Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So, this is what I like to call a story… Sorry about how on the nose this is… I’ve never really been good with openings. So, where to start? 

Well, I suppose an introduction would be quite good. Hello there, whoever it is I’m speaking to, my name’s John. John Gravy. You better not be snickering back there. I may have a last name that shares its name with part of your average Thanksgiving course, but I wear that name with pride, especially after all that’s happened… 

But I promised a story, didn’t I? And that story happens to be my own, one that happened oh so long ago. To anyone else, it was a minor hiccup in history, but to me, it was my own earth shattering adventure… one that I hadn’t dared to think of ever before. 

Well, I suppose it all began on that nice autumn day… It was the day that my life changed forever. This is the story… of how I changed forever. 

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It’s days like these when I wish I could go outside. 

The semester had just started, and I was already getting absolutely hammered with work. Who knew that taking up a spot at a university in a city as big as Rustboro was going to give so much work?... Oh well, there was admittedly a good deal more to be frustrated about. It was a nice day out, there was a nice breeze rolling and everything, but here I was, making sure I completed my math homework on time. And unfortunately for me, math is not a strong suit of mine. You could ask anyone I know, and they’d all say the same thing. Or maybe not, depends on who you talk to. There’s one guy who… wait, I’m getting off track again. 

I’ve just been absentmindedly surveying my dorm room for ages now. This math homework was like a deterrent to my eyes, and my brain was taking every excuse in the book to avoid it. 

Well, at least I had the window to my right. Anything going on out there was much more exciting than what was going on in here. Not to mention that the breeze was nice and cool, it certainly made everything that much more relaxing. It may be the only window in the room, but at least it was right next to my desk. 

The breeze rustled the jacket I left hanging on the side of my bed. That bunk bed still needed to be made, but even though my brain was seeking escapes from the dread of math, that was a task that I’ve taken the liberty of labeling as “later.” At least I don’t need to make the top bunk, given I don’t have a roommate. Lucky me, as whoever got put into this dorm alongside me chose to drop out so soon to the school year that they just left me here as was, with no alterations whatsoever, much to my chagrin. Because, let me tell you, bunk beds weren’t fun. You either slept on the top where it was disorienting to be so high up, with a serious danger of toppling off the side, or at the bottom staring upwards at a looming wooden panel lying directly above you. All that did was activate a latent claustrophobia I never knew I had, not to mention a fear that the top bunk would collapse on top of me one day. So, I sleep on the top, because at least if it toppled over, I wouldn’t be nearly as concerned then if I were on the bottom. Though it doesn’t help that I have a slight fear of heights… ah, but I’m getting off track. What was I thinking of… oh yeah, this whole room. Very nice place. Pretty lucky to get such a big space to myself. 

….

This big space that was of absolutely no help to me at all right now. Alright John, focus. There may be an ever so slightly large amount of work here… actually scratch that, there was a lot of work here. There was an essay I needed to finish about The Life and Times of a Lost Magcargo , (I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s not very good), several pages of math homework that needed finishing, (Boy do I hate math), and some history work about whatever random legend of Hoenn we learned about earlier, I’ve forgotten already. 

May as well bang out the history work first, it’s short and easy to figure out. The power of the internet is absolutely a gift from the heavens when it comes to things like this. And of course, that meant pulling out this laptop that I’ve absolutely drowned under all sorts of things. Let’s see… old reading assignments, pack of trading cards, not sure why I even have those… oh hey, I forgot about this little guy. A little Lombre statuette that I misplaced a while ago… well, less misplaced, and more, as I said, forgotten about. Pretty well done, honestly, it’s got all the surrounding environment details really well done, and the paint job on Lombre in his little pond is incredible. Despite the fact that he’s just a statue, I still gotta love the little dude. He looks really happy doing what he’s doing, dancing in his little pool of water. Makes me wish I could be so carefree with what I’m doing right now. 

Oh well, no time like the present. Now I’ve just got to find that darned computer. 

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It has been nearly half an hour and this is still the most mind-numbingly boring thing I have ever had to sit through. That may be a phrase I’ve said twenty times in the past month alone, but such is the way of school. 

I’ve gotten my history work and most of the essay touch ups done at least, but I really cannot bring myself to do anymore right now, as otherwise my head will quite literally explode. Thus, it’s time for my favorite thing to do: take a break, except phrasing it in such a way that I don’t have a guilty conscience afterwards. So… let’s see here….

