I say to the lady-of-all-things-wet as I raise my radio. Before I can start reporting, however, a voice comes through.

"Just letting you know Onaga, my shift's ending soon. Francois's catching up on coms right now," says Barry. Well, he can deal with a bit more before that.

"I've got eyes on the ghost, Barry. Misdreavus, brighter coloration, no miasma, assuming one to two months in age given their size, control, and recency." When I stop speaking Marshal starts chuckling at me. "What?" I ask. "Was I wrong about anything?" At that, she raises her hands and holds up five fingers. "Five Months?" That's unlikely but not impossible, we could have missed the ghost if they were keeping to themselves. But she shakes her head. Um, "Five days?" She nods.

I look back to the misdreavus, they've drifted a bit closer now, eyes moving between Marshal and myself. The control of miasma isn't something that's been observed in true ghosts until a month at least, and the size may just be because we've never seen a misdreavus this young before. Professor Rowan is going to push harder once he hears about it now, and Marshal has evidently taken a liking to the ghost… Well, whoever he sends will just have to learn fast.

"Misser…" says a voice that makes my bones itch. The voice sounds far away and resonant, it's creepy, and it sounds like my oma's old ghost stories, the ones that always ended with Opa saving her.

I glance at the source and it is the misdreavus, now only around two meters from me, slightly behind Marshal. So I glare at the floatzel's smirking face instead, "Are you taking care of them?" The big pokemon thinks about it for a moment before shrugging at me, so probably not mothering them at least. "You know something about them though, don't you." I accuse.

That makes her lean down, and now smiling mischievously say, "Tze' ell~" Even I can tell that's an 'Of course, dummy.'

Sighing, I decide to just ask the most important question, and then Sneasel and I will be able to just relax with her for a bit. If I can call the quest complete, of course. "Are they disrupting anything anymore? Any problems we need to address soon?" That makes Marshal think for a few seconds before she shakes her massive head. Thank her tales, we can just hang out with Marshal now. One last call to base. "Barry, are you still on or am I talking to Francois now?"

"We're both here." I hear Francois say. "Changing over in two minutes."

Barry's still the active operator then. "Okay Barry, Marshal doesn't anticipate any more problems right now and the misdreavus seems calm at the moment. Requesting permission to return to base."

His response is immediate, "Permission granted, don't be out too much longer okay?" He's right, it's getting darker quickly now, and going overnight in the woods without supplies is never pleasant, for me at least. But Marshal will give us a ride close to base if I ask, so I'll be fine. Though Sneasel would love it if we stayed.

And thinking of the little shadow-spawn, I look past The wall of muscle in front of me to see what she's managed in the short few minutes I was doing actual work.

Well, that's just adorable. She's made an ice slide, and both she and Marshal's pup are taking turns flying into the lake with it.

Sneasel's gotten a lot stronger recently, and I've noticed her sharpening her claws more, so she'll probably be evolving soon. That thought has me groaning, I'll need to re-register her, and since she'll be an evolved adult I'll also need to start filing monthly safety and care reports.

Although… I'll probably be able to convince her to apply for citizenship, a bit less paperwork for me, and she is aware of the luxuries that come with the taxes after all. And Sneasel would immediately have a paying job with the rangers as my partner as well… Hmm, I'll have to talk to her about it when I can find the time for it, my next off cycle probably. Or maybe ton-

Marshal's giving me a funny look now, I just shake my head to clear it before I let myself smile. "Enough thinking about work, time to relax." I declare while walking closer to the lake. Then I stop to look for the misdreavus one more time. They're gone, vanished without a trace. Not surprising for a ghost really, they could be right next to any of us and the only one who could tell would be Sneasel.

Oh well, guess I should-

Marshal's picking me up. "Oh no." I manage, before she tosses me at the lake.

I don't give her the satisfaction of a scream as I splash into the almost freezing-cold water, it's not like her throwing me in was completely unexpected, and I was coming in anyway. I do glare at her as she cuts through the water to get to me though.

Once she reaches me I start climbing onto her, "You couldn't wait for me to take my heavier clothes off first?" Her response is a roll of the eyes. She knows I enjoyed that, the observant boat.

As I make myself comfortable, Marshal starts moving us towards the river mouth into the lake, already knowing I need to be closer to civilization soon. I hadn't even asked her about it.

I wave goodbye to Sneasel, knowing I'll see her tonight once she makes her own way back, and she waves to me, smiling like a kid at Winterveil.

"Sorry I can't stay longer, I'll have some 'free' time in a few days to come visit, it's just that we're understaffed this year and all the rangers in the forest have been busy preparing for spring migrations, and tourists." I can't help but practically spit that last word, and Marshal's face scrunches up as well.

Tourism is, frankly, a good thing for Almia as a whole, even if all the rangers and alphas hate it. It does bring in a lot of money after all. As one of the few countries that's still mostly undeveloped land people flock here to see it in the Spring since most of Almia is technically a nature reserve. Technically. But all those people who've never set foot in truly wild places—which is anyone not a dedicated trainer—tend to assume all pokemon are the more docile kind you see nearer to civilization. That's not the vast majority of Almia or even Sienna as a whole. Most places in this province have only ever been seen by the pokemon who live there, with good reason. Even if the pokemon closer to the cities are used to us, those in the far reaches may never have even seen a human before.

The next two months are always awful.

Crossing my arms on Marshal's head, I sigh, "But I don't want to talk about work, How have you been since I last saw you?"

"Tzelltzel!" She says, smiling brightly.

I've heard of people who can understand what pokemon say, old myths, legends about great heroes, even some modern anecdotes from trainers who've spent their whole lives with them, and of course, my oma. I can't help but envy them because I've never been all that great at it. Mood and intent? I could read those in my sleep because if I couldn't I would not have been allowed to stay on the ranger track. But understanding meaning is something all rangers dream of.

"How's Buizel? Besides getting scared by that misdreavus I mean. He looks healthy, he's got to be mostly grown by now."

My noble steed sighs into the water as she begins to pick up speed now that we're in the main river, tails spinning faster and faster. "Floatle, zel… float," she says, sounding melancholic.

"He has grown up fast, hasn't he. At least you have another one already," I joke. And she snorts at that. "But, you know, Buizel's still not as cute as you were!~" I tease, adding as much sweetness to my voice as I can stand while I rub one of her massive ears. That starts her grumbling, then she dives for a moment, soaking me through again and making us both laugh once she resurfaces. "Yeah, I deserved that. I still maintain you were adorable as a buizel, though." I see her roll her eyes at that, but her smile's grown as well.

"How are you and Luxray doing?" I ask, only mildly teasing this time. Her response is a hum and a rolling of her shoulders, she doesn't seem agitated though, so they're probably getting along right now. "Buizel is one of his right?" I ask, I genuinely can't remember. She nods and hums into the water again, sounding more like an engine than a floatzel for a moment.

Then she moves a hand and splashes me with an expectant look. After I clear the water from my eyes I start trying to puzzle out her meaning. "You want… guy-talk?'" I ask her. It fits the context, at least. She gives me a shrug. I sigh, "Yeah, no. I've got nothing for you, sorry. I'm not looking, and most people are too intimidated to try for me." I can't help a chuckle, "I grow a spine, get out of Kanto, get into shape, and it turns out I don't care."

My mount nods while eying me more intensely than usual, but otherwise seems content to let me decide what comes next. That's fine, I know what will make her happy to hear me talk about. "So with it being spring again, some of the berry and flower shops around Vientown might have some new varieties I could bring you." That does perk her up a bit, so I continue to make small talk at her and she continues to smile as we make our way closer, North of the forest's base.

---

AN: With this, the main cast is nearly complete.

I didn't tag this as SI for a reason, it's not. Onaga Ryuko is probably the character closest to me in personality, and she still isn't that similar.
To discuss the chapter itself... Well, I don't actually like this one that much, but I couldn't tell you why. Something about it nags at me, but I know it's better to finish than stall forever.

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

Whoever that person was that Marshal sailed away with, they were not a trainer. The woman had vaguely Japanese—if that's even the right word anymore—features, green eyes, and hair so dark red it was almost black. She was also maybe five-foot-six and jacked, even under her heavy clothes I could see the muscle definition.

She'd been wearing an open-fronted, long-sleeved, red utility jacket with a shield-shaped badge, a black button-up, some kind of black undershirt, red-highlighted black pants, a utility belt with a lot of things hanging off of it, what looked like brown combat boots, and a red, flat-topped, military-style cap with an insignia that I didn't recognize, but there were no pokeballs in sight.

Her clothes had obviously been a uniform of some kind, what with the shield badge, radio, belt, chevrons on the sleeves, and hat. But the woman also left me with several questions and a problem.

To start with the problem, she's currently playing with Buizel and keeping an eye on me while I'm invisible. I don't think the sneasel in question can actually see me, but she's tracking me accurately enough. More concerning is the fact that she's nearly invisible to my ghost-sight. The only reason I can even attempt to see her is depth perception, she's effectively solid black against a black backdrop but in a place without light, so she's not so much 'invisible' as just extremely hard to make out. And it's now the second time I've seen someone have a color I actually recognize in this weird space.

The first was the woman who brought the sneasel here, she'd been very bright white.

She had also been reporting on me through her radio, and if I heard her right I'm the reason she came out here at all. I really hope all my screaming doesn't bring any more trouble, I didn't mean it, honest.

And the radio—I think—confirms my distance translation theory. It also highlights a problem I had first noticed when I saw the sign posted by Marshal's grove, which is that I don't know the languages here. What I heard over the radio sounded, well, vaguely Japanese, though it definitely wasn't. At least I can understand humans, I assume for the same unknown reason I can understand pokemon now, but I can't read at all. Which means I have to learn to speak and read again because fuck not talking to people when they can talk to me.

Back to the sneasel. She seems friendly, not that I've met a truly hostile pokemon yet, and Marshal let her play with Buizel. She still unnerves me, not only is she practically invisible to my new senses, but she's not shedding any emotions at all and the few floating emotions near her are just… flowing around her rather than being pulled in the way I've seen others do now.

The best way I can describe her physically is a bipedal, roundish, black weasel-cat-thing with gray highlights, an asymmetrical red feather ear, fucking three red feather-tails, two strange, crystalline nubs in her forehead and chest, gold eyes, and weirdly sharp, two-clawed hands.

I think I'm just going to stay phased out while I wait for Marshal to get back.

"Hey." A voice in the silence says. Fuck, of course she can talk here.

I sigh and phase back to reality before replying, "Yes?" There's no point pretending I can't hear her.

"Do you really eat emotions?" …That's what she's asking?

"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about that right now," I say. Please don't make this any worse.

Her reply is rather simple, "Okay, you want to join us?" Huh, I don't know what to make of that except that I need to internalize the fact that the people here seem genuinely friendly.

I consider it, she basically made a pool slide and those are always fun but… "I don't think I can, gravity doesn't seem to affect me anymore." Not unless I consciously make it affect me, anyway. "And I don't think I weigh enough."

She cocks her head at that, "Gravity?"

"You don't know what gravity is?" I ask her, not believing for a moment that she doesn't.

She puts a dramatic hand to her chin, thoughtfully, before dropping it and shrugging, "Nah, it's not worth trying to mess with you like that, yet. Does it genuinely not affect you?" I see, she's an actor, a jokester even. I hope she doesn't try to pull too many on me.

…Why does she seem familiar?

"I have to focus for it to affect me, and-" I drift downward a moment, "-That's about as fast as I can fall," I say.

She looks at the slide and then back to me a few times. "Yeah, alright. But what if one of us carried you?" I didn't think I'd miss tasting emotions so much, because I can't tell if anything she's doing is real or if she's messing with me.

I decide to change the subject instead, "Who was that, the person Marshal carried off?" I ask.

Sneasel blinks a few times before answering. "That's R- Onaga, my best friend. My companion." She pauses after that, tapping her claws together. "She s- She's the best human I've ever met, and I've been with her six years now." Onaga sounds Japanese as well, my list of uni- multiversal questions just keeps growing.

"She's not your trainer?" I ask. Curious to finally get an answer about training.

She cocks her head for a moment, before saying, "Training is illegal in Almia." There's a region where training is illegal? That- That's a good thing, right? And, I mean, if anything big happened here the name would be vaguely familiar, wouldn't it?

But then again, how many games were released since I last played? Or is it the show that matters?

And Sneasel is looking at me suspiciously now, "Where are you from?" Shit, a region I've never heard of and a question I doubt she'll let me dodge.

Do I still try to not answer? Fuck it, might as well go with the one I remember most, maybe get some information. "Unova," I say, and her face scrunches up.

"How'd you get all the way over here? that's practically the other side of the world." comes her enlightening question. The other side of the world huh? At least I can recognize one of the regions then, and hopefully more as well.

Time for another omission. "I just kind of… woke up here," I say.

"You didn't teleport or anything, just 'poof' and woke up here?" She says, disbelief evident in her voice.

Well if she's going to keep pushing I'll just say it then, "I died." She goes quiet.

"Oh," she finally says, voice small. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up, I didn't even think about… that."

"It's-" I pause thinking about it for a moment. "Well, it's not fine, but you didn't mean to, so no hard feelings." She nods, quiet again after the apparent faux pas.

After a minute it's Buizel who ends up breaking the silence, "Are you going to stop with the slide now?" That makes Sneasel start chuckling, and I join her, the two 'adults' taking the chance to break the tension.

She keeps chuckling, "No, I'm not. Even if Float-Face over there won't join, we can still have our fun."

…Holy shit, something's been eating at me about her, and I just realized what it was. She reminds me of Roxxann. Shit, I might even be able to get along with her.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼​

"Waterway Express, huh?" Asks Barry as I enter the station still dripping wet.

"Marsh tossed me into the lake, not much point trying to stay dry after that," I say. He just shakes his head.

Barry's not a bad-looking guy, he's Unovan, strong-jawed, blue-haired, always has a five-o'-clock shadow, and tall like most Unovans. The only thing betraying him is his gut.

"When does Karlos want my written report? Because he's not getting it tonight." I say. I'm not budging on that point.

"End of the week he said, so you've got a couple of days. How was the 'Break'?" He asks.

"It was nice," I say while stretching, dripping even more water on the floor. "Great to be out of endless meetings and planning sessions, I really needed it. Anything new on the student programs?"

"Still only Francois, we're just too small to spare some ranger students this year." He stops talking for a moment, but I know that look.

"What?" I ask, getting it over with.

"What was the ghost like? Not- I mean, in person." He asks. I guess that's a fair question.

Where to start though? "Honestly? The pictures and descriptions don't do them justice, I can't do them justice. It was like… well, a ghost story, you know? I could see them but they didn't seem real, the light around them kind of shifted a bit, and it was like they had fire and water under their skin. Also, their voice was spooky, just saying," I tell him.

"And you didn't take a camera?" He whines. Oh Kimetsune's tails, Barry.

"We're going to be seeing more of them, Barry, It's practically guaranteed that Rowan's study gets approved, and we both know I'm going to need to walk out there again after some tourist makes them angry," I say, mostly calm except for 'tourist.' Seriously they are hell.

"Okay, geez, it's just… ghost, you know?" He says. And yeah, I know. But come on Barry, whining? "Also we've been pre-approved to call the runners for the tourist season, so you won't be the one walking." He reveals. That's a massive time save for us, so I nod at him, acknowledging the news.

"How's Francois doing?" I ask, changing the subject as I begin heading for the showers.

Barry starts smiling at that, "He's great, a bit green obviously, but that'll pass." he says.

"And Karlos put the newbie on the night shift," I observe.

Barry snorts, "Easy shift more like, but I get it, ease him into real work. Not like we get many midnight missions here."

"Did he say when he'll put the kid on day duty?" I ask as we reach the showers.

"Day after tomorrow. Katie will be shadowing him and it will be you and Karlos in the field." He replies.

I nod and step into the barracks locker room, Barry staying outside like the gentleman he is. He could follow me in to keep talking, it's not like there could be a rule against it when most bases have a single shower room. But Barry also didn't go through the Death Weeks on the ranger track and is still bashful about certain things.

I can hear water running, which is probably Maya, and looking into the shower hall confirms it. The Sinnoh native gives me a glance and a half nod when she sees me.

And I do mean Sinnoh native, with her rich golden-brown skin, large red eyes, curly black hair, and stout figure, Maya Surn is a dead-ringer for one of the remaining Celestica people.

Undressing, I hang my jacket, hat, boots, and belt up outside my locker before folding the rest onto the bench and stepping into the showers myself.

"So, Prime decided to unite the hives, did she?" I ask as I turn my own shower-head on.

"Holy Sinnoh, you have no idea how scary that was, one moment I'm wondering why all the grass-types were worked up, and the next I'm surrounded by combee. And all that buzzing…" She trails off, shaking her head at the thought. "I know Prime would never let her hive hurt us without reason, but it wasn't just her hive there. Though with her hive having five- maybe nine vespiquen now, I doubt the other four even tried to fight it." She pauses to rinse her face before she looks at me and asks, "Barry said you actually saw a ghost?"

"Yep, how much do you want to bet one of us gets called out to save a tourist when they make them angry?" I ask, enjoying the hot water for a moment.

"I don't take sucker bets." She says lightly, shutting her own water off and heading for the lockers. "Though I'll put cleaning duty on us not getting to put a warning sign down before they hurt someone." She calls from the lockers.

"I don't take sucker bets either," I call back. Making her laugh, though there isn't much humor in it.

Marshal had roughed up five tourists before the rangers were allowed to put signs by her grove to warn people off, that's without mentioning her older exploits. And Luxray had killed an extremely stupid man who kept trying to touch the thunder-alpha's kits before we could stake warning signs around his little valley. The moment people catch wind that there's a ghost they're going to swarm that cabin out there, and I'll give it a week at most before someone gets hurt. At least with a sign, we can say they were warned and then enforce it if they decide to still ignore that warning.