Aha! I did say I wanted to go outside earlier, enjoy the breeze a little bit… So that's what I’ll do. I have taken a few hikes in the nearby woods before… I think I’ll take a walk there. Nothing like a nice walk just before sunset rolls around to kick back and relax with. 

Just have to grab a sweatshirt, even in Hoenn it gets a bit chilly during the winter… though, I feel as though I’m forgetting something….

Ah, no matter. I’m sure it won’t be a big deal. 

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I took great care in making sure the door to my dorm was closed behind me. There’s been some incidents of theft recently… sticky stuff, but not entirely unprecedented in a place like this. Students are students. Though, it’s not like anything was worth stealing in my place anyways, at least, nothing you couldn’t get elsewhere with ease, unless of course you were after that Lombre figurine. Ha!

My dorm was on the third floor of our dorm building, pretty swanky spot all things considered. High up, excellent view, though unfortunately it meant getting down took a bit longer. Stairs were always an option, but who’s going to use those when a perfectly good elevator exists? 

Still, as I was waiting for the elevator, I could tell that it was awfully quiet… far more than usual. Perhaps they were all at Abas’ dorm? Probably, honestly. That place gets real rowdy when I’m trying to sleep. They’re probably all gearing up for later. Fun. 

Still, soon enough, the elevator arrived, and after a short descent, I wound up in the front lobby. This place, like a lot of places in this school, honestly, could do with a remodel. Pretty sure some Taillow were living in the ceiling, and the floor was chipped in all sorts of spots. And there was also the question of why a reception desk was needed when literally no one ever manned it. It isn’t really my place to judge, but I judge anyways, mainly because these things start getting annoying after a while. 

Though, while that place was kind of on the shoddier side, the main courtyard was really well done. There was this big fountain in the center, with a really ornate Gyarados and Magikarp display in the center, and all sorts of shrubbery surrounding the really well paved paths. It honestly looked really nice. I’d love to walk around here at night sometime. If I were a photo kind of person, I’d take a picture, but of course, I’m not, so I’ll leave that to any would be Todds around these parts. 

They often say you get good luck by throwing a coin into a fountain. I briefly considered it, but I thought against it. A coin could wait for when I have some more time on my hands than the limited amount I have now. Besides, it’s not that I needed any luck right now, things were going pretty swell all things considered. And I doubt that was going to change anytime soon… actually, maybe I should stop right there before I jinx it. Oh well, now time to dwell on it. Best thing to do is go, quick in and out, and finish those math problems. 

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The trek through Rustboro was rather uneventful, all things considered. Despite being Hoenn’s biggest city (And boy is it packed), it really can’t be considered a cluttered and compressed stretch of buildings like the big cities of other regions, such as Castelia or Wyndon. It had a sort of home-town feel to it, as if the people there still worked together like a village instead of being torn apart by the big urban sprawl. It was rather unique, something I never thought I’d see after all the rumors I heard back home about this place. 

 This was most easily expressed just by wandering about the place. Market stalls dotted the sidewalks, manned by friendly old ladies or excited young salesmen, ready to get their start in the world.  I envy those people. Children and Pokemon roamed the streets in playful fervor, and I could see some adults watching from afar, I’d assume parents or trainers. There was a nary a car in Rustboro, for despite the sheer size of this place, travel between locations was relatively simple, and getting from one place to another was often just a short walk from one point to the next. Thus, most of the time, no one really needed one. I definitely like it a lot. It reminds me of the peace and quiet we’d get back home. It was a modest little city, and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of one of the most peaceful places in the world right now…

“John Gravy, you impudent whelp! Get over here, NOW!” Well, outside of that , anyways. If my groans weren’t being heard from afar, they were certainly welling up in me. I know that voice better than anyone. That was the shrieking Loudred screech of Ms. LeFitz, one of the market stall owners. Remember when I said the stalls were manned by friendly old ladies? Ms. LeFitz was if you got one of those but removed the sugar and spice and replaced it with salt and the malignant stench of heavily expired Moomoo Milk. When I first visited this city way back when, when I was scouting out schools, I had made the mistake of accidentally knocking over her cart of berries. She went off on me about how “she spent many a moon working on that harvest” and how as a young lad it was my job to “help pay her back”, and she hasn’t let me go since. Typically I take care in making sure I walk through the city whenever Ms. LeFitz isn’t around, but with the work clogging my brain and my haste to get out, that thought had slipped my mind completely. She had a voice like a Mandibuzz and the demeanor of a Salamence, and those two went hand in hand to create the most terrifying person I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with. 