I hear the door open and then close as Maya leaves and decide to speed my showering up. Quickly soaping, scrubbing, and rinsing I'm out in under eight minutes. Now wearing civvies, I make my way to the small kitchen just off our equally small lounge. As I enter I see Barry, Maya, Katie, and Emil all already eating dinner. Karlos must still be in his office, then.

"Who cooked tonight, Katie or Emil?" I ask, grabbing a folding chair as I do.

"Emil." The blonde Unovan, Katie, says. "He's just better at it. And I want to relax since I finally have a day off."

"You always flatter me, amé." Says the tanned Kalosian man, displaying a blinding smile as always. "And tonight is chicken stuffed tomatoes with gogoat cheese salad and fresh pecha juice." Sweet gods the man should have been a chef, his cooking is always a highlight on his base-days and we're so lucky to have him here.

"Where did you get chicken of all things? Did a ship come in recently that I missed?" I ask, finally sitting down.

He nods, "Yes, at the Chicole port, and I managed to convince Karlos to acquire not only chicken, but pork, and six chicken eggs too. We should have enough to last till Autumn, if we ration." He says, still smiling. "I intend to bake a cake with the eggs though," he adds warningly. As if any of us would stop him.

Food imports are rare indeed, and the meat is always welcome with Almia's—Sienna's as a whole, really—lack of meat farms. Dairy? Sure. Fish? Within certain regulations. Eggs? So long as you aren't squeamish and don't mind the large sizes, there are plenty of eggs. But real meat, the kind most people would think of, we need to import. And I'm sure a good piece of the budget for the next few months went towards buying us that meat. Although I'd bet all Emil had to say was that he'd be the one cooking it and Karlos said yes immediately.

Although, where I grew up, eating pokemon meat was both cheap and extremely common.

Our gracious chef soon has a plate in front of me, and it not only smells but looks delicious. After thanking Emil I dig in, hungry as always after a day in the field. By Her tails, the food is good, Emil clearly having put his heart into it with real meat to work with.

"So, how'd Marshal treat you?" Emil asks innocently as I finish my plate.

I look at him suspiciously, that's plainly not what he wants to know, but I answer anyway. "She was happy to see me, less happy when it was work-related, she tossed me into her lake," I tell him. He nods, it was very Marshal-like behavior.

"I heard there was a ghost at the lake too?" He asks, tone still just as innocent.

That has me glaring at Barry while the man himself fixes his gaze on the ceiling, "Is everyone going to ask about that?" I inquire to the table.

"Hey, I only asked if it was true!" Maya defends herself, and I raise my hands placatingly. She's right after all.

"You're the first one here to see a ghost amé, Maya and I may be seeing them soon enough, but we're still curious." He says. Katie nodding her head the whole time.

Then the woman speaks up, "I wasn't going to ask, just so you know." I sigh, deflating a bit.

"Okay, yeah. Marshal seems to like the ghost enough to let them see her garden, so they're probably friendly, but it was getting dark and I mostly didn't interact with them. Sneasel should be able to give me a better idea of their disposition when she gets back." I tell them all.

"Good," Emil starts, walking towards the oven "Now mò aniés, how about seconds, hmm?" He finishes as he brings out a new tray of tomatoes. That lifts the mood as we all tiredly cheer him on.

***​

After dinner, as we're all settling into our bunks, Sneasel returns, happy as can be. She promptly hops onto our bed, pats me on the head, and collapses in a heap, seemingly already asleep.

Maya and Lerp—yes, the turtwig named himself that—both chuckle at my partner's typical behavior as they look up from their book, While Emil and Piplup just smile at it, and Karlos just snorts as he's still going over papers with Gabite. The operators are already asleep, having less stamina than we rangers.

"Not going to say anything huh?" I ask the very much awake pokemon, poking the side of her face as I do. She doesn't respond, so I'll just ask her tomorrow. Actually…
I look at the clock on the far wall, seeing that it's only twenty-two-fifteen I poke her again, "Hey, we need to talk about your evolution."

"Sneea…" She sighs out, unfolding her tangled limbs and sitting back up. I gesture towards Karlos as he looks up at us.

"This is going to need the office, isn't it." He more states than asks, and I nod. He nods back and stands, gesturing to the barracks door for us to proceed.

A minute later we're in his rather spartan office and Karlos is smacking the side of a beige tower while shaking his head, "For being the way of the future, paper sure seems to work faster most of the time." He comments, tapping his fingers on the desk. I just look around the office while we wait. He complains, but there is a significant amount less paper in here than last month, the bulky scanner to the side of his desk the obvious reason. The office is rather bare otherwise, filing cabinets line the walls and the desk has little more than two pens, some papers, and the computer on it, the lone indulgence being the brass nameplate with 'Karlos Monte – Head Ranger, Vien Forest West' engraved on it resting at the front.

"There we go." He says, hands moving to his keyboard as he types to bring something up. "So, Sneasel's going to evolve soon?" He questions, eying the pokemon next to me. "Yeah, I can see it. You've been sharpening those?" He asks Sneasel while gesturing at her claws, she nods in response. "Getting itchy I bet. So, once you evolve, staying as Onaga's partner takes a bit more paperwork, quite a bit more, just ask Gabite about it, let me tell you, and getting most of it done ahead of time will help. There's also citizenship, which is more paperwork upfront, but it'll come with other benefits and fewer things to file down the line." Now looking at me he asks, "Have you talked to her about any of this?"

"I only just made the connection earlier today, I was going to talk to her on my next base-day, but I'm pretty sure she'll have evolved by then," I tell him.

He nods thoughtfully before looking back at Sneasel, "Think you know what being an Almian citizen means?" She nods, and he continues, "Good, if you don't want to become a citizen I'd appreciate you telling us now." He pauses, and Sneasel thinks for a moment before making a rolling motion with her left hand for him to continue. He sighs. "On the other hand, if you choose to become a citizen and remain Onaga's partner you will be employed by the Ranger Union as a legal pokemon enforcer, with pay and future benefits. Onaga will also become your legal sponsor, though that could mean as much or as little as the two of you want it to." He leaves out that she could become a citizen and leave because a partner that's stuck around as long as she has won't even consider it anyway. Sneasel thinks a bit more and then looks at me for input.

"Well…" I start, scratching the back of my head. "The pay means you'll be able to buy yourself things instead of asking me, of course, though it does come with extra responsibilities and training." Sneasel rolls her eyes when I say training, but I continue, "It also comes with taxes, which while you work for the rangers are handled by the bursary but you will need to learn how to do them just in case, You'll need a legal name, and you'll need to abide by the law, but that shouldn't be an issue." I need to stop and search my memory for a second, but I come up blank. "I'm not entirely certain what the benefits package is for pokemon," I say, shrugging.

She seems to be thinking about it rather hard, and I find not just my own but Karlos' eyes drifting to the clock on the wall more than once as she does. After two-and-a-half minutes she finally seems to come to a decision.

"Sneasel?" she says, pointing at Karlos and making a chomping motion.

"You want to know what Gabite chose?" he asks. And when Sneasel nods I know exactly what her choice will be. "He's still just my partner, he-"

"Snea, Snea!" Sneasel interrupts, hands reaching up to his desk and nodding her head furiously now.

"Uh… " He eloquently says before looking at me, "Do you know what that means?"

"She's saying 'Yes, gimme!' Right Sneasel?" I half-tell him, half-ask her. And Sneasel keeps nodding.

Karlos looks at the clock again before sighing. "Well that's not happening tonight, you two can go back to the barracks for the night, I'm just going to start things off and make some notes before I hit the hay too." He dismisses us.

As soon as we're out of his office I pick Sneasel up and hug her. "I hope you know what you're in for, Sneasel," I tell her. "That's not a small decision, and you can't take it back."

She pokes my nose, before giggling, "Sneasel, sneasel." While pointing at me.

I set her down and we start waking back to bed. I open the barracks door as quietly as possible and step inside, Sneasel right behind me, and see that everyone else has settled in now. We silently make our way over to our bed and climb in, Sneasel laying on top of the blanket as I slide under the sheets. I'm too excited to sleep easily, thoughts about my best friend swirling around my head as I lie there.

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My continued efforts to use Moves have been… successful? I'm not sure which move it is, but I'm definitely using some kind of psychic thing. And after two days I think I've finally got a handle on keeping the power low enough that it doesn't hurt me while still being able to move things around with it. Or, one thing, but still.

Holy shit psychic powers are cool. They're also annoying to control, I can't just push or pull, lift or lower, no, I can shrink it, grow it, twist it, curve it, flatten it, ball it up, focus it, diffuse it, invert it, and turn it inside out. I can tell I'm getting better at it rather quickly, but I think I might be meant to.

"Hello?"

I'm fairly certain control like this comes naturally to pokemon, even if I wasn't one before. That is to say, I'm almost certain I have new instincts along with my old ones, but because I have old ones the new ones have kind of… faded into the background with the old ones.

I don't think it's like something messing with my head, it's closer to what I remember of puberty. 'Gasp, what do you mean I suddenly find girls attractive?' or 'Oh why yes, starting a fight for no reason sounds like a great idea to me!' They're just… new urges. The only problem is that I spent more than thirty years learning to ignore most of my urges and now I need to sort through them.

The results of listening to them have been fruitful so far, though.

"Hey Charlie, you with us?"

I- uh… what's with the anxiety? Anyway, I'm pretty sure my cloud is what I use to scavenge more effectively, and I only figured it out when I listened to the desire to expand it while I was floating around the woods at night. It's effectively a net at that point, catching emotions that are flying away from me, might just skim past my reach, or fling themselves out of orbit.

Not that that's the only thing it can do, and since controlling it felt so similar to whatever psychic thing I was doing I tried moving it the same way. And once I started fully listening to my instincts about how to move it, how to mold it, I- well I can make illusions now.

The illusions aren't great, or even good, but I can do it. They don't work in sunlight, I still get that pins and needles feeling and I don't think I can do anything about that, but hey, superpowers. Neat.

"I swear you get creepier every time I see you." Says Leafeon, making Grotle—the female—chortle a bit, and snapping me mostly out of my thoughts.

What was I- Right, my voice, as it turns out, can also be fed power. I haven't tried putting a lot into it because I can already get really loud. But I can do that too.

"And you get more sour." I retort, making the leafy-fox-thing smirk, though the small jolt of fear is unexpected.

Honestly, even two days later I'm still just riding the high from Sneasel telling me I won't need to worry about trainers here, that let me relax enough to work all this out, even if she did mention tourists. But how bad can they really be?

---

AN: I have mixed, but mostly positive, feelings about this chapter. When I started putting more effort into writing this whole thing, this chapter was changed the least. It worked, even if a few things felt like they're happening too soon, and I didn't want to mess with it.

I can't believe people are actually reading this, it feels surreal, in a good way.

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

Not needing to sleep is starting to get to me. I mean, I'd realized it intellectually, but ten days without sleeping is definitely starting to mess with my perception of time. Instead of it being nine times I've woken up, now it's just that I've seen the solar cycle nine times, I've only woken up once. I'm never 'physically' tired anymore—so long as I eat enough—and mental and emotional exhaustion seem to pass on their own if I have the energy. It's… strange, looking at the last week-and-a-bit of my maybe-life without sleep.

I set down the mirror shard I was maneuvering into place and decide to stop for the… day? Fuck it's so hard to keep track of time now.

I'd groused about my mirror to Marshal, and while I don't think she got why I liked it, she told me the best way to stick things back together that she knew of. You take a pecha and a rawst berry, mash them up thoroughly, add some water, mix, wait five minutes, and then apply it to whatever you want to stick. The stuff pretty much turns into purple epoxy, and I'm glad phasing out unstuck me.

Looking at what I've managed so far I feel pretty good about myself. The mirror is cracked all over and that's not something I can fix, some pieces of it were powdered by my psychic blast. But I can see myself in it again, and I've only got about a quarter of it left to fix now.

Drifting out to the main room, I notice that it's morning. Jesus, did I really spend that long in there?

Floating over to my 'couch' I focus for a moment so that I fall into it. Hmm, maybe if I had some nails I could fix it enough to look like a couch again… Meh, I'll think about it later.

I've been focusing rather hard and using psychic power for a few hours, I also haven't actually eaten in… a day and a half, I think? So I'm getting that empty, hungry feeling again. But I'm also feeling incredibly lazy, as well as bored. What a conundrum.

Fine, I'll go talk to people for a bit.

Rising out of my far too comfortable 'couch' I don't even bother using the door, instead floating straight through the wall, I've gotten better with practice.

Searching around gets me nowhere, the woods are strangely silent at the moment and it isn't until I start looking more east that I see why. Humans, dozens of them, stomping their way through the trees. These must be the tourists Sneasel mentioned- Holy shit it was last week, five days ago now.

Anyway, They're evidently tourists, mostly rich looking, dressed in various bright colors, and wearing… Uh, either they're all classic photography fans or I've been lied to about the technology here. Fuck, some of them are carrying actual paper maps and I can't see a single cell phone anywhere.

"Üiè! Sinca ün!" Says one of the least affluent-looking people, a teen girl, tapping what has to be her father on the arm and pointing at- Oh shit she's pointing at me! I phase out quickly, not wanting them to follow me as I fly back to my cabin.

Okay, I- uh, I… Why were they so scary? I search my new instincts hoping to find the answer there, it takes a second to sort through what I'm feeling right now. I think… Why do I want to scare them? Wow! Big help there, thanks.

Maybe this is just me getting in my own head about this, I've seen exactly one human since I got here and she just looked at me and left. This is probably my maybe unreasonable fear of being caught, isn't it? Yeah, that sounds right, okay, just stay invisible and go watch them for a bit.

Flying back out to where they were I need to stop and re-evaluate my senses, again. They're all so… dim. Compared to the 'Ranger', Onaga, none of them even count as white, they're more gray than anything, and their not-light isn't even enough to cover their bodies completely.

…That makes me uncomfortable for some reason, yet try as I might I can't find why. I'm- I'm going to shelve this for now, but it's definitely on my list of things to learn.

I can't hear what they're saying in the all-consuming silence of this space, but I can still see their movements and taste the strangely large amounts of emotion they're giving off. They've all huddled into a group with one off to the side who I think was wearing a simple uniform, looking and tasting exasperated. A few of the others turn to him, and, while I can't hear their words, I can tell they're asking him something. The man seems to shrug, but I get a distinct 'I just work here' vibe, both from how he shrugs and from the mix of emotions he's giving off. As I keep watching them the small bit of fear I had vanishes… Right up until they start walking directly towards my house.

It's not some kind of coincidence, they had been walking more south than west before and now they're on a direct path to my home. Fuck. Maybe Marshal has advice about them? May as well ask.

Flying to her lake takes thirty seconds at this speed but when I get there she's underwater. She and Buizel are spinning around each other about twenty feet down, clearly just enjoying their day. Well, time to try something new then, swimming. Also, uh, sorry in advance, Marshal.

I would not be willing to do this if I had to breathe, that lake is scary deep. As I approach the water I notice my own glow for the first time, if only because it's displacing Marshal's ridiculous brightness in all that water. I ignore it for now though, I have an important question I need to ask. While I'm phased out I don't need to push through the water and I reach their depth quickly. Now the uncertain part, I start phasing back in slowly, and… Yep feels like the deep end of a pool but no other problems.

I take a moment to watch them swimming while I eat, and that's definitely some lazy joy I taste. Eventually, I speak, "Hey Marshal?" Oh, that's a lot of surprise. Marshal immediately has herself between me and Buizel but after realizing it's me she just rolls her eyes and starts swimming for the surface. Guess she can't talk underwater.

The moment we breach she starts talking, "You just couldn't help yourself, could ya?" She says, then shakes her head, "Didn't realize ya could do that. So, what's so important right now?" She asks with a smile.

I organize my thoughts before answering, "So there are some tourists headed for…" I trail off at the look on her face. "Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Peppier than a chesto." She growls out. "So they're here already huh? Headed this way?" Oh, I don't like her tone of voice.

"…Yeah," I say, feeling very uncomfortable with the hatred she's putting off.

She notices my discomfort and sighs, now knowing what I eat she probably has a good idea of what I'm tasting right now. "Sorry kid, none o' that is aimed at you. I just…" She trails off looking at me for a moment. "You never had ta deal with them before." She realizes out loud. And before I can respond she continues, "Don't think o' them like normal humans, that's just a good way ta get hurt. No, these humans don't care about us or our homes, most don't even care about other humans, be ready."

That's… something. I don't think I've tasted hate from Marshal before and now alongside that advice… "What should I do if they start messing with my cabin?" I ask. That seems to throw her off a bit.

After a moment of looking at me with confusion, she seems to realize something. "Right, sorry. If they won't leave you alone then, well, scare 'em off. If that don't work, hurt 'em, and if one of them keeps tryin' ta mess with ya at that point, kill 'em."

Holy shit, Marshal! I'd forgotten I was talking to a wild animal at some point, but what the fuck? She must see the expression on my face because she gives me one of those motherly smiles of hers, "I know growin' up around them before might o' made you not like that idea, but that's just how it works sometimes. You got to protect yours." She states. Then looking around, she sighs, "They'll be comin' around here sooner or later, thank ya for telling me ahead of time."

"No problem," I say as I watch her dive back below the water.

Holy fuck, Marshal's killed people hasn't she? No, stop being an idiot, obviously she has, she hunts her own food. That truly is just the way it works here sometimes, fuck. I hope I won't need to take it any farther than shoving them out the door.

Mentally preparing myself I phase out and begin flying back to my cabin. When I reach the clearing I see the man, who has to be a guide, leaning against a tree at the edge of my home with four other people. So they're probably not assholes, though one of them isn't a tourist, so fair play to him. The rest, however, are in my goddamned house!

Looks like I'll need to apply Marshal's advice immediately. Floating into my bedroom I ready myself to make noise.

I wish I could take a deep breath to ready the scream, but, well, no breathing. That, of course, also means no need to stop the noise once I start. Oh, and I start, a shrill howling resounding through my home and out into the forest beyond. Fuck why does fear have to taste so good? But it gets me the result I wanted, all of the humans tumbling over each other to evacuate my building. When the last one is finally out I stop, drifting into the main room to see not only them but what they've managed so far.

Fucking how did they destroy my couch even more? And holy shit not two but five snack wrappers of some kind, and tissues, fucking really? Marks carved into the walls… Marshal was right they just don't care, do they? Wait, no…

I float back into the bedroom to check. They broke my motherfucking mirror!?

Nope, I'm fully on board with what Marshal said now, if they come back in I'm getting mean. Moving back to the main room I decide to up the spook factor, shoving my cloud out until the only spots free of it are the ones in sunlight and phasing out everything but my eyes and mouth.

Now I just watch them. The guide has a slight grin on his face, he probably knew something like this was going to happen, the rest look scared though. Good, stay out of my house. To make a point I psychically grab the trash they left in here, crush it into a ball, and launch it out as hard as I can.

Oh. I think I dented a tree with that. …Okay I'm going to dial it back a bit on the rage, as angry as I am I don't want to accidentally kill someone. At least they're all- Oh fuck off with your macho bullshit guy number five.

The now-named Guy-Number-Five, a younger tanned man in a sleeveless Hawaiian shirt with a backward-facing ballcap—I- Fucking- Why?—is starting to walk back towards my house. All the people are talking again but I've been a bit angry and mostly tuned them out, this guy, however, is talking shit as he walks closer.

"Nah, look it's scared, can't even come out in the sun!" I see the girl from earlier raise her eyebrows at that, but she doesn't react otherwise. Not that it would have changed what I do next because this asshole is the one that re-broke my mirror! He's holding a piece of it!

As the asshole reaches the front door I start the howling again, he flinches but keeps going. Well then, time to crank it up. I feed power into my voice and the cabin starts shaking while the man slaps his hands over his ears but still keeps going with a shit-eating grin. I push harder and see the trees start to shake, that does get him to back off a second later, all traces of bravado gone as he stumbles away, ears bleeding.

Ah, shit, I did end up hurting someone. But he deserved it so it's not like I'll… Well, yeah, it's not like I'll lose sleep over it.

The tour guide just shakes his head as he raises a radio for a moment. I have no idea what he says but I hope I won't be in any trouble for this.

Also what I just did with my voice is sticking in my memory the way my psychic thing does so I think I just found a new Move. Whatever, I keep staring the humans down again, none of them make a move to challenge me this time.

Phasing out, I check my cloud-net to see if the guy left me anything. He did, and rather than pulling my cloud in to get it I just move over and eat it. Pride, surprise, and fear. At least with everything that's happened today, I'm not hungry anymore.

Phasing fully back in now I turn and look out the front door. Focusing on the people I start to catch a new conversation between the guide and everyone else

"...Issue these warnings lightly. What happened to Mr. Ruth was still just a warning and not an actual attack. I have been told to warn the rest of you to please not disturb the misdreavus further as its territory is now officially off limits. Anyone found having entered it from this point on will be arrested by the rangers should they survive. Now, we will wait here for the medical transport to arrive for Mr. Ruth so please don't cause further trouble for the pokemon." says the green-haired man, eyes locking onto mine for a moment before sweeping over the crowd again.

Fuck I hope I'm not in trouble for that, but if what Marshal said is true and this is how things normally go, I don't think I am. And that wasn't considered an attack? I made the guy's ears bleed, How is that not an attack? Or maybe that wasn't a damaging Move? And if not then are humans just weak? That's a horrific-

I can hear stomping coming down the path to Marshal's lake, I hope she's not angry with me, that was my loudest sound to date. The massive otter crashes through the trees staring down the humans as she does. The guide does his best to get everyone to pull back to the edge of the clearing away from Marshal's bulk as she continues to glare at them with open hostility before she turns to me.

As she begins to step closer I see her hostility replaced with concern before she bends down to fit her face in the door. "You okay? That was pretty damned loud, what you did." She asks me. I am so glad she's just concerned for me, she's nice but also scary.

"Yeah, I just wanted them all to stay out, so when one of them decided to push it I just… kept increasing the volume. I'm sorry if I-" I get out before she waves a massive hand.

"Naw, you held your ground, just shocked me is all. I didn't think they'd push someone spooky like you." She looks behind herself for a moment and I see some of the people taking pictures before she looks back at me. "This'll only last about the season, so don't worry too much. Just don't let them push you around, maybe focus the sound more next time though, okay?" I nod, and she smiles and nods back before giving the crowd one last glare and stomping off.

"Oh Sinnoh," I hear the guide say as Marshal disappears back down the path. Then he looks at me with fear, "No wonder the rangers put it off limits if she's visiting." Oh? Is Marshal well-known around here? I guess that makes sense, all the pokemon around here seem to know her, so the humans knowing about her isn't all that surprising. "A- Ah, Yes Ms. Hale?" Says the guide, pulling my attention back to them.

The teen from earlier lowers her hand and asks, "Can we ask the pokemon to take pictures with us?"

That seems to throw the guide off for a second, as he thinks for a moment. "Yes, though if you mean the misdreavus please remain out of the building, and if it begins warning you, back away immediately." He says. At least she's not being impolite.

"Um, excuse me Ms. Misdreavus, would you mind taking a photo with me?" The girl asks, taking a step closer. I do think about it, but I'm not in the mood after everything else. Also, she called me Ms. Misdreavus, so I simply continue to stare at her until she takes it for the denial it is. "Okay, thanks anyway." She says, stepping back closer to the group.

I continue to watch them mill about for a few minutes before I hear a somewhat familiar pounding of feet. Seconds later two… dotrio? No, dodrio. Two dodrio wearing saddles and carrying two humans and two pokemon, two of whom I recognize as Onaga and Sneasel, and the other two being a tanned, brown-haired man wearing a red 'Ranger' uniform and a piplup on his shoulder, come to a stop at the edge of the clearing. Damn, those are big birds. The woman, Onaga, hops down and walks to where Guy-Number-Five is sitting and inspects him a moment, Sneasel following behind.

"Sonic attack?" She asks the guide, who shakes his head.

"I don't think it was an attack, damned loud though." He looks down at the man for a second before continuing, "The misdreavus started with a warning, probably still was in the warning phase, he just ignored it."

"Wow, they did that with a warning?" Comments Sneasel. "Nice."

Onaga shakes her head and gestures to the dodrio, "Can you help get him saddled up? I need to put the signs in." After the guide's nod, she proceeds to grab, well, two signposts, with signs, and a fence post driver from the saddle. Then she walks over to me. "I assume you won't mind the signs since they should keep some people away, but I need to ask anyway. Are you okay with me installing them?" She asks. I don't even need to think about it, I just nod. "Good this is going to take a bit, but I doubt you mind some noise." She says with a smirk that Sneasel mirrors. Oh, uh… just how loud was I?

As Onaga starts looking for the best spots to put the signs, Sneasel walks up to me. "Were they genuinely being that bad?" She asks, looking over the small crowd.

"They re-broke my mirror, further ruined my couch, carved things into the walls, tossed trash around, and that one was talking shit about me," I say defensively.

"Yeah, they deserved it then." She agrees easily. "Was that really meant to be a warning? We heard it at the base."

I'm not sure myself, and I say as much, "I don't know, I kind of just kept pushing it. I was… maybe a little mad at the guy for breaking my mirror after I just fixed it."

She considers that for a second. "Yeah, okay then. Has Marshal been teaching you secret alpha tricks?" She asks teasingly. Alpha? Well, I guess everyone does seem to defer to her.

"Naw," I say, doing my best impression of the giant. "She has made some comments though…"

Sneasel snorts at my impression before nodding, "Listen to her. She's old, you know, like, older than most of the trees, old." She says.

That… I remember her saying she'd been around a while. But older than the forest? "Really?" I ask.

Sneasel nods again, "Yeah, Ryuko's got pictures of her when she was young, whole fields of nothing but stumps." She shivers, "It's horrifying."

Oh. That does sound bad, especially considering how alive everything is right now. Why would all that clear-cutting happen here? I've been seriously considering flying to one of the cities I can see since Sneasel told me about the absence of trainers here, maybe I should do that soon, see the people of this world firsthand.

Well, the ones that aren't over-privileged tourists, I mean.

"You okay?" Sneasel pokes me out of my thoughts. "You looked a bit distant."

"Yeah, just thinking about the forest and humans," I tell her. Wait a moment… "Ryuko?" I ask.

"Ah," Sneasel says, looking at her partner. "That's her name, Onaga Ryuko, Don't call her Ryuko without her permission," She says, tone dead serious.

Wow, Japanese naming, okay. "I won't, sorry," I say. Sneasel nods.

"There we go!" calls Onaga as she tightens the last bolt on the back of a sign. Damn, that was fast, she doesn't even look winded.

"Gotta go," Sneasel tells me as she starts walking towards the ranger. "See you at some point Smokey, though don't be shocked if I've changed a bit."

Looking around, it's just the three of us now and Onaga and Sneasel are starting to walk down the path to the lake. Deciding to take a look at the signs I float out and inspect them. Yep, same as the sign near Marshal's grove. Retro-reflective surface with a bright red warning symbol, text in three languages I can't read, and a skull. And now with what Marshal told me, the skull makes sense. 'Danger, do not anger the animal that can kill you with its voice.'

And I really could have killed him, my instincts are telling me that the sound was completely unfocused and I could have put even more power behind it. Fuck that's a little terrifying.

Moving back inside I look at my 'couch'. Maybe I should see how well Marshal's Miracle Glue works on wood? It's a project at least.

God, I hope those signs stop most people.

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"Marshal, please put the poor man down," Ryuko says. But why should I? He saw the sign, he heard my warning, he heard the other human's warning, and he kept walking anyway.

"But look at the funny face he's making Ryu!" I say to her, but by the look on her own face, she's not budging. Even if Sneasel is laughing so hard she can't breathe.

"The man knowingly ignored a legal warning, and if I wasn't here you could do what you want with him. But since I am here I have a duty to arrest him and get him back to Vientown." She explains calmly. Which I understand, human laws for humans. Oh but look at him, he's turning purple.

"Marsh," Ryuko says pleadingly. "I'd rather not have to file the stupid-man-got-what-he-deserved papers this year, please, for me?" Now that made his face even funnier, look at his eyes!

Has this been going long enough for the rest of them to get the general idea? Hmm… probably. "Fine," I say, dropping the human. "For you."

"Oh- Oh, his face." Chokes out Sneasel. She knows good entertainment when she sees it.

"U- Um, M- Ms. Marshal?" Says a timid voice. I turn to see a tiny young human looking up at me, fear and wonder in equal measure in her eyes. "Wo- Would you please take a ph- photo with me?" I glance back to Ryuko, who shrugs, so I look back at the small human. Well now, she's being polite and adorable, how could I say no? So I nod. "Oh th- thank you!" She says, handing a human contraption to a similar seeming human—likely her father—before she starts carefully moving towards me.

As the child's doing that, the human I'd been holding by the throat tries to make a run for it. That goes about as well for him as picking some berries did earlier, since Ryuko has him down on the ground and restrained in an instant.

"And there's fleeing custody." Ryuko sighs. "Katie, we need a detainment runner at Marshal's Grove." She says to the talking-box before turning to the ostensible guide of these tourists. "I think I'll hang around, Rich, just to make sure there's no more issues for you, yeah?" The green-furred human nods, clearly trying not to smile in relief.

"Oh, uh, wow." Says the human child, now having reached me. "you're big."

"Well thank you kindly!" I say. Aw, her eyes go real wide at that.

There's a clacking sound and we both look up to see her father messing with the 'photo' device. "D- Dad!" She cries, going red, "I wasn't ready."

"We can take one when you are, but that was just too cute a moment to pass up." He says, smiling warmly. Ah the joys of embarrassing one's children, you don't let others do it, but sometimes it's just too good to pass up.

Looking at the gathered humans, my thoughts drift.

I need to keep these humans away from Buizel, even if he's nearly grown. And the kid…

I hope Charlie's okay, kid needed longer to settle in before the humans arrived this year. But you can't control time. Wheel, but they got loud though, they probably weren't putting any focus on it to try not to hurt one of them too bad, and they still hurt a human.

Why the humans all don't do whatever the rangers do is beyond me, they're all so soft and delicate. I barely had to hold that one to choke him, if he'd been a ranger I would have needed to squeeze a little at least, and most of them would have been able to slip out as well. Though none of them are stupid enough for it to get to that point, thankfully.

Ah, they all want my attention now. …Mmm, No. I think I'll let the one human finish and then go back to playing with Buizel. Let Ryuko handle them now.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼​

I am, apparently, already an attraction.

"Sir, this has nothing to do with your country of origin. We've been given clear instructions that no one is allowed to enter the misdreavus' home. It has already injured one person who did, and we would prefer if that were all." Says the pink-haired, lanky, seven-foot woman guiding this group. "I can assure you that, under Almia law, those signs constitute a legal warning."

"Nonsense, and in any case, if someone was hurt it was because they failed to earn the pokemon's respect." Replies the man who looks like he stepped right out of a cartoon mocking the British elite, curly mustache and all.

This has been going on for the last few minutes, and I'm pretty sure the man is more concerned with 'winning' the argument than actually entering my cabin at this point. The rest of the tourist group is looking less and less comfortable as time goes on.

"Now, I believe I can demonstrate-" The caricature continues, but I've decided I've had enough.

I try to follow a bit of Marshal's earlier advice and focus my voice, pitching it low, "Just stop. You're already annoying enough." God damn does that get a reaction. My voice came out deep, and while it did slightly shake some of the closer trees I don't think it traveled much farther. Huh, that stuck too…

Are they Moves? What I just did only changed my voice.

"And that," Says the pink-haired giant, having recovered the fastest, "Was a very clear warning to not even try to enter."

"What in Giratina's name was that sound?" Asks the annoying man, clearly not listening.

The guide rolls her eyes before sighing and taking a few deep breaths. "Again, Sir, that was a warning, a threat. I'm not sure how much clearer the pokemon can be that they don't want anyone in their home."

"I don't believe I've ever seen a pokemon act like that. Are you certain it doesn't need aid?" The man asks, a hint of derision in his tone.

"Again, 'Mister' Albain, This. Isn't. Galar." The woman isn't hiding her disdain for the man anymore, "And these are not acclimated pokemon. If you continue to ignore my advice then the best you can hope for is to be arrested. More likely, is that the misdreavus decides to simply kill you for entering their den, especially as the Rangers have informed us that most ghost-types seem to be unstable." She finishes growling out.

"Now see here young lady," The man begins to wind up. "Such a lack of respect for-" Yeah, he definitely stopped caring about actually entering my cabin. And I've stopped caring about this conversation.

I'm pretty sure floating out there and making him just shut up already is out of the question, so I'm going to wait for him to inevitably enter my cabin to prove his 'point'. Whatever he thinks it is.

It doesn't take much longer, the rest of the group now looking on with a mixture of horror and fascination save for the guide, she just looks resigned.

As the wanna-be lord enters my front door, he starts talking, "Now-" Is all he manages before I gently wrap two arms around his neck and place another two on his shoulders.

Putting my face right in his, I start, "Look, you're the second asshole to test me today, and I'm suddenly realizing why Marshal told me to just kill people who kept annoying me. So I'm going to tell you to leave, and if you don't I'm going to see how far I can throw you. Okay?" I tell him in the same low, focused voice I used earlier, though quieter. Before pushing him out the door and assuming what I'm fairly certain is my scariest look, all seven arms spread out.

He takes the hint, coughing and straightening himself before contritely walking back to join the group. The guide-woman gives me a smirk as she says something into her radio, and then starts leading the whole group out of my clearing.

This is going to be my whole day, isn't it?

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

It's been all sunny skies and pleasant weather since I woke up here, so that had to change at some point. And it has, a few hours ago the sky started turning gray and now it's absolutely pouring outside. Of course, the rain doesn't truly bother me anymore, I barely phase out and it all just falls through me. It also doesn't seem to bother any of the grass-types even if they're a little sad at the lack of sunlight.

The rain has also meant that no tourists have come out here today, oh no, woe are we. 'We' in this case being not just myself but the pikachu family that very earnestly and politely asked to shelter in my cabin so that their children wouldn't shock themselves in the rain.

I had thought that they would dig burrows. Then I thought about an electric pokemon digging into the ground and I wanted to slap myself. They, in fact, hollow out trees. But in this case, I was reminded of the numerous complaints I've heard about the local beedrill.

This family, Pikachu, Pikachu, Pichu, Pichu, and Pichu, had been pushed out of their hollow by the beedrill. When they approached they only asked to remain until the storm had passed, and, as I've yet to meet a truly unfriendly pokemon, I allowed them in. Though, I had to do some quick cleaning up.

"Okay, it's safe back here." I declare, floating the last shards of glass into a kitchen drawer. Alas, poor Mirror, at least you taught me how to lift many things at once. I'm a bit embarrassed I hadn't realized how before, you literally just need to make a bigger zone, it's that simple.

"Thank you, you genuinely didn't need to though…" The mother, Pikachu, trails off. "But I suppose it is the warmest and safest place in here. Come on kids, let's not waste the nice ghost's hospitality." She continues, walking—on two legs—into the back.

I had at first thought it strange that the bedroom had no windows, but I'm beginning to suspect it's for the same reason the cabin has held up so well. It's designed to withstand harsh, cold conditions and possibly pokemon attacks. My first clue was when I took a good look at the windows and sliding door. The glass wasn't glass, I think it was some kind of high-quality composite and it was thick. Two panes, each a little under one-and-a-quarter inches.

The exterior walls are also thick at just a bit under fourteen inches. This place was built tough. And yeah, if an idiot lived out here then it would make sense, except that I'm certain dedicated pokemon would get in quickly. Also, I don't think an idiot would live out here. For all I know that could just be the building code. At least with the location and grade, I won't need to worry about flooding.