“Get over here, chop chop! A Slowpoke would be more useful right about now compared to the speed you’re working at! I’m not getting any older over here!  … I swear, kids these days… ” She continued droning on as I continued inching closer. I was dreading what she had to say to me. Step by step, I was making it. Slowly and slowly. In my mind, I know I should probably have just gone and gotten this over with, but at the same time… well, I’d rather delay this inevitability as long as I can. 

Unfortunately for me, this just made her angrier, which, being honest, I probably should’ve seen coming. She was glaring at me like a lost Zigzagoon hiding under her patio. And if I know anything about Ms. LeFitz, that meant a storm was brewing.

Her Pokemon, a Seedot, who was sitting on a nearby box, eyed me with a look of melancholy. He looked like he felt bad for me. I feel just as bad for the little guy having to endure all of Ms. LeFitz 24/7. 

“John Gravy, if you keep moving at that pace, I’ll be 110 by the time you get back from Petalburg Woods!” She paused for a moment, and grumbled a little bit. “ ...Got a bit ahead of myself there... But as I was saying… ah yes. I need you to go into Petalburg Woods and get me some Petaya Berries, I’m all out of them right now, and I’d appreciate having them on demand if some customers come. I’d get them myself, but oh… my back just isn’t what it used to be.” She took a moment to stretch her back, seemingly just to make me feel some kind of guilt for her. I’m used to this kind of stuff, and while I’m not necessarily falling for it… it’s not like I have a choice when it comes to saying no, either. Especially so given my predetermined destination. 

“Ah…  how… convenient , actually… I was just about to take a quick… trek, through there myself…” Before I could finish, Ms. LeFitz cut me off.

“You still don’t have a Pokemon partner, do you? Bah, I tell you, young people these days, always with a partner, but I have to get stuck knowing the one boy who doesn’t. Curse me…” She began to grumble to herself a bit more. Seems she’s already decided I’m going before I could confirm or deny, as usual. 

Still, she didn’t have to treat my lack of a partner thing as a plague. Bit rude if you ask me. I just never really had the need for one. I had some family Pokemon growing up, but they were always just that: family, more than a permanent partner. I never had a particular bond with one of them. I never felt the urge to become a trainer as well, so I had no need for a Starter Pokemon, either. Everyone I knew always asked me about it, if I were to get one in the near future, or if I’d want them to try catching a Pokemon for me, but I always declined. I was busy with my life right now, and a new Pokemon partner was the least of my concerns. Passing Math was much more important to me anyways… Oh great, it seems she’s picked up steam again.

“John Gravy, I’ll let you use Seedot to help you in gathering the berries. I understand those woods are safe so long as you’re alert, but I wouldn’t want to be losing my prime handyman, now would I?” She chuckled slightly, in a sort of half hearted creaky way. It was sort of creepy. She swapped back to her usual demeanor almost instantly though, much to my disappointment. “Seedot, go with him, make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.” Seedot got up, and simply nodded at Ms. LeFitz before jumping off his little crate, as he began waddling over to me. “Here, boy, take the crate to your right, put any Petaya Berries you find into there and come back with a full crate. I won’t take any less than that. Do I make myself clear?” I do not want this conversation to continue any longer, so I just nodded a bunch. I could physically feel the tension in the air as Ms. LeFitz continued staring me down. “Good, then get going. Be back before sundown Gravy. You know as well as I do that the Woods aren’t friendly when it’s that late.” I nodded again, and took my leave. I quickened my pace to get out of there as quickly as I could. I know full well that she’ll get back to her usual if I stick around too long. 

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As I continued my trek to Petalburg Woods, I began to realize the gravitas of the situation I had accidentally gotten myself into. I kind of sidetracked that bit a fair bit in my rush to get out of there. A whole crate of Petayas… that was hard work, especially when Seedot and I only had about two hours till sundown, and I had my truckload of work back at my dorm to come back to. That bit doesn’t really affect the berries, but that’s going to be horrible to get back to once this is all said and done. Note to self: Make sure to double check stall times more thoroughly before choosing to take a break.  

As I walked, I realized Seedot was still sprinting after me. Poor guy.  I went and picked him up, putting him inside the Petaya crate. It wasn’t meant to be long term, but for now, Seedot could recoup a bit before we had to do the heavy lifting. Seedot seemed grateful for the rest, and immediately nodded off in the crate as I continued south towards the Petalburg Woods. 