"I don't suppose you have anything soft for bedding?" The father, Pikachu, asks.

"I mean," I say, looking at my couch. The only way I can see to move it would be to start breaking it again. "Not really, sorry. I don't exactly need it so… Yeah, sorry." I say, feeling a bit sheepish. He nods understandingly and follows his… wife? Mate? Mate.

They've been perfect guests so far, polite and not letting their kids damage anything. And the noise from excited kids is unavoidable, understandable, and easily forgiven.

My as-of-yet unnamed and unclear new sense is buzzing in the back of my head, pointing skyward, and beginning to bother me. Given that the first time I felt it was with Marshal I don't think it's a sense for weather, but I'm still not sure what it is.

I take a quick look into the bedroom to see the family settling into a pile before heading back to my living room—ha. My half-reassembled couch is waiting to be completed because, as it turns out, Marshal's Miracle Glue works wonders on wood, old as it may be. However, it has become clear to me that someone did disassemble it in the first place, taking every metal part with them.

I briefly consider continuing my work on it before turning to another new project of mine. Marshal's glue also works quite well as wood putty if you mix enough 'sawdust' and water in, and I've been filling in the carvings that were left in my walls. The 'sawdust' is easy to make by just tearing a log apart with my mind. I'm not sure if psychic powers can get old, but I hope they can't, they would have made my last job so much easier.

And I just had to go and remind myself, didn't I? Well, now that my desire to work on anything even tangentially construction-related is dead, how do I pass the time…

I might be able to go find Leaf and the Grotles, I'd bet they're out enjoying the rain right now. Or maybe Marshal, a lake-dwelling water-type has to love the rain right? I could just drift around, that's typically what I do when I'm bored. Eh, why not?

I let the mouse family know that I'll be heading outside before floating out and letting myself feel the rain for a bit. Physical sensations are different somehow when you can simply stop them at any time. They're more… I don't know, real? I can take more enjoyment in them than before, at least, and that's something I don't know if I'm thankful for or not.

Hmm… Do clouds stop enough sunlight to allow me to expand my own? …Huh, turns out they do, neat. Fuck, I'm stalling, back to the actual question at hand. Where do I go? Marshal is to the West and most of the other pokemon I've met are to the North and East. I haven't gone south yet, have I? South it is then.

I easily float over the small cliff and stop as I see an obvious hiking trail. Huh, that's a bit close to my cabin. Then again, people will walk right up to the front door, so it doesn't change anything.

I decide to move on, drifting through the forest. Nothing seems different so far, but most of the pokemon are hiding from the rain so I only see some grass-types here and there.

And I keep thinking that way right up until I see the first colony. And yes colony, because hive doesn't do it justice. Combee, hundreds- maybe thousands of combee.

This is another instance of my game-derived knowledge being incorrect, as it seems that a combee can be as small as a single golden hexagon with wings to… The largest 'individual' I see has fifteen hexagons and massive wings, so fifteen. All of them are interlocked to form a barrier against the rain. And in the middle of them, I see the much larger, semi-humanoid form of a vespiquen. She's bigger than I am and that's terrifying on a level I can't exactly express because, you see, that's a bee bigger than I am!

I'd be taking calming breaths right now if I could, but since I can't I'm just going to keep in mind that my grass-type neighbors spoke highly of the vespiquen.

Before I can say hello the queen beats me to it, "Prime-Daughter-Two greets {non-hostile, non-threat} Apprentice-Of-Order-Bringer." …I'm constantly surprised by the way different pokemon act. That is a hell of a way to talk though, some of those were barely even words but I still understood them.

"Um, hi," I say lamely. And then since I need clarification, "When you say Apprentice-Of-Order-Bringer, is that me?" Because that's an interesting thing to call me.

"Individual's suspicion correct. Information requested, {reason, purpose} for individual's entry into {my, our} {home, branch, hive}," She… they? Intone. It's really hard to pick up on any inflection or change in speech at all.

"I realized I hadn't…" I flail for an acceptable word for a moment, "Scouted this part of the forest around my home yet, and I had nothing better to do while it's raining," I finish.

"Individual's {reason, purpose} for short term entry is acceptable." They—it is the whole colony speaking—intone. "Information requested, is individual {source, cause, reason} for recent {audible, loud, noisy, obvious} disturbances?" Says the flat monotone. Please, please don't be mad at me, you're fucking scary enough already.

Here goes nothing. "…Yes," I admit.

The queen cocks her head to a perfect forty-five degrees, "Individual shows {impressive, gifted} strength. Apprentice-Of-Order-Bringer status altered to {non-hostile, mild-threat, potential ally}," They speak. Damn, that's some open assessment from them.

However, something about the way she introduced herself still nags at me. "You said your name was Prime-Daughter-Two, does that mean there are more colonies farther south?" I ask the queen.

"Individual's assumption correct, {live, rule, exist} nine {prime, mother, ruler} originating {branches, sisters, hives} farther south," The colony intones.

"I uh…" I flail, trying to make conversation before noticing something. "Are you not making honey yet?" I ask now that I see how empty some of the combee look.

The queen cocks her head in the other direction, still at a perfect forty-five angle, "Individual's deduction correct." She seems to think a moment longer before continuing, "Present {information, predictions, assumptions, anticipations} describe thirty-nine-percent {hive, branch} loss preceding nectar {harvesting, production} approach present needs." She straightens her head, "Within {acceptable, expected, required} margins," She alone intones.

Fuck, I'm stuck between some serious fascination and the deep, gnawing desire to leave as soon as possible. While this colony is a veritable feast, it's also a confusing, soupy mess. And that is still a bee larger than myself. Sighing, I make my choice, "I think it's time for me to move on now, thank you for the answers, Prime-Daughter-Two," I tell her-them.

"Individual receives {my, our} {joy, gratitude, appreciation} for {my, our, individual's} communications. {I, We} desire individual's {extended, prolonged} {health, well-being, consideration}. {I, We} {anticipate, desire, ponder} individual's return." They intone. I'm pretty sure that's a 'thank you, goodbye.' So I start flying—slowly—back to my home.

Of all the things I thought I'd see I wasn't expecting a hive mind, let alone a friendly one. But that voice… it rivals my own for creepiness, and whatever I understand what anybody says held up a little too well with its translation. I shiver at the thought of multiple thoughts at once. Yeah, way too well.

When I reach my house I'm glad I won't need to find something else to do, something else has already found me. A weavile is standing on my roof, and I only know the one sneasel.

She's quite a bit taller—she gained a little over a foot of height and is somehow even darker-furred now. Her ears aren't asymmetrical anymore, she now has a full crest of bright crimson feathers coming off her head and a collar of feathers around her neck, and she seems to have lost both her chest gem and a tail-and-a-half while gaining new fingers and toes. And yet, despite all that, her face is still the same.

"Hey Smokey, long time!" Says Sn- Weavile playfully. Okay, her voice is a bit deeper now as well. "Guess who?"

I blink twice at her, "Hi? I'm sorry, but, who are you?" I ask, teasing her right back.

Her face takes on a look of concern, "You don't remember me? I hoped you'd recognize me…"

Not to be outdone, I continue, "Oh! You must be Sneasel's sister! How is she?" I ask, adding some concern to my question.

"She's doing very well. You know, she even evolved recently." Weavile muses.

"Oh? Good for her! I hope she visits and shows me soon." I return.

"She will, you can…"Weavile stops, narrowing her eyes at me, "You can keep going with this, can't you?"

"I could do this all day. I've had practice." I tell her, grinning.

She grins right back, "As fun as that sounds, I did want to tell you something, I have a name now, Weaver."

"Does that have something to do with being a weavile now, too?" I ask her.

"A bit. Anyway!" She says, jumping to the ground. "Ryuko's on her way back from a canceled mission and she had me run ahead to ask if she can stay here while the Rain Dance wears off." Weaver doesn't exactly ask. 'Rain Dance', is that why my unnamed sense is going off?

Practical questions first, me. "For how long?" I ask her.

"I don't know, apparently it was five blastiose doing it up north, so it could last a while." Weaver sighs before giving me a more pleading look. "Ryu's tough, but she's been in the rain all day and I can't exactly warm her up. So, please?" She actually asks this time.

I need to think about this, Onaga is the only human I've had somewhat positive interactions with, she's also not a tourist though, so I don't know how much that counts for. As far as I'm aware her job is to make sure the forest and its pokemon are healthy, and the title 'Ranger' also points to that. And Weaver has been almost nothing but friendly and seems to think highly of the woman. All that taken together would make me a real asshole if I said no, so obviously I'll let her stay. Damn, my house is getting full, it shouldn't surprise me though. My house is the only structure—barring log dams—within a few miles, as far as I can tell.

"Yeah, why not," I tell her. "Did you already meet the pikachu?" I ask her. She winces at that, oh joy.

"I did, yeah," She admits sheepishly. "They thought I was going to eat them." Ah hell, that had to be frightening. I need to check on them. "Okay, uh, I'll go tell Ryuko then," she says before darting off, quick as a flash.

I sigh as I enter through the door to not scare my guests further. And looking toward the bedroom, I see the door there closed and latched. Sighing again, I float over and phase out to see what it's like in there.

The father, Pikachu, is standing alert facing the door while the mother, also Pikachu, is flanking the door. The pichu are all in different corners of the room. All the fear has faded by this point, so no delicious- I shouldn't think that way.

Rather than risk a lightning storm in my home I move back to the kitchen entrance before phasing back in. "Pikachu, the weavile isn't a threat. You can open the door now." I call out to them.

A moment later the door latch shifts and the taste of relief washes over me. Then the door swings back before the mother, Pika- Okay, I think I've driven that point home by now. Anyway, the mother pokes her head around the side while the father steps out from behind the door.

"This is quite the defensible den you have." Says the father. "It took barely a moment to seal it and even has a blind corner, quite nice if I say so."

"Sorry about Weaver, I didn't think she'd be coming around today, what with the rain." I apologize.

The mother just waves me off, "It's not like we'd be any better off out there, much worse off, truthfully. You've been too kind." She says. Why are the people here so nice? It's making me feel like an asshole for not being as nice as possible.

I'm not going to try to argue with my guests' assessments though. "A human, a Ranger is going to be stopping here to get out of the rain as well, I hope you don't mind," I tell them. They both shake their heads at that, however.

"Nothing wrong with helping the rangers, they're some of the nicest humans there are." Says the father, the mother now nodding along.

"Okay, just wanted to make sure," I tell them before floating back to my living room. Ha! Ah, I'm definitely starting to lose it again, that's the second time I've made that joke today.

I need more to do. I was a workaholic before I died and I'm fairly certain I'm a workaholic now. I wonder, can pokemon have jobs? I remember some of the 'newer' games had pokemon working various jobs, but I don't know how well that carries over to here. Although Weaver does seem to have a job, even if I haven't heard her refer to it as such.

Honestly, I'm still not sure if I should be glad I'm here and not out there. It was so peaceful, I was calm and comfortable. Why did-

"That's the look of someone who's thinking way too hard," Says Weaver, right behind me. I don't jump, but only because I can't. Instead, I blink out on sheer instinct while Weaver laughs at me. "You were deep in there, weren't you?" Her voice sounds out in the emptiness. Jesus, why is she so quiet!?

Phasing back in, I try to think of something to say to her but I come up blank. "Hey, you okay? Did I interrupt something important?" She asks me, sounding concerned.

"I- I was-" I manage before I need to stop. I take a moment to gather myself. "I was spiraling while thinking about what would have happened if I didn't come back," I tell her.

Her face goes comically suspicious and she starts to speak before realization eclipses her features. "Oh. I, uh. I don't know what to say to that," She admits.

Yeah, you and me both. "Thank you," I tell her. "For pulling me out of that. I don't like thinking about it, but I don't have a lot to distract myself sometimes, and it can take a while to… resettle." We lapse into silence for a bit after that before I feel the need to ask, "So… where's Onaga?"

Weaver gives me a very weary sigh. "She decided she wanted to talk to Marshal first," The weasel-thing shakes her head. "She's shivering enough to rattle and she still won't think of herself first," The feathered weasel complains.

We look at each other for a moment. Then I say what we're both thinking, "Marshal's going to drag her here, isn't she?"

"Yep."

That breaks the mood, and we both start laughing about the image. And we're still laughing when the real thing comes walking into the clearing outside.

"Marsh, y- you really don't n- need to…" Onaga trails off when she sees us and our laughing redoubles. Marshal has her in a bridal carry.

"See?" Rumbles the giant pokemon, her eyes sparkling with shared humor. "They was worried about you. Now go, get dry and warm up, you're freezing." Marshal says as she deposits Onaga by the door. Then she gives me an assessing glance before she starts walking off. "I'll check on you tomorrow, kid."

Now that Marshal's gone, I take a better look at Onaga. Yeah, she is shivering pretty badly.

"I d- don't suppose you can start a f- fire? Or maybe just have some dry k- kindling?" She chatters out. "I can warm up without it, but it would help."

Well, while I don't have fully dry wood, I had been planning on trying the fireplace at some point, and Leaf had helped me find some older fallen trees. I now have plenty of wood chips and dust, too, and I also have the know-how to ignite something reasonably flammable with my vast psychic powers.

I sweep some wood chips as well as a few pieces of a log, into my fireplace.

In reality, it's very easy to ignite some things, for example, wood chips will just require me to remove wind—there's none in here, though—add pressure and friction, hmm push some air towards it… and viola. Fire. I just need to watch it now to make sure it doesn't burn out or out of control. Although out is more likely with this wood.

Onaga and Weaver both blink at that. "T- that was f- fast, thanks." Says Onaga as she makes her way closer to the flames.

"That wasn't a fire Move," States Weaver, staring at me.

Is it that shocking? "No, but it's pretty easy to make a fire if you know what you're doing," I tell her. She Hums, giving me a suspicious look.

I am then distracted by Onaga undressing in front of my fire. I- Huh, that particular human instinct is gone. I'm not sure if I should be shocked at that or not, but now I'm concerned about what I might find… attractive.

I'm getting too distracted, she needs to get her wet clothes off to warm up faster and dry them off.

"Neat l- little bit of psychic work there, Misdreavus." She says as she finishes stripping completely. At least I don't feel awkward about it.

"You were freezing. I tell her, knowing full well she can't understand me. "You really should have come here first." She shivers at my voice.

"Do you know if all ghosts sound like you in person?" She asks me. I sigh and shake my head. "Damn, would have b- been nice to know." I shrug and float over to my 'couch.' "You sure you want to…" Ryuko trails off thoughtfully. "I guess it's not like it can hurt you?"

Wait… "What?" I ask her looking between her and the half-assembled couch.

She chuckles, "That's poly-glass fiber." Then continues her explanation a bit more soberly, "It's pretty dangerous for anyone to be around. Near fire-proof, but causes cancer." I- My couch is made of poke-asbestos. Fucking why? She sees my incredulous look, "I should report it as an environmental hazard, but it is yours."

"No, go ahead," I tell her, shaking my head while waving a few arms at it. I am well aware of how dangerous things like that can be.

"Is that a yes or a no?" She asks me. I nod, and she eyes me for a second. "Okay, we'll probably have a collection team out here in a few days then." She says before turning back around to face the fire.

I haven't noticed Weaver recently, so I look around for her. She's sitting as far from the fire as she can get. "Um, do you not like fire?" I ask her.

"Most Ice-types don't, the sun usually doesn't have the power to be uncomfortable for me, but fires do," She tells me. Was weavile an ice-type? I guess they must be.

"Right, sorry. Is there anything I can do?" I ask her.

She thinks for a moment, "Do you think you could make a barrier for the heat? I'd like to be closer to Ryuko."

That's… adorable, honestly. Also an interesting question. Can I? When I use… I still don't know if it's a Move or what its name would be. So, When I use psychic power on nothing it does stop things that contact it, but… Is that enough? I don't think so, because light still passes through.

Could I stop light? There are still a boatload of things I haven't tried yet, so maybe? I'm fairly certain I'm not using the power right, but it still does things when I try. What would be the best way to stop heat, though? …Start with a concave disc, I guess.

Matching thought to action, I make a disc and push the center out-

I feel a poke, "Uh, Smokey? You with us?"

There's a 'thwup' sound as my psychic disc implodes. "Uh, who- What?" I ask, belatedly realizing it was Weaver who spoke.

"You got all focused before you answered, then just froze there for a minute. And then- Were you trying to make a screen?" Weaver asks.

"Um, yes?" Depending on what 'screen' means.

"Oh," Weaver says. "Sorry. You just kind of… stopped moving."

"Sorry if I'm interrupting," Onaga cuts in, "But could you stoke the fire up?"

Looking at the fire, yeah, it needs more small pieces. I only had a few logs I'd been practicing with, but I can always find more. Picking up one of the three-and-a-half remaining, pulling it apart is an easy-

Jesus Christ, pulling a log apart is easy now.

So… anyway, since the fire isn't out, I just need pieces that will burn readily enough. Seriously, keeping a fire is extremely difficult and super easy at the same time, and this whole thing is starting to remind me of camping.

After placing a few of the log shards on the fire—and ensuring they'll burn, I turn my focus back to Weaver. "What do you mean I stopped moving?" I ask the weasel.

She blinks at me, then frowns, "I don't think you need to know."

"I feel like I do."

"Maybe," She replies.

"Weaver, I'm serious! I've been freaking out enough recently as it is," I plead.

Weaver seems to consider for a moment before her eyes shift over to Onaga and the fire. "You just stopped moving," She says, looking back at me. "No waving about, no bobbing or drifting, nothing." Her tone is oddly blank, "The same way you were when I walked in."

I can't tell if that should be concerning or not. On the one hand, no movement at all isn't a good sign for most living things, on the other, I'm still not sure how 'alive' I am anymore.

"Okay, that's… interesting, but I was mostly thinking about how to stop heat," I tell her.

"And I realized that, but it was still weird," She says, waving a hand, "I like you, you know how to poke back, but then you just stop and I don't know what to do. I don't want to bring up 'that', but it feels like I might need to."

I sigh, how do I-

"And how do you do that?" Weaver asks suddenly.

"Do what?"

"You know, sigh? I've noticed you're not breathing." Her ears flick.

…That's a great question. I sigh again. There's no intake, no exhalation, but the sound comes out anyway. "I have no idea," I say, honestly confused.

Onaga's watching our back and forth with interest. "You managed to make a new friend?" She asks her partner, looking between us, "I hope, anyway."

Onaga looks back at the fire, pauses, thinks for a second, then sighs. Turning to me, she starts talking more seriously, "The Union has approved a study on you by the Sinnoh Research Institute. We don't know the details yet, but they might send someone or we might get contracted to watch you more closely. If they send someone annoying just hang around Marshal until whoever it is makes a mistake, if it's us…" She trails off for a moment. "Well, you'll be seeing more of the rangers, then. Sorry if we get annoying." She shrugs.

Why would they be doing a study on me? Does someone higher up know I'm not from this world?

Fuck, my face is too easy to read now. "You don't know how rare you are, do you?" She asks me. And it's a completely normal reason, of course.

I shake my head, "No, why would I?" And I immediately realize I shouldn't have said that, as Weaver goes still, her eyes narrowing.

"Makes sense, Hmm… To put it in perspective," Onaga says, waving a hand idly, "We only have four photos of misdreavus, and two of those are black and white. Hmm, we have exactly one audio recording and it was different enough from you that it shocked me at first…" She wags her hand back and forth, thinking. "No one knows for sure what you can do, and…" She trails off, running a hand through her hair. "Ghost-pokemon are rare." She shrugs, "I think the best-understood ones are shedinja, but you only see them once a decade. And not for long, either." She finishes.

Really? That rare? Marshal said she'd seen… How old is she, exactly? Weaver had said 'older than most of the trees', but I still don't know if I believe that.

"Where are you from? What are you trying to hide?" Asks Weaver after Onaga's done. Completely blank tone and expression.

Oh. Well… fuck. I guess it was going to come out sooner or later. "So, you know how I died?" I ask her.

"Yeah, kinda hard to have a ghost without that part." She says.

"I'm, uh, not from this world," I reveal.

She raises a claw, lowers it, raises it again, stops, and then just looks lost for words for a moment. "What?" She finally asks, confused. "Explain."

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

AN: this is halfway through my backlog, now. Still feels great that people are reading this.

---

"So… yeah, I've been completely lost since I got here." I finish my story-slash-explanation.

Weaver just sits there, dumbfounded. Onaga had moved next to her during my little story-time, but she noticed the pikachu and she's now checking on the pichu. "Why would you need to bring them in here?" I hear her ask them.

Weaver finally snaps out of it. "That story is completely unbelievable. I'm all for it." She says, now looking genuinely thoughtful rather than dramatically-thoughtful. "That does explain some things. Like why you lied about Unova."

Wait, she knew that? "Sorry, it was the region I remembered best," I say sheepishly.

She waves a hand, "After the rest of it I thought you were trying not to talk about dying. But I- You- Only- what did you call them? 'Video games' about pokemon? Noth- No living pokemon?"

"There were shows and movies, I just… didn't watch most of them," I say.

"Wow." She states. Then she just stares into space for a long moment. "You should probably go see the human town." She eventually says.

Ha! I- Ah shit. "Eh, I've liked it out here so far, everyone I've met has been friendly. And I mean…" I trail off from the look she's giving me. "Okay, I've been stalling. It honestly is nice out here, but I just- I don't know what to do! I'm dead. I'm not too proud to admit that I'm scared of being caught. And you have no idea how…" I stop, my thoughts blurring together. I need to calm down.

"I've been caught before." She admits, almost flippantly. "You can break your way out if you're strong enough…" She glances at Onaga, who is still trying to puzzle out the pikachu. Before she looks back at me, "From what I understand, most trainers are actually… maybe not nice, but at least not bad. It's just that the ones who come here are usually awful because they need to be breaking the law to do it." She says.

"That doesn't fill me with confidence," I tell her.

She laughs, "Well, there are rangers here. And they will protect you, all of us-" She stops. "I'm a ranger now…" She whispers, seemingly to herself. Then she recovers, "Okay, well it's not just us. There are bases all over Almia and everyone in them is dedicated to protecting the pokemon here."

I sigh, "I'll fly over tonight, okay?" I decide. She nods, seeming happy at that.

Onaga walks out of the bedroom, stalling further conversation. She checks outside, then walks over to check the clothes that she left by the fire. It seems they're still wet, as she just sighs and grabs her radio.

"Katie, I'm at the misdreavus' cabin and there's a family of pikachu that have been edged out of their territory. Could you add a thorough population survey to the quest list?" She speaks into the boxy device.

"kínn anò, priötàti?" A female voice chirps from the radio. Well, that's a new language.

"Medium, possibly high if there's nothing else on there." She answers before she starts rearranging her clothes, ignoring the radio's response. "Ten minutes, Weaver." She says, now seemingly taking an inventory.

"I'll be ready." She tells the human. Then to me, "Promise me I'll see you in town tonight?"

I've done a lot of sighing today, so I stop myself before I do it again. "You will," I promise her.

***​

I'm still dragging my feet, in a manner of speaking. Slowly drifting down the packed dirt paths through the woods. There are several things on my mind at the moment, one of which is something I just didn't have the nerve to say to Weaver earlier. I don't just like it here. Despite the circumstances, once I settled in I realized that I'm so much… happier. Sure, I find myself bored at times and my thoughts drift to things I'd rather they didn't, but overall I really am happy so far. That just makes my gnawing guilt about my old friends worse though.

I will see them again. That I've decided, even if I don't know how yet.

I've been staying below the trees, admiring the seemingly well-tended- No, don't be an idiot Charlie, the trees are tended to, even if not by humans. I even watched Leaf do it for a few hours… Anyway, I've come to a split in the path. Rising above the canopy of leaves I make sure my sense of direction is still correct. It is, so I descend and continue floating down one path, North-East now.

I'm not far out, maybe a mile to go. I started once the sun was well into setting, but that can't have been more than an hour and a half ago. I think the town… I just realized I don't know if I'm headed for a town or a city. Weaver had said town but that could mean a range of things, depending on how the translation works.

I think the town is about six miles from my cabin. Flying at full speed it would only take me a few minutes to go from one to the other, especially since I'd be taking a straight line. Fuck I'm still nervous about this, just need to suck it up and dive in. Yep, that's why I'm taking one of the slowest routes I can.

…Oh, that's a field. I drift out of the trees and into farmland of some kind, the lack of light not impeding my view. Segmented Fields stretch out before me. Beyond those, I can see the city. Definitely too large to be called a town by definition.

I'll get to it when I get to it, let's look at these farms. I… don't know a lot about farming, shit. I can only distract myself so much with this. Very few of the fields have anything green on them, and the two that do I have no idea what's growing in them.

Drifting through the field I also spot an almost flooded plot.

…Fine, I'll head for the city.

I reach the city way too fast for my liking, though I do see a friendly face when I arrive. Weaver is leaning against a strangely rounded brick building, she's wearing a black shoulder belt along with the hat now, and holding a map.

"I'm glad you actually came." She says, holding the map out, "Here, so you're not asking me for directions all night."

Grasping the map carefully in a psychic hold, I open it and take a look. Yep, gibberish. Also a tourist map, clearly emphasizing local attractions.

"You know I can't read this, right?" I tell her.

She facepalms, "Ugh, fine, gimme that." She exaggerates, plucking the map out of the air while pulling her other hand down her face. Then she smiles, "Didn't even cross my mind that you couldn't read. Is that a new thing or…?" She hangs the question.

"I can read English and Spanish just fine, but I don't think those are used here," I say.

She nods, "Ah, got it. It isn't too hard to learn LSL, Sinnohan's a bit weirder though." She explains, beginning to walk into the city. "Can you eat normal food? Sorry, that just occurred to me." She asks, looking back at me.

"I can eat berries, so maybe," I say distractedly. Weaver might have nodded at that, but I'm too busy looking around.

The buildings, all ranging from one to five stories, are mostly almost domed as opposed to the gabled design of my cabin, and I'm pretty sure the entire surface of every roof I see is solar panels. The walls of the buildings are more diverse however, Some are brick, some are shiplap, others are stucco, and I can see one that looks like logs. And I'm getting the impression that a lot of places are small businesses and that the owners might even live where they work. Many of the buildings are also strangely rounded at the corners, but if the walls are as thick as the ones in my cabin that could partially explain it.

The street we're on isn't pavement or asphalt. It's alternating pale and red brick set down in an angular back-and-forth arrow pattern. Street lamps are set intermittently along the buildings, and the street as a whole seems odd to me until I realize what's off about it. There are no sidewalks, there are no cars at all, either. However, I do see a set of rails going across an intersection several buildings down, white paint clearly denoting a minimum safe distance.

Even farther down, I can see a small island in the middle of the road, three trees with a bench inside a green pool of grass. And I can see more of them beyond it.

Something else eats at me for a bit before I notice the absence. There are no power lines, which is honestly interesting to see in a place without towering buildings. Granted, I bet pokemon make it easy to fix something underground without some of the time-consuming processes we had to deal with.

Also distributed solar power probably helps a bit.

And… Hmm, looking at the street-level windows, I'm fairly certain we're in a commerce district. So, this is where the money moves.

"You're looking awfully hard at some of the buildings, Smokey." Says Weaver as we pass what is definitely a hotel. "Something on your mind?" She asks, curious.

"I was- It's about what I did before, putting buildings together," I say, looking around some more. "I think you have better civil architecture," I state.

She shrugs, "If you say so. You'd know I guess."

She took my being from another world a little too well earlier, so I need to ask her something. "Do you really believe me? About where I'm from, I mean." I ask.

She frowns, "I think so? You're not lying at least." She says. Then shrugs again, "Seems weird, but I can believe it." Then she turns to me and grins, "Just means I have an extra special friend now."

This has to be part of the strange outlooks I noticed most pokemon have. Is it because of the powers? Weaver has apparently lived with humans for years, so I don't think it's about upbringing. Hmm… maybe it's just different brains, the more plant-y grass-types do seem-

"Hey, snap out of it. We're here." Weaver interrupts my thoughts as she steps into one of the buildings with lights on. A diner, judging by the window decoration. The door jingles.

"You brought me into the city to eat?" I ask her. "You know I don't need food, right?" I poke, as I simply pass through the glass door.

This looks like a mid-classic diner, with rough, vaguely colored wood walls, black-white tiled floor, dim and colorful lighting, mostly booth and bar seating, and an actual bar. The well-dressed woman behind it raises an eyebrow when she sees us, but she otherwise doesn't react.

"Ryuko gave me some money to celebrate my 'ascension to ranger-hood,' I figured I might as well spend it with another friend." She tells me, before rolling her eyes, "I don't know what else I'll spend it on right now."

"Oh, are you customers…" A middle-aged man sitting in a booth against the far wall trails off as his eyes land on me. "Oh Swords, I- '' He's interrupted by Weaver.

"We're paying customers." She says, pulling something out of a pocket on her belt. An ID, huh.

"Ah." Says the man, standing and edging his way towards us, eyes flicking to me several times. When he reaches Weaver he takes the card and inspects a moment. "R- right, thank you for your dedication. My name is Daniel and I'll be your waiter tonight…" He trails off as he looks at me again, then at the door to what is presumably the kitchen, then to the bartender. "Sorry. Seat yourselves anywhere. I assume you can read, Miss Weaver?" Weaver nods. "Excellent, give me just a moment to get your menus."

The man heads for the back, perhaps a bit faster than necessary. Well, I've already filled up, and we haven't even sat down yet. That is some good service.

Actually, how late is it? This place has a bar—even if it is empty right now—so it would be open later than a normal diner… Glancing around I do see a—thankfully analog—wall clock. Only eight-fifty? …I guess it is early spring.

Should I be questioning why the clock is the same here? Even if the numbers are different. Is the calendar the same too? How does that even-

"Do you normally just get distracted like that?" Asks Weaver as she pokes me, before shrugging, "Eh, you probably have your reasons." She then moves to a high-chaired bar against the window and I follow her. "Did you see his face though?" She asks as she hops, literally, onto a stool.

I glance at the stools for a moment before deciding to just float over one. "I didn't need to see it, I could taste it. He really was afraid of me, but it dropped off when you showed him your ID." I inform her.

"Yeah, having any kind of ranger around tends to calm people down." She says as Daniel returns with the menus.

"Anything to drink while you decide on your order?" He asks while placing the plastic-covered sheets of paper in front of us.

"Miltank-milk," Is Weaver's immediate response, poking the third line of a section on her menu. Looking at me she says, "You really should try it, it's great."

"Uh, sure, miltank-milk," I say, poking the same line on my menu with one arm. I just realized something, I haven't felt thirsty since I woke up and I never noticed, damn. Am I unobservant?

"Two milks," He says, jotting something down with a pad and pen I could swear he didn't have a moment ago. "Anything to start you off? Bread-rolls? Salad?" Weaver and I both shake our heads. "Great! I'll have your drinks in a jiffy." He says before walking off.

"You've got that look again," Weaver says teasingly as she inspects her menu.

"This is going to be the first time I've tried to drink something since I died," I tell her.

She looks thoughtful at that, "Huh. I haven't really put much thought into what that would have been like. Does that make me a bad friend?" She asks.

I snort, "Nah, you've been great so far."

The door jingles open. Weaver and I look to find out who our fellow late diners are. It's the teen girl and her father from yesterday.

"-orry it took so long sweetie, I wasn't expecting everyone to be out this soon." The father says, clearly trying to console his daughter.

"It's fine, Dad, we got them. I'm just hungry…" She too trails off when she sees me, though instead of fear she's radiating excitement. "Oh, hi! Uh, would you mind a picture now?" She asks me. Really?

Although from the looks of them, they aren't rich people with money to burn, they're probably trying to make the most of a trip that had to be saved for and planned out in advance.

Weaver and I exchange a glance, but her look just says I'm on my own. I'm not in a bad mood this time, so why not? "Sure," I say, nodding to the teen.

She winces? "Yeah… uh, think you could pose a bit? No- not that you need to! I was just asking." She stammers a bit, but she really is happy right now. Also, I think a bit confused about something?

I smirk, doing my best casual lean against the bar while still floating. "Like this?" I say.

"Y- yeah, just like that!" She beams, pulling a camera out of her bag. She readies it for a second.

"Excuse me for a moment."Says Daniel reappearing with our drinks. "I can see you're in the middle of something, so I'll come back to take your orders. And I'll have your menus once you're seated." He says the last part to the father-daughter pair before vanishing into the back again.

There's a 'clack' as he leaves. And the girl, looking a bit sheepish now, asks, "Do you think I could get one more with both of us in it?" She's looking down, eyes going back and forth over nothing.

"Sure, one more," I tell her. She looks up, smiling, then hands the camera off to her father, who looks a bit confused for some reason.

"Thank you! Um, do you think you could look scarier for this one?" I shrug, spreading my arms and my cloud while putting on what would normally be a friendly smile. "Oh. Uh, yeah that's good." She says a little shakily.

"Why haven't you shown me that yet?" Asks Weaver. "That's a great look for you Smokey, you should do it all the time."

The girl twitches, but assumes a double-thumbs-up pose in front of me, facing the camera. Her father is faster than her with the camera and after another 'clack' she's walking back to him.

They start heading for a far booth as the girl says, "Thanks for the pictures Mis- Smokey!" before they sit down. Daniel appears before them immediately after.

Settling back above my seat, it takes a moment for her words to parse. Wait, "Did she…?" I hesitate.

"I think so, yeah," Weaver says. "Cool."

"How?" I ask her. Are there humans who can understand us?

"No clue. Never met one who could, myself." She helpfully answers, before sipping her drink and turning back to her menu. "Any idea what you're going to order?" Wha- How is she so blasé about this? Is this normal? Fuck, it must be if she's so casual about it.

I look at the menu myself. None of the food is pictured, making me sigh. "Whatever you recommend, I still can't read this," I tell her.

"Mushroom burger with potato puffs sound good?" She asks, pointing to the line on the menu. "I'm getting the tofu fry, myself."

"Sure, sounds good," I reply. Then I actually look at my drink, it's creamy looking, nothing like the watery skim-variety Abby always insisted on whenever…

…did I get taken on a date?

I'm not going to be stupid enough to let that hang over me the whole time. So I ask, "Weaver, is this a date?"

She looks confused for a moment before holding up a finger. Then she lowers it, "No? Not if I understand what a date is." Thank fuck! As nice and objectively cute as she is, I don't find her attractive.

And oh boy am I not ready for that line of thought yet. I'm honestly hoping I never have to deal with it, really.

"Is this a human thing or a you thing?" She asks.

"A me thing, I think. I was just reminded of several dates my… former girlfriend and I went on," I explain, before sipping my drink. Wow, it's really good, very creamy, and still somewhat sweet. "You were right about the drink," I tell her.

"Of course, I have a very refined taste for human food. Only the best goes in here." She says, slapping her belly.

"Fried tofu?" I ask her, raising an eyebrow.

"Indeed." She intones gravely, nodding her head. "Only the best."

"What-" I stop, thinking about my question for a moment. "What do weavile normally eat?" I ask her.

She blows a raspberry at that, leaning back a bit. "Well, that depends, outside of human space?" She chomps her teeth, "Meat. Anything a pack could take down I guess. Here though…" She starts tapping her chin, "A lot of eggs, fish, and tofu, along with some vegetables. Though Ryuko warned me against corn and most fruit for some reason, but they aren't appetizing anyway, so yeah." She shrugs.