I was thinking about the little guy a fair bit right now. Walking is a bit boring, so might as well. I don’t really know too much about him,  but he was far nicer than Ms. LeFitz, at least. He always attempted to help me against Ms. LeFitz’s orders, and in my opinion, seemed to ever so slightly enjoy the change of face when it came to company. Though, If I’m being frank, if I had to spend hours a day with that screeching Mandibuzz, I’d be happy to be with just about anyone else too. 

Still, all else I knew about him was that he was apparently a rather old one for his species, but despite his age, he was full of vitality. He’s always very serious when it’s needed though. He’s saved my butt more times than I can count on these expeditions. Regardless of my lack of close contact with him, I still enjoyed being with the little fellow. Just having the thought of someone helping me out reassured me, especially in a place like this. Ah, there it is. A sudden darkness. Trees covered the sky above me, and the path ahead was covered in a similar gloom. That meant only one thing. We had arrived in Petalburg Woods. 

Chapter Text

“Seedot!” 

As I was wandering about the forest in search of Petayas, the little dude just completely vanished from sight. My bets are that he wandered off in search of some more Petaya Berries… and I have just wasted the past 20 minutes looking for him. We’ve only been in the Petalburg Woods for about two hours at this point, and it was starting to get darker, which is saying a lot, given the gloom of these woods normally. Sooner or later it’s going to be pitch black, and I won't be able to see a thing. Makes me wonder how the diurnal Pokemon know when to go to bed. If it were me, I’d have gone to bed at midday and been none the wiser. Maybe they just grow used to it after a while? Ah nevermind, I’m getting off-track. Where the heck is this little acorn? 

I waited a little while longer for Seedot where I was. That’s been my pattern for good while now. I call out to him, wait a little in case he’s catching up, move to a new place, and then rinse and repeat. I figure that when he doesn’t respond after a while, he’s probably not anywhere nearby, meaning it’s best to move on to another area. 

Normally, there are neatly laid out little paths in the midst of all the foliage, so people can find their way around. I’ve been trying to stick to these paths in the hopes Seedot was near them… but I’m starting to think that he’s wandered off the trail. If he has, I have to hurry in finding him, if it reaches nightfall, I’ll never be able to see him, especially with the massive conglomeration of plants that make up what is not the trail. He’s so small that when he’s covered by the plants and darkness, I doubt I’d find him once nightfall hits. 

I was more concerned with Seedot’s safety than collecting all those Petayas at this point.  If I came back with him half dead, or even worse, completely absent… I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Ms. LeFitz for the rest of my days. 

Oof…. I can feel the shivers running down my back. Let’s maybe not think about that possibility. 

I’m starting to get a bit anxious at this point. I know I’m not too far from where I last was… but I may as well try again. Who knows, maybe he’s a bit slow, given he’s probably carrying around Petayas all by himself. How he does that, I’ll never know, but I doubt that it’s easy for him.

“Seedot! Come on, where are you little guy!?” 

As soon as I finished yelling, I could make out a bit of rustling from the nearby bushes. I’d assume it’s Seedot, finally catching up to me. He despised me when I called him by that moniker. 

I placed down the crate of Petayas I was carrying and rushed over to the bush to peer inside. If Seedot’s inside, he’s bound to have berries, and we can get this over with much more quickly- Oh. 

 As soon as the leaves were turned back, one very angry Cascoon leapt out at me. Before I could react, it had rammed into my torso and pinned me to the ground. I could see it shooting its spikes out to my sides. It was ensuring I couldn’t escape. Ok, this is not good. I can’t move, which means I can’t escape, and its underside is too hard for me to just punch. It can just shoot its belly spikes before I can act, as well. 

Oh Arceus, this had better not be it. I do not want to die to an Arceus-forsaken Cascoon! I am going to have the most embarrassing gravestone of all time. No, enough about that. There’s gotta be some way out of this, some way that I can-

Before I could think it over more, Cascoon got sent flying by a sudden attack, immediately releasing me from its hold. Turning to where it landed, it was glaring to my right, but it soon turned back to glare at me. I looked to my right, and found Seedot was standing there, and I’m guessing he must have been the one to have Tackled Cascoon. Cascoon glanced between the both of us and scooted back into the bushes. Guess it must have decided I wasn’t too important after all. Hopefully that’s the last we see of that horrible thing. 

“...Thanks Seedot.” I walked up to him and gave him a rub on the head. “I would have been Cascoon meat if it weren’t for you.” Seedot’s face beamed with pride. I’m glad someone’s feeling super positive, because dear Arceus