Corn? "Did she say it was poisonous to you? The corn?" I have to ask her.

"No… it had something to do with my health." She responds. "I'm not quite sure, I was only kind of paying attention. I'm pretty happy it got a lot easier for me to focus when I evolved, and thumbs! You know I… You okay?"

"I'm… mildly freaking out," I admit. "I hadn't thought of what might change when- If? I evolve," I tell her. "You just made me realize how much could change, it's a lot to think about, and I've already changed bodies once. Really, I'm still getting used to this one, and the thought of doing it again is making me feel a bit terrified." Not to mention how she said it got easier for her to focus, and I don't know if I want to think about the implications right now.

"It's a good thing misdreavus don't evolve then." She smirks, and then her face blanks again. "Or… they do, don't they?" She looks at me, "You wouldn't be thinking about it if they don't. What do you become?" She asks me, now with an odd look on her face.

Oh, uh, What was it called again? Mis-something… mismanus… mismagnus? No… "Mismagius? I think," I answer. "I'm pretty sure that's it, if I'm remembering right, I might need to find a pointy hat and a robe if I evolve."

Weaver blinks, "Huh, why do I feel like I've heard that name before…"

Before we can continue our conversation, Daniel appears. "Would you like to order now, do you need help deciding, or would you like a few more minutes to decide?" He asks politely.

Weaver's face shifts into a smile before she points at a line on her menu. I, in turn, point to the one she said was a burger, very glad to have a distraction from my thoughts.

***​

The food was delicious, even if it didn't actually fill me up. I think… I might have been denying myself certain pleasures without noticing. Sure, I don't need to eat normal food but the only emotion I've found that actually tastes good is fear. And yeah, I don't need to drink anything, but there are some good drinks out there. It actually has me wondering if I can nap to take the edge off sometimes.

There aren't a lot of places open this late, but Weaver and I wander around for a bit. Of the very few humans we see, most try to leave the moment they see me. Although I do spot Guy-Number-Five in a crowd leaving a bar, he steers the whole group away from us.

I hadn't noticed the cats earlier. Well, cat-like-pokemon, meowth, glameow, and even a shinx I've noticed darting around. There aren't a lot of them, but they are prowling around. And meowth just looks like a bipedal cat with a gold coin on its head, I don't know why, but that threw me for a loop.

The city does have different districts. There's a small industrial zone on the North side, though we don't go there. Farther South is where the farms really are, and we spend a bit walking through fields there. And right in the middle of the city is clearly where the people live, along with a few office towers and a train station that heads North one way and East the other.

I am so jealous of the people here. There's no real sprawl, everything is easily reached on foot in two hours at most. Even if we'd been moving at human speeds we would have been able to see the whole city in two, maybe three hours tops due to the tram system.

"I need to get some sleep soon." Weaver yawns, leaning back against the chimney on the farmhouse we're on top of. "You feeling better about being around humans yet?"

"Yeah. But it's not like I…" I pause. Does she need to know? "I wasn't in a great place before. And it took coming here to realize it." I make myself fall onto the roof, considering my next words. "I'm so much happier here and it hasn't even been two weeks. I don't know what it is about this world, but it just… feels better than my old one ever did. Not that I think this one's perfect, obviously, just… better." I sigh, "Maybe it's just the lack of 'The Grind' making me feel like that, but I can't say there aren't things I miss though." Or maybe… Was I depressed?

Looking back through my memories, I notice small things that I didn't when I was still… Alive? Whatever, but I think I can safely say I was. Also, Again with my memories being weirdly sharp at times-

Weaver breaks me out of my thoughts again, "I can't say anything about that, I have no idea what your old world is like. But if you think this one's better then I believe you," Weaver says into the distance. Then smirking, "This one has me, of course it's better." We share a chuckle, though mine is a bit weaker.

"You know, I had a friend just like you, before. You two would have got along like a house on fire," I tell my new friend. "She was great, taught me exactly how to handle someone like you." I sigh, "She really was the best friend you could ask for…"

"Oh yeah? Do you really think she got you ready for me? What if I started following you around, randomly saying embarrassing things about you?"

"She's done that to me before." I deadpan.

"Really?" Weaver says, a look of pure disappointment on her face. "That's amazing." She finishes, chuckling and smiling brightly before she stands up and stretches, "I'm going to head to the base now, I've got a human to cuddle. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," I say. "I have some things I'd like to do, but they're mostly just learning things. Marshal said she'd be checking on me, so I have that to look forward to tomorrow. I might just keep looking around the city for a while." I shrug.

She nods, "Cool, I'll see you when I see you, Smokey." She says, leaping to the ground and racing away. I'd say she's fast, but that's slower than I saw from her earlier.

She never showed me where she lives, did she? Meh, whatever.

Deciding to get a move on myself, I fade out. It just tends to make flying around easier. As I turn to start floating for the city I stop as my eyes move over a slightly off patch of the void. Fading back in, I see a murkrow watching me with their head cocked. We stare at each other for a minute before they sniff and hop back into an open window.

Huh. Okay then. Repeating my previous actions, I start drifting towards the city again. They definitely have grass-types working on these fields, a lot. The few plants that are there have a tiny but definite ____ glow to them. That has to help feed a lot of people. I wonder if this world has rampant hunger, the way my old one did?

When did I start thinking of it as my old world?

Fuck, that's going to haunt me. …And that's not distracting me enough, shit.

It was definitely at some point tonight, I know that much. Is it wrong though? I've been honest enough with myself to know I like it here, a lot more than there. It was probably seeing more of the people—the humans—that did it. Forcing me to acknowledge their reality. Being able to open up to Weaver helped as well, not needing to keep bottling so many of my thoughts inside.

It still feels surreal though, thinking of it like that. It feels like I should feel some kind of loss at that, but I just… don't. 'My old world.' Again it just feels so odd, excitement, wonder, …and some fear. But the free, open joy I feel just makes it all the stranger.

Well, that's that I suppose, No point in stressing over it. As I reach the edge of the city proper again I can see that yes, people are sleeping above many of the businesses in the commerce district, and there are quite a few people still awake too. I'd been mostly ignoring the emotional soup that was around us when Weaver was showing me around, but that's a bit harder now that I don't have her to distract me.

Humans shed a lot of emotions, even when sleeping, it seems. And now that I'm in the not-space I can see there's practically a monsoon of them bearing down on me. I'm doing my best to tune the tastes out, but I can tell at least a few people nearby are having nightmares.

Looking around at the people themselves, most of them are that same dim gray, though some are a bit brighter, a bit closer to white than gray. I do notice a few with small streaks of color, a flicker or two of ____ or ____. There's even one with a much larger streak of the same ____ color as Marshal. But it's when the third hotel comes into view that I notice a much bigger anomaly.

It almost looks like something twisted the not-light around one of the rooms, but I can still see a solid black shape inside, obvious against the blinding, multicolored form next to it.

My curiosity wars with caution for a moment before caution wins. I… think I'll just fly home now, that room alone is enough to max out my freaky-quota for the night.

---

AN: No, really, things start to happen soon, this is just a slow story.

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

I can hear my wife waking up as I finish brewing her morning tea, the particular cadence in her breaths shifting ever so slightly. The breakfast I made for her isn't to my normal standard, but the small kitchenette in our hotel room doesn't allow for much more.

Knowing that she is unlikely to get out of bed this early without further prompting, I leave the table and stalk into the bed-chamber, silent so as to surprise her. She is turned away from me and facing the window, her once-red hair spilling from the blankets.

I reach the window and throw the curtains open, "Good morning, Dear," I say to my lovely wife.

She groans, "You always know, I'm not sure why I bothered today." Truth be told, on any other day I would have let her sleep in, but we have someone to meet today. My dear Maeve slowly rises, bones creaking, to her feet. "Ah, but I'm excited to see her. Did you make breakfast?" She asks me, sniffing the air.

"It's only oatmeal with fruit, miltank-milk, and tea I'm afraid," I inform her. "I didn't have the space, time, or ingredients for more."

She waves me off as she starts walking to the small eating space in our suite, "You spoil me too much anyway, love," She lies, I would never give her any less than my best.

We eat in relative silence before readying to move on to the day's affairs, she takes her medicine, and I take on a familiar façade as we step outside.

Neither of us like it. And though it took me a while to understand Maeve's talk about social expectations and the negative stigma against single mothers, I have stood by her for fifty years now. Even if the 'father' of our children would not.

We've been through far too much together to do otherwise. And even despite my nature, I will remain her guiding light until the end.

We begin the slow journey northwest of Vientown. we make no effort to rush, for Maeve's sake. Though Dialga's march has been kind to her, I fear the day she is found underfoot, and she shows signs of it's nearing evermore with each passing year.

I find it best not to dwell on such thoughts, lest my control slip. Yet it is a truth I cannot deny, and so I look to the world around us.

Almia is a blessed country, despite its history. There is a vibrancy to the world here, a lust for life that has… perhaps not been forgotten but has stagnated in many other places. The life that surrounds us stands in defiance of what was once inevitable. Now only memories, even of the worst disasters.

It takes forty-five minutes at this slow, meandering pace to reach our destination, but that time gives my wife and I the freedom to take in the life around us, the beauty of a land shattered and made whole again.

It can even still be felt in the air… No, this feeling is fresh, no more than two weeks in age. Interesting, perhaps I will need to watch for another such as Maeve.

In any event, we approach a small compound, the cyclic symbol of the Ranger Union displayed dominant and alone on the otherwise unremarkable red and black bunker. Entering, we are met with the view of a blue-haired Unovan man behind a desk as he glances up at us.

"Oh," He says, sitting up straight and turning to face us. "Sorry, we don't get many walk-ins and… Anyway, What can I do for you today?" He asks.

It is my wife who answers first, "Maeve Aisling and Liam Aisling, we're here to see our granddaughter." At that, the man's expression turns confused, but Maeve preempts his coming question, "Ryuko, dear. Onaga Ryuko."

The man seems thunderstruck for a brief moment, looking between us. "Okay, yeah just give me a sec," He tells us.

Standing, the man walks into a door to the right of his desk. Leaving us to wait. I almost cannot, I can hear my granddaughter three rooms deeper into the building, speaking to a different man about… ghosts?

"I wonder what she'll think when that man tells her we're here. Do you think she'll believe him?" My wife asks me.

"I believe she will be quite pleased to see us, even though she will try to hide most of it," I tell Maeve, kissing her on the cheek.

She flicks one of my ears, knowing exactly where it is despite my outward appearance, and we both smile. "We're alone dear, but you're right. What's going on back there?" My love asks.

I focus on the words I can hear coming from that room. "That man just told her we're here, she doesn't seem to believe him, but she's also rather excited," I describe to her. Her smile grows warmer.

"Oh, to have ears like these. Have I told you how I wish I did?" She says, gripping my ears and beginning to rub them. "Oh, but I suppose I do, bonny fox," She adds playfully as I lean into the touch.

"They're returning," I let her know, regretfully pulling away from her hands.

Ryuko practically bursts from the door, suspicion turning to shock on her face. "Oma? Opa?" She asks, staring at us. The man trails behind her, moving back to his desk.

"Little Ryu!" I say, readying my façade for touch as I step to bring her into a hug.

Before I can, however, a weavile plants herself firmly between myself and my granddaughter. "No, I don't know what you are, but-" She gets out before my wife's voice cuts her short.

"Later, please, Weavile. Right now we would like to see our granddaughter," She says, her tone familiar and unyielding. Weavile doesn't back down, but she remains silent for the moment.

I'm lost for words, in truth. Little Ryuko has found herself not only a loyal partner but a shadow. To engender such protectiveness in one of my type is not an easy thing, and I'm not certain I could be more proud of her. Though, that may be a lack of faith on my part.

I need to voice my thoughts. "I am so proud of you Ryu, to think you would grow into such a noble young woman, it warms my heart."

Ryuko has gone red at this point, hands covering her face. She steps around her shadow and into my embrace. "You're embarrassing me!" She says before sighing, "I didn't know when I'd see you again, Opa. Now's not the best time, but there probably won't be a good time soon anyway." Stepping out of my arms and into Maeve's, she continues, "You should have called ahead or maybe sent a letter. I might have been able to schedule time for us, then."

That's likely true, the Rangers are always busy. Oh, and I cannot describe the fear I felt when Ryuko first told me that she'd been accepted to become one of them. But she clearly proved herself worthy of them in time, the once deathly frail girl now a beacon of strength among humans.

"How long will you be in Almia?" She asks. Sweet child.

"We're moving to Pueltown." Replies my wife. "With Kanto's current situation and our age, we had to choose between Almia and Unova, and we decided that Almia would be the best place to live the rest of our lives. Most of our things were sent ahead, we just decided to drop in on you first." Maeve pushes Ryuko away a bit. "Have you heard from your parents recently? Liam and I haven't been able to reach them at all."

Ryuko shakes her head, "No, but I haven't really tried after…" She sighs, "Yeah, I haven't heard from them." Oh, I see.

I don't know where we went wrong with Killian. Though perhaps it was not us and instead Kanto's doing. Either way, if he's finally decided his daughter's career is worth ignoring this part of the family over… I may need to accept that we- I failed him.

"Let me go ask my boss if I can have the afternoon free, there's a situation though, and we're still waiting on someone, so I probably won't be able to today," She says, before turning and walking towards a door. "Love you, Opa, Oma! If I can't get today I'll try for tomorrow. Sorry, I can't stick around longer. Bye!" And with that, she's through the door and out of sight, Weavile following slowly after. Ah! She certainly hasn't lost her spark.

"So, uh, You haven't seen each other in a while then." The blue-haired man asks, speaking up for the first time.

I chuckle at that, and my love is smiling with me. "It is not easy to travel from Kanto to here, no. Especially now," I tell the man.

"Yeah, I get that. She was right though, the guy's an hour late already." The man informs us. Hmm, perhaps we should go and see the rest of the city, then.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼​

It's getting close to midday, I should go check on the kid soon.

I just want to sit here right now though. I feel a few tears hit my legs.

Buizel's growing up so fast. He just found a—and he was very enthused by this—female friend and he's obviously interested in her.

I knew that was coming soon, he's almost six now. He's strong enough to make it on his own, it won't be long before he leaves for good. I just wish he would stay a child for a bit longer.

This isn't the first time I've been through this of course, not by a good length. It still isn't easy. But I've got Ryu and Charlie to keep me company when I need it, and the kid's going to need my help and guidance for now.

I'm just sitting on the shore. The first few times I went through this hurt, though now I'm not sure if 'hurt' is the right word anymore. My baby boy's all grown up again, and soon I won't be seeing him every day anymore… I'm happy for him, he's one of my stronger children, and he even has some of his father's sparks, but I'm still sad to know he'll be gone before too long.

I feel a few more tears fall.

I'm still just sitting here. Maybe it's just 'cause I don't want the kid to see me crying like this, but it's not like they're truly a child, too introspective for that. It's also not like they wouldn't understand, with everything I think they've been through. Not even like these are bad tears, just what's normal.

"C'mon old bones, we promised ourselves no more moping," I remind myself.

Sighing, I stand, if only to fall into the water a second later. I begin my swim across to the east shore. It takes only seconds to reach it and soon I'm moving down the path to what is now Charlie's den.

Shockingly, they're outside, with a look of extreme focus on their face.

Looking at the rest of the clearing around the old dwelling, I can see they've been busy practicing force and technique. There are gouges, craters, and furrows in the earth around the clearing. I can see the remains of several felled trees and even a spot where there's only shattered wood left.

I settle down, resting my backside and leaning my head on my hands, to wait.

…Well then. Deciding I've given them long enough to notice me, I start talking, "Looks like you've been busy," I observe, which seems to break them out of their focused state.

"Oh!" They startle, glancing at me. "Yeah, I…" The kid pauses to look around, "I guess so." They pause again, probably considering their next words. "I've been trying to figure out my gim- No, specialty? I think that's the right word. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's my voice," They say.

'Specialty?' Hmm, Hmm… yeah, that makes sense with the other spooks I've seen.

Some were just balls of gas that kept releasing more gas, they're annoying but not all that strong, all it takes to dissuade them is a strong wind.

Every ten or so years the shedinja appear, and they're… strange. Usually doer, and generally best left alone to fade away.

There are the drifblim of course, but I'm not sure how much they count as ghosts. They've got the same feel to them, and they're friendly enough, but they aren't… dead.

And then there was that one spook that kept hurting others by hurting themselves, and that one I had to wear down enough that they decided to just leave. They kept screaming a name too, still not sure why.

How do they know about stuff like that, though? Curious.

"That makes some sense, with the way you sound," I acknowledge. "Are you doing okay otherwise?"

"I think so," They say, eyes trailing over the chewed-up earth. "Actually, yeah, I'm doing pretty well," they say, now looking down the human path. "Weaver and I talked about some stuff, it… felt good to get some of it off my chest."

Oh? Well, so long as it made them feel better, that's what matters. I am a bit curious though. "Anything you feel like sharing?" I ask them.

They look at me for a moment, "I…" They stop, blinking. "I said something while we were talking, and it turned into a much longer conversation," They tell me, before clearly thinking about their words again.

I guess they're just not ready to share that with me, probably only shared it with the weavile because it slipped out. "I'm… I don't think I'm ready to explain it to you yet, I don't know if I ever will be, honestly. It- it's a lot," They confirm my thoughts. I can't say I'm not a little disappointed to hear that, but I can understand at least.

"Um, are you okay?" They ask, now looking at my face. "You tas- You look like…" They stop, looking down. Wheel, why do you have so much trouble looking me in the eyes kid?

"I'm okay. Buizel's growing up fast, and it always leaves me feeling some kind of way. You don't need to worry about it," I tell them.

I can see the worry on their face anyway. "Are you sure you don't need anything?" They ask. They genuinely are the nicest ghost I've met, but I know I'll feel better eventually. I always do.

"Just some company," I tell them. And smiling, "You're helping enough right now." There's a short pause before I decide to check something, "You and weaver protect Ryu yesterday? Made sure she warmed up well enough?"

"I don't know If I'd say I protected her," They hedge, glancing back at the old structure. "I made sure she was warm though. I couldn't really tell how cold it was, but apparently, Weaver wasn't helping with that."

"That's just how she is. She can't get hot, only colder," I say nodding. "Though Ryuko should have known better than to be in that freezing rain for so long."

They let out a small laugh at that, "Weaver said something similar while we were in the city. She thinks Onaga is too selfless," They say.

Anybody who spends time with her would realize that. What was the other thing they said? "You went and saw the city?" I ask. I don't think I've been out that way for… I'm not even sure how long it's been.

"Yeah. Uh, Weaver thought I was developing a fear of humans. I'm pretty sure she was right," They say.

A fear of humans? Now that's unusual. Though… not unexpected with what they say happened to them, and it also feels uncomfortably familiar…

"Charlie, were you a capture or just a companion?" I ask them, and they freeze up. Yeah, that follows. I don't even wait for the answer, "If you're scared of a human- of anything hurting you like that again, of being caught or whatever else, the solution is just to get stronger," I tell them, now looking at the mess they've made while doing just that. "You're obviously trying already, but just practicing like this will only take you so far." I'm watching for a reaction, and I don't miss the slight wince when they realize what I mean. "I'm sorry kid, but this isn't some safe human city with someone to enforce 'laws' and all that. You're apparently a curiosity, and Ryu's warned me that there probably will be humans looking to catch you."

The kid slumps a bit in the air, "I figured, it's just… I never liked violence. I liked making stuff more," They say. Then in a tone low enough that I don't think I'm supposed to hear, "I miss having something to do."

I want to know, but do I pursue it instead of staying on topic with what they need to do? Hmm… getting to know them more is the better choice, ultimately, so I decide on that. I'll come back around to learning to fight afterward.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask them. They freeze, again.

"Um. W- Well, I…" They begin, sinking to the ground slightly. "I had a job, before I- You know? And I'm used to having things to do all day…" They sound uncertain, like they're afraid of how I'll react.

Why? I know humans will get us to help them with things, but why is the kid so twitchy about it? "Yeah? What did you do?" I ask them, trying to figure it out.

"I… put buildings together. Or fixed them, sometimes. It depended on the contracts we got. Everything from roofing, to plumbing, foundations, structural, and even electrical work." They look a bit less afraid now. Maybe it's not them but something they heard about me? I suppose if they are used to being around humans then hearing about some of the things I've done might do it.

"Hmm? You know how to do all that?" I ask, probing a bit.

"Y- Yeah, I do. I spent years doing it all." They're looking a little distant now, the way they do before dropping onto deep thoughts.

They've said some things I don't recognize, but that's no surprise. I do know one thing I've heard Luxray go on about, though, "You said, 'electrical work'? You know a lot about that kind of thing?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I guess I do," They say distractedly, and I can almost see the thoughts start churning in that head of theirs as they go still. They get that look a lot, and, while I'm tempted, I'm not going to try knocking them out of it just yet. I don't know what they're thinking of that needs focus like that, but its probably important to them.

Standing, I take a better look around at what they've been doing. Some of the destruction was obviously from sound attacks, the distinctive patterns clear in the loose dirt around them. Others though… they have the same shape as the smaller ones, but I can tell there was considerably more force behind them. The fact that I heard none of this happening means the kid has been controlling the focus and bleed of the forces very well.

I almost want to laugh when I see the clear spots around the ranger signs. They really must not want to damage those.

Walking over to the structure at the south end, I can tell they've been busy here too. There's a pile of creeping vines by the door and I can smell ash and the sticky paste I taught the kid about. Looking in through the front window, I can see the remains of a fire inside and surprisingly little else. It seems Charlie has been trying to make the space more comfortable for themselves. None of the other spooks that tried to claim this place did that, none of them were this friendly either. Makes me wonder why, frankly. It might just be an age thing since Charlie does come across as older than most around here.

Hmm, I might need to ask them about that at some point too.

A sound from down the human path pulls me from those thoughts. Turning my head, I listen closer.

"…told you it's legit. Got it straight from the institute. Right around here somewhere, according to the locals." Says a male, human voice.

"And I still say we should have just staked out the Lost Tower." Says another human, also male. "Not that I'm going to complain about a free vacation. Though I'd bet you overpaid for that leak. And the overnight train."

"Do you think I should go for tough or earnest?" Asks a third, rather croaky, female voice. "I guess… I just don't know what a ghost is going to be like." The voice finishes a moment later.

Oh? An object lesson for the kid? Whether I need to knock some sense into the humans or let Charlie deal with it, it makes a perfect example. Though if they're looking for an actual fight…

glancing at the churned-up earth tells me that the kid genuinely does have some strength, but the way they act is proof enough that they don't know how to use it in a real fight.

I continue to watch and listen as the group of three approaches, only one set of feet is unheard as they do.

"Hey, can you pass me a bottle?" Asks the second voice.

"Wait… guys? There's something off about-" The croaky voice, interrupted.

"Did You eat all the snacks?" The first voice, accusing.

"No. I've had exactly one pack since we left the city."

"Really? 'cause they're- Oh I put them in that pocket."

"Was that a- Never mind, you need to learn to pay attention. Stinger? What's up?"

"There's something big ahead." Says the croaky voice, alert and wary.

It isn't much longer before I can see them through the trees. Two humans, each wearing bags. And a croagunk, the amphibious pokemon is rare around here, but not unknown to me. She locks eyes with me before laughing hysterically.

It takes her a moment to stop laughing. "Ah! Mm. Oh, no, I'm… shutting up now," She says. Very smart choice.

It takes hardly a moment longer for one of the humans to notice me, they're almost in the clearing now.

"Dude, there it is!" Says the human with the first voice, pointing at Charlie.

Charlie, who hasn't even noticed what's going on. Honestly, kid, I get that you tend to drift off but there's a threat right there. Although, they've got a look on their face now…

"Brad, not the thing you should be focusing on right now." Hisses the other human, his eyes moving from me to the ranger signs and back again. With the way the croagunk has moved between myself and him, I'm guessing he's the trainer. Although I don't see any pokeballs, so it seems he's not an idiot at least.

"Yeah? What do you… mean…" The other human trails off when he notices me. "What the hell is that?!"

The trainer gives 'Brad' an incredulous look, "We came all the way down to Almia, and you don't know who that is?" The man asks, disbelieving.

"Man, I'm not a professional. What do you expect? That I know every mildly famous pokemon in a country I don't even live in?" The increasingly idiotic-sounding human retorts.

"Wha- Mildly famous?" the trainer says, now sounding like someone told him that water was dry.

There are only two of them, and one already knows about me. No need for theatrics or a show of force then. I look at Charlie for a second again, kid's still zoned out, and I'm going to need to talk to them about that. But first, the humans.

"You should leave," I tell the trio, then to who must be named Stinger, "And you need to do a better job keeping your partner out of trouble, okay?"

She simply nods before grabbing her trainer's hand and tugging, trying to move him back the way they came. The trainer looks at her blankly, before nodding and addressing the other human, "Brad, we're leaving," He tells the man.

"What? But the ghost is right there! We came all the way out here!" He protests with a slight whine to his voice.

"Yeah, and The Marshal is right there. We. Are. Leaving. Stinger and I are going to go have a nice, normal vacation, and we are not going to talk about this ever again. Got it?" The trainer says, tone brooking no argument.

"I- But-" 'Brad' stutters, looking between the other human, Charlie, and me. "Fine," He says after a moment, clearly unhappy about it. "Make me waste four-hundred-cred on top of the trip," He grumbles low enough it's hard to hear.

I see a look cross the trainer's face when he also hears that and I can see the risk and threat calculations pass across his face, behind his eyes, but with the way he's readied himself they're not about me. Then he shoots out a hand to grab the other human's bag, stopping him. "Brad, did I see what I think I did in your bag earlier?" He asks with a clear warning in his voice.

"Uh… I dunno. What did you see?" Brad responds. It's clear he heard the warning and knows he's outmatched.

"Brad" The trainer practically hisses, "Did you sneak a pokeball in?" The now blatantly smarter human asks.

"I thought we were here to catch a ghost-type!" The idiot defends himself, pulling away from the trainer's grip and facing him. "Don't we need a pokeball for that?"

"Catch?!" The trainer asks, incredulous. Then he takes a deep breath to noticeably calm himself before responding, "Do you know why I only brought Stinger with me, Brad?" He asks all too calmly.

"…Because she's your fir-" The weakling starts before being interrupted.

"Because she's my first, my Ace, Brad. My best representative." The trainer says, now likely unnervingly calm to the other human. "Do you know why I turned in her pokeball and didn't try to bring another, Brad?" He asks now.

"Well, I-" The idiot human says before being interrupted again.

"Because a happy pokemon of her size doesn't need a ball, Brad. Because pokeballs are illegal here, Bradley," He says, and I can see him visibly calming himself again. "Do you know what the second rule of competitive battling is, Brad?" He asks, tone now all too chipper. The other man opens his mouth before the trainer interrupts, answering himself again, "It's make sure your team wants to be there, Brad. Do you know the first rule?"

The fool looks around, seeming to wait for the trainer to answer again before realizing he won't. "Um, no?" He says, now a little frightened.

"IT'S GIVE THEM THE FUCKING RESPECT THEY DESERVE YOU MORON!" The trainer roars with a fury I can respect myself. "Just… give me the ball and leave," He growls, holding out a hand. Without a word, the weak human digs through his bag and hands the trainer a red and white sphere. "Thank you for the train tickets, but please try to make sure I don't see you until I'm back in Sinnoh." The trainer says, not bothering to look at the other human.

The thoroughly cowed human puts his head down and slinks back the way they came muttering to himself the whole time. The trainer just sighs and starts kneading his forehead with both hands.

"What… What happened?" I hear Charlie ask. Turning my head, I see them staring at the trainer, there's a look on the kid's face that tells me they at least know what could have happened.

"You know," Says the trainer. "When Brad showed me that report he bought saying there wasn't just a calm but possibly friendly ghost-type I thought: 'Why not try?' I had a pitch and everything, battles, adventure, luxury, maybe even friends 'till the end," He sighs, putting a hand on Stinger's head. "Sorry to disturb you two, I guess. I hope you don't mind if I give Brad a bit so I don't run into him on the way back."

"Awful nice of you," I say. "But you need to ask them about that, this isn't my den," I continue, pointing at Charlie.

"I- Sure?" Charlie says, bobbing in the air a bit.

The trainer raises an eyebrow and looks at Stinger, who nods. He then shrugs before setting his bag down and sitting next to it, beginning to look through its contents. "No water, stupid mistake," He murmurs to himself.

"Nate's really nice," Says Stinger, speaking for the first time since she saw me, "I know it might not mean much coming from me, but he is. Brad can just be a bit… mmm… slow, he's harmless though." She squats down next to her human, leaning into him. "I kinda wish we got the chance to at least give you the pitch, but I can tell you won't take it now." She turns her head when the now-named 'Nate' pulls out a block of food and passes it to her. The two of them stop talking after that, content to wait in silence.

"I need to stop drifting off like that," Charlie says, eyes a bit wider than normal.

"You need to learn situational awareness too," I tell them, and I know they got the point. "So you and I are going to work on that, and how to protect yourself, right now. Follow me," I say.

They're quiet as they rise a bit, getting ready to follow, before they stop and look at the structure. "Um, you don't think there will be people in there when I get back do you?" They ask, still staring at the old place.

"Nah, between what the two of us have shown them the tourists won't be coming back out here for a few days. I'll give it another day or two before we see any more in numbers," I tell them. That doesn't seem to convince them though, as I see their eyes move to Nate and Stinger. "Those two, at least, don't seem to be idiots," I reassure them. "And once you get some real experience, idiots won't be a problem either." They think a moment longer before nodding and moving to follow me.

They don't try to resist as I lead them out across my lake. I can say a lot of things about the kid, sheltered, skittish, and like all ghosts even a bit unstable, but them being an idiot thankfully isn't one of them.

I do have to wonder what the kid's life was like living among humans. It's been a long time since I fought my way out of there, and from the little they've told me, I get the feeling they had a much better life with them than I did, even if the end had to be painful. But if they don't want to say more then I won't push it.

Sometimes, you just need to drown your past and move on.

---

AN: Liam started as something that made me chuckle, I swear. And then I just... kept going with, I guess.

 

[Mirthful_Machine]

AN: I don't know if I like this one, but I'll explain afterward.

---

Today has been… interesting so far. It started badly, but Oma and Opa dropping in made it better. Karlos can't give me the afternoon today though, as much as he might want to.

There just had to be something today. Sometime late yesterday, the Sienna government was informed of two leaked action reports involving the misdreavus. And since all the reports are by me so far, they effectively forced the Union to send a Top Ranger to interview me. Not that the Union thinks it was me, but politics are politics.

Our running theory here at the base is that it was a researcher who sold copies in either Kanto or Sinnoh. No one thinks Rowan would do it, he's very prominent, not stupid, and he has a reputation to protect. Now, Hikori might have given just how bad Kanto's general situation is right now, except that the first signs of a leak came from Sinnoh. They even shut the trains to Sinnoh down late this morning. Not that it will stop the information leak, things like that are done through computer inter-networking these days.

My problem now is that the big shot is late.

Karlos already took my testimony and I've finished a written report of everything I've done over the last week. And more frustratingly, if whoever was sent had been here on time I could be out there with my family right now.

Just- they're here to stay! Disregarding a—singular—phone call, the last time I'd seen them was before I entered the academy. I missed them more than I thought I would, especially after what dad said, the bast-

…I'm making myself angry.

Karlos obviously notices, "I'm sorry-" he starts again before I wave him off.

"It's not you, it's just this situation and my grandparents showing up at the same time," I tell him.

We're in his office, 'patiently' waiting. Karlos has even started scanning more papers into the computer it's been so long, the man was supposed to be here more than an hour ago.

Weaver's vanished somewhere now as well, she's never been the patient type though.

I've actually grabbed my deck of cards, and I'm halfway through a game of Nickit before the phone rings.

"Karlos Monte, Vien-Forest West Ranger base, to whom am I speaking?" The man himself says in a perfect customer service voice after picking up the phone. "Ah, yes sir. Yes, I have an account and transcript of her testimony. I see, should I assume the situation has been resolved then, sir? Yes, thank you for letting me know. I should be able to send copies in by tonight, yes. Understood sir." He speaks into the phone before hanging up. Then he gives a long suffering sigh, running a hand down his face, "You want the stupid news or the regular news first?"

Just from his half of the conversation, I can guess what one of those is. "The news," I say, making him sigh again.

"So, as soon as Rowan heard there had been a leak he essentially tore the entire Sinnoh Research Institute apart. He found the man who did it too, not even a researcher, just an administrator who wanted some extra cash." Karlos says, cracking his knuckles. "The stupid news is that the higher-ups just got around to calling the 'interview' off, but the Top Ranger wasn't even going to get here for another hour." He shakes his head, "They didn't say why of course, but I have my guesses.

Karlos sighs again before getting to what I want to know, "With us having been sitting on our asses the last two-and-a-half hours I can't give you the afternoon. What I can do is put you on duty in the city for the rest of the day, and if you happen to run into your grandparents then that's just a happy coincidence." He stops, grinding the palm of his hand into the bridge of his nose for a moment. "I think we both know you'll be pretty busy if I do that though. Do you still want me to?"

Emil and Maya are both already in the field, and I'd be out there with them if it wasn't for the order to remain at base. Which means, "Everyone's going to be in the field today." I observe.

He nods, "One of those days." He says sagely.

"You'll be handling the extra load up north then?" I ask the hefty man.

He snorts, "I will. It's a great excuse to stop doing paperwork and get back to my actual job." He says. Cracking his neck and leaning back in his chair, he levels his gaze at me, "You're taking the city today, then." He states.

"Obviously," I say.

"Finally!" He almost leaps out of his chair. "Let's get going. I bet Francios' got quite the list for each of us, and we're going to be at it all day." Karlos 'complains' happily as he opens the office door.

Stretching, I make my way out of his office, down the central corridor, out through the lobby, and finally make my way outside.

A bright, slightly cloudy day greets me, a breeze moving the world as it passes. I'm still in uniform, I made the mistake of taking it off before dinner once, never again. Now I just need to find two energetic old people with red-ish hair while on the job. Shouldn't be too hard.

Setting off at a light jog, I start heading for Vientown.

Oma and Opa are moving here… I think the weight of that just hit me. I was wholly expecting to never see any of my family again and now I'll at least have them. I mean, I would like to see my brother at some point, and Uncle Finn, but it's hard enough to find personal time as a ranger. Let alone enough vacation time to head back to Kanto. Although if I wanted to see Kouta again I'd need to deal with Dad…

Continuing to move at pace, I can see the edge of the industrial district. All the civil services—including the civilian police—are closer to the south end of the city, so I maintain my pace to reach them as quickly as possible.

Nine times out of ten, any missions that happen in Vientown involve the police, firefighters, or medical services as they lack the training—and to be honest, the trust—to deal with pokemon the way we do. So it's best to head there first.

It's why we all hope for quests instead.

Three chimes sound from my radio. Well, Karlos did say there was probably a list of things to do.

Honestly, it's been a while since the last big emergency. Season's grace, please don't let that be today.

Stopping and looking around before I grab my radio, I'm happy to see Weaver being her usual self. She stops mid-motion, comical pose and all as she looks as though she were a cartoon villain attempting to sneak up on me.

Smiling, I Switch the radio from idle to operator, and acknowledge the hail, "Onaga Ryuko, responding." I say into it.

"Th- This is student o- operator Francios Lumio, Vien-Forest West, transmitting." Fran still sounds nervous, as he has since he started doing real work as an operator. "We've got a few requests for aid from local services pending, none are emergency requests, thankfully. The first is at four-fourteen Alto Street, talk to Officer Kent when you get there, he should be waiting." The line goes silent, and I Start jogging again, waiting for him to remember the required line for something like this. "R- Right, This is an o- official mission. Do your best! Ending transmission." He says, and the line dies.

I mean, the 'official mission' statement was required, but I don't think I've heard the end transmission line from an operator since I made rank. Katie might be messing with him.

I continue my pace, Alto is pretty close to the center of the city, so it won't take me long to get there. I get the normal amount of waves and stares in passing as I blitz down the wide path past a few food packing facilities.

It takes a surprising amount of work to ready food for transit, though I can see quite a few 'bored' grass-types next to their actually bored partners. Rounding a corner, I can see why. Surprise! It's construction. Looks like Vien-Greens is rebuilding something.

…I haven't taken a good look around in almost two months, again. I hate this time of year sometimes.

Doing my best to ignore the horrors spring always brings with it, it takes me only a few minutes to reach Alto, and seconds from there to find the address, though I have to move through a small crowd to get to it.

Oh. Yeah, that would do it.

"Hey! I'm Glad you finally made it Ranger…" He pauses, probably to glance at my badge, "Onaga. We… need a little help. Clearly." Says a man wearing a police uniform. He must be Kent, but I'm not looking at him. No, I'm looking at the mafia of murkrow coating the building at four-fourteen.

"Weav…" Whispers Weaver. Yeah, whatever that was, that was my thought too.

They're all over the roof, on every windowsill, on every balcony, and even in the building. A mass of black feathers, red eyes, and yellow beaks.

They only gather like this for two reasons- well, five, but three of those shouldn't happen both in the middle of the day and inside the city.
So, the first: Someone did something incredibly stupid and made the whole mafia angry. And if that's the case, I hope whoever it was wasn't in there when they all got here.
The second: One of them just evolved into a honchkrow and they're all making an appearance at the new leader's nest.

I hope it's the second. Honchkrow tend to be smart and reclusive. Although, if someone made the whole mafia mad… things get a bit harder.

"How long have they been here?" I ask Kent, finally taking a good look at him. He's clearly a native Almian, with fair skin and blue eyes. His uniform says C. Kent on the left breast.

"About an hour, no one's inside, or at least no one is responding, and we haven't tried to move them beyond asking." He informs me. Good, never attempt to escalate with a group like this. The time frame is also good, one hour is still within the expected window for a family gathering for the honchkrow.

"Did you try to ask them anything? Try to figure out why they're here?" I continue. I need more information before I decide to walk into that.

"They're not responding at all, they've been creepily silent, really. I called the station to try and figure out who owns the building but I haven't gotten an answer yet." The man says. And that's probably about the point they called us in.

Silent could be good or bad. If it's reasons one or two they could be silent as respect for the new boss or as an intimidation tactic. The fact that it seems no one is here to be intimidated makes me feel more confident about there being a new honchkrow in there.

Do I use my RED? There are a lot of pokemon in and around the building, and getting through to them quickly would be a massive help. But, the empathy device is also exhausting to use, to the point that it's more of an only-when-needed measure. Though, counterpoint, there might be a body inside.

Before doing anything else I need to make sure base knows, and then ask why they didn't tell me.

Flipping a switch and raising a hand, I begin, "Francios, Are you aware of the situation at my location?" I ask the trainee.

The line is silent for five seconds before I get a response. "No, no information was given. Is it bad?" Says the nervous voice.

I need to turn to Kent here, "Did you call us, or did the station?" I ask the officer.

"The station." He says. "I told them what the situation was, if they didn't tell you anything then I don't know why."

Right. "Okay Francios, the police should have said something. There's an entire mafia of murkrow here. They're remaining silent and only observing people, I'm about to approach. Going radio silent." I tell him.

And I do just that, silencing the radio so that it doesn't disturb the pokemon. I approach, relying on the general respect pokemon that live near humans have for the rangers here to let me get closer. And they do let me, still silently watching.

Murkrow are uncooperative at the best of times, so I'm surprised when, before anything else can happen, there's a shrill cry of "Krow!" from deep inside the building and all the murkrow stiffen. Question answered, and with the better outcome too. Not wanting to be any more impolite, I wait for the pokemon to make their appearance.

After a few seconds, the murkrow begin to part, admitting a form twice the size of the largest of their number. Both Officer Kent and I groan at seeing that. Never mind, This may be a more complicated situation than I'd thought. They have a pokeball in their beak, and even at this distance I can see that it's brand new.

"I'm going to assume you stole that from a visiting human, right?" I ask the large avian. To my surprise they- actually he, based on his plumage, turns his head back and forth twice before turning around and gesturing with a wing to follow. I don't think I like where this is going, and even less the fact that he was probably waiting for a ranger to show up.

Well, let's see just how bad it is then. Stepping after him, I need to stop for a moment as Weaver puts herself in front of me. Unlike with Opa earlier, I can understand her wariness. As we enter I can tell that while this is an expensive home it's not been recently lived in, either by humans or pokemon. Though murkrow are everywhere, there's no furniture, and dust sits where the birds haven't stirred it up. I also don't like the way the murkrow are watching everything, even in here. They're all on edge and only being kept in line by the presence of their honchkrow.

Honchkrow leads us from the entryway through a living room and into a back hall, where he gestures into a door.

It's a bit too dark without the lights on so I unhook my flashlight before entering the room, it's empty apart from two unconscious men and a rather shaky espeon.

So, reason number four that murkrow gather like this then: Guarding vital assets. That… that means there has to be more. And as if to confirm that, the honchkrow caws to bring my attention to the next door down before he enters it himself.

Following him, I enter another mostly empty room. This one however contains the most concerning items yet, even beyond what may be hostages, or more likely, prisoners. Three shipping crates, one of which has been pried open to reveal pokeballs.

"Did you just find these today?" I ask Honchkrow, trying to keep my emotions in check. He bobs his head once. "I assume you want something for taking care of this?" Another bob of the head. He knows he and his mafia will be rewarded for bringing this to our attention then. "Thank you for helping with this then, genuinely," I tell the poofy pokemon.

"H'krow," He says, tipping his head at me.

I need to keep my frustration down, but it's been boiling up since this morning. Being told your government suspects you of spying is not a good way to start things.

And I explicitly asked for there not to be something like this today. Okay, how about Kimetsune? Great spirit of fire, Please let this be the worst of it today. I silently pray to the nine-tailed deity, hoping that even without a shrine or offering she'll hear me.

At least I now know enough about the situation to call it in. Sighing, I un-silence my radio, "Francios, I need you to put Barry on duty. That's an order." I tell him. I can feel my anger rising again.

"Um… Yes ma'am." He responds. "But, if it's okay to ask, why?"

"Because you're still a student and you don't have the clearance to make certain calls yet," I inform him, attempting to maintain a steady tone.

Not waiting for him to grab his senior operator, I take a better look at the crates. Originally shipped from Kanto to Sinnoh judging by the labels, but a line on one of them makes me stop. 'SLP-PKB-BLN lot #0090471.'

Well, I guess this is still part of 'the worst of it' then.

I don't bother looking further and rip the top off the crate. Blank pokeballs, they don't even have shells yet, the complicated engineering inside plainly visible. That alone implies some serious smuggling.

"Okay Onaga, Fran just told me you said he doesn't have clearance for something. How bad is it?" Barry asks through the radio, his tone all business.

"Three crates of pokeballs. One of them is a crate of blanks." I tell him. I can't quite keep my anger out of my voice now.

It takes him a second to absorb that. "…Okay, I'm getting on the line with the Union. Standby." He says, and the radio goes to static instead of silence.

Why here though… The only reason I can think of would be to get them to Orre through The Haruba without dealing with the current Indigo blockade. But why blanks of all things?

Blanks are a problem for several reasons. From what I understand, they don't have any safeties, extra functions, or checks installed yet, not even a resonator for re-capture prevention. They aren't even as good as most handmade balls at the moment, so why?

"Vile." I hear from behind me. Weaver is standing back in the hallway and pointing to the makeshift prison's door. Right, there's an espeon in the building that's probably not a sanctioned capture.

Turning around, I make my way back into the room with the presumed smugglers and take a closer look at the feline pokemon. They're male and not yet mature, which is concerning for an evolved member of the eevee line. Their gem is dark, fur matted, flanks a bit thinner than they should be, pupils a dim gray instead of glowing white, and he's still shaking, even harder now, unfortunately.

Moving out of the doorway and to the side of the room, I crouch down and try to put my anger at whoever brought all this here aside. Worryingly, the espeon's eyes aren't tracking me.

"Can you communicate at all?" I ask gently. No response, not even any eye movement. "Can you even hear me?" I ask louder, though remaining gentle. Still no reaction, no eye or ear movement whatsoever. What could it be? Shaking, clearly tired, likely hungry, unresponsive, and it's getting worse…

Espeons are natural empaths, so a negative emotional feedback loop seems likely. Trying to touch him is out of the question until I can gauge his state of mind. Looking around the room, I see what I both hoped I would and wouldn't resting between the men. A pokeball, powered on.

I hold in my sigh as I rise to pick it up, practically stalking over to the unconscious men. As I reach for it, however, one of the men suddenly moves, trying to grab me and pull me down. He doesn't budge me, but my fist impacting his face knocks him down again.

Bad reaction, should have grappled, deal with consequences later, handle hostile.

"Place your hands behind your head," I order as he scrambles to his feet, giving me plenty of time to un-holster something.

"What the hells is wrong with this country?" He mutters in perfect kantonian, interesting.

I reply in kind, "Stand down, hands behind your head, this is your final warning." I say as calmly as I can.

His eyes dart around for an instant before landing on the shivering pokemon. "Espeon, disa-"

My blow lands lightning fast as he's calling for the pokemon, the shock-rod delivering enough charge to knock him out. He goes down hard, but I just can't bring myself to care. If he's hurt… Well, I did warn him.

What an idiot. Did he think he could win there? What would he even have done if he took me out, try to take Weaver out with Espeon? Fought the murkrow with him?

He probably would have tried to use me as leverage, except at that point Weaver would have attacked him, enforcer registration or not. I'm not entirely sure what she would have done to him, but she's a dark-type so… odds are good there would have been one less criminal in the building.

Reaching down to pick up the pokeball again, I watch the other man the whole time. I think that one's actually out cold though.

Now with the ball in hand, I move closer to the espeon and crouch again. This next part won't be pleasant for me, but that doesn't matter, it's a sure way to break a negative spiral without risking any further harm. Once more trying to put my rage away, I instead focus on how I feel towards the shaky pokemon, then place one hand on the central inductor crystal of my RED and the other on the trigger of the circular device. I ready myself, then pull.

There are no words that can describe how utterly enervating using an empathy device is. There's even an old story about how the original creator dropped dead when he first made one, though, given that Professor Hastings is alive and well, and has apparently taken students, I'm fairly certain it's just a story. But anyone who's ever used one will tell you they don't doubt it can kill the user.

I don't use it for long, about a second, but it still leaves me feeling drained. I can see Weaver has a warm grin on her face, more importantly, however, Espeon's shaking a bit less and his eyes are focusing on me now.

Important questions first, "Do you need sunlight?" I ask him. I already know the answer, but I need to know how aware he is right now. He starts to shake his head before seeming to actually parse the question, then nods. Okay, that's a good answer. "Did those two hurt you in any way" I continue. Another nod. "Are you originally from Almia?" An unsurprising shake of the head. "Were they the ones that caught you?" That question gets a bobble, so I'm assuming it's a bit complicated. "Can you communicate once you have sunlight?" Again, a nod. "Okay, I'm going to carry you outside then," I tell him, opening my arms so he can climb in.

He does, and I can tell how underweight he is now, still shaking in my arms. I start moving, slowly and calmly, back out to the entryway. Weaver is following me, as is Honchkrow while the two seem to chat away. I don't need to worry about the two prisoners in there right now, as there are more than a hundred murkrow guarding the building at the moment.

As I exit the home, Officer Kent notices me. "Station finally got back to me about…" He stops, looking at the pokemon I'm carrying, then back at me. "Sorry, about who owns this building. It's some man named Allister Arlow. It'll take longer to get more than that." He says, then takes a better look at my passenger, "Are they okay? Is that why all the murkrow are here?" He asks.

"No, and no," I say as I gently place Espeon on the ground. "It looks like smuggling, so this is going to be sent up the chain on both our ends. The honchkrow has two prisoners. One of them even tried to over-power me." I inform him.

He winces, then rolls his eyes, "Yeah, bet that worked out for him real well." Sighing he continues, "So we're both on standby now, then?" He asks.

"Pretty much," I reply. He just nods and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. He offers me one, but I just shake my head. Shrugging, he lights it and starts looking across the small crowd that's still surrounding this building.

An alien feeling worms its way into my head. Gods, psychic communication always feels weird.

_ra_itu*e. Joy. L_*e. Ang_r Co*fus__n.

They all flood in at once, but I'm not so inexperienced as to stagger from it. Don't fight, let them in, and feel them for what they are.

Crouching down again I idly stroke Espeon behind the ears, "I'm happy I could help, but don't use energy you don't have right now. Okay?" I tell them.

Und*_stan*ing. Gr_ti*u*_. Harmony.

Trying to make much sense of an exhausted psychic is not going to get me anywhere, though from what I know of espeons specifically, that last feeling means they've probably bonded to me. I suppose I did give an empath a big dose of positive, directed emotions they likely hadn't felt in a while. It… was a known possibility, so I just keep petting him while waiting for base to get back to me.

Three minutes go by, and Kent is now talking on his own radio.
Five more minutes and a second police officer shows up, a boyish-looking man whose uniform reads M. Hamill.

Another five minutes go by before my radio finally sounds out something other than static, "This is Union Operator Kory Meyer contacting fifth-rank Area-Ranger Onaga Ryuko, requesting an update on your current status and any necessary information." Says the unfamiliar voice.

I stand. "Status is nominal, situation is stable. RED and stun-stick deployed, I have likely been bonded by an espeon in the process of deploying my RED. Two humans, likely smugglers, at least one from Kanto, are currently being held prisoner by a honchkrow and his mafia. Three crates of pokeballs were found at the location. It seems Honchkrow discovered the situation earlier today and would like a reward for the aid rendered. Local police are at the scene." I quickly rattle off the most important information.

"Understood, a ninth rank Union-Ranger is en-route. Please continue your standby until they arrive." The line goes completely silent after that. Ninth-rank and Union, so they're sending someone from way, way high up then. At least that means we won't have to deal with all this ourselves, because this is a huge problem.

"Eifirr."–Gratitude. Purrs Espeon, standing and stretching. I inspect him again now that he's gotten some more sunlight. His gem is now a bit more red than black and his eyes have brightened a bit. His fur is still patchy and matted, and he's still a bit thin, but that's going to be fixed in time.

"Vile weavile." Says Weaver, speaking to Espeon.

Espeon cocks his head before replying, "Eispur." Weaver just shrugs and they descend into silence again, Espeon knocking his head into me so I'll keep petting him.

"You two think you can get along?" I ask them. Weaver shrugs again.

"Eisp…"–Uncertainty. Says the dark-lilac pokemon.

"As long as you try," I tell them.

Crouching again, both my hands become occupied by the two pokemon. Both of them trying to help with my mood as much as I'm trying to comfort Espeon.

"Did you have a trainer or partner before… that group?" I ask Espeon. Mostly because, well, espeon.

He nods. Affirmation.

Hmm, that's going to complicate things. "Do you want to go back to them?"

He takes some time to think, then shakes his head.–Negation.

I want to know more, but I also don't want to stress him too much right now, so I drop it for the moment. Even if that pause has me concerned.

…I've done too much waiting for my liking today, but sometimes that's the job. Just actively making sure things don't happen. Though the top ranger doesn't take long to arrive, only eight more minutes before I can see a staraptor carrying someone flying in from the north. The large bird is obviously a ranger mount, with a high-visibility streamer trailing behind them.

I get Kent and Hamill's attention and we quickly make a clearing in the watching crowd for the incoming ranger to land. Standing inside the new clearing, I start flagging the big shot down. Once they're close enough I back up to the edge and wait for them to dismount. A violet-haired woman in her late thirties, wearing ranger attire and a rather large bag steps out of the saddle, and after patting the staraptor and removing her goggles, she starts walking towards me.

"Onaga, I presume." She says. "Ninth-rank Ranger, Marianne Holt," She continues, holding out a hand to shake, which I do. "And this is Blake." She introduces, gesturing to the staraptor. "Nice to meet you. Has the situation changed from your last call-in?"

"Nothing, though the prisoners may have woken up by now," I inform her.

"Understood. I assume there's no point trying to separate the espeon from you at this time?" She asks me.

I look down at the near-purple feline and they match my gaze.–Harmony.

"No, probably not," I admit.

She nods, giving me a knowing smile. "Then you are relieved to resume normal duties." She orders me, then moves to the two police officers.

Kneeling, I focus on Espeon. "As much as I know you'll want to follow me today, you need rest and food," I tell him, making his ears go down a bit. "So I'm going to carry you back to base and have one of our operators feed you, give you a warm bath, and find you a bed. Understood?" I ask.

"Eispon."–Understanding. He says.

"Good," I say, scooping him up. "Everyone at base is going to love you." And I've got to do some reading up on the latest psychic research.

---

AN: So, most of the chapters before twelve saw medium to large changes. This one is one of two exceptions, the other having already been posted. I liked this one enough to not want to make huge changes, but I also feel it's one of my weakest. There's no buildup to things in Vientown or establishment of how pokemon will help keep things in order, everything just happens.

But I still like it all enough to want to keep it, so I hope others will like it, too. It's simply part of learning how to word-good better, since everything before a point was just me rambling at the page.

I hope everyone reading this enjoyed, at least.

Edit: I don't know if anyone saw this before I fixed it, but SV did something weird to the formatting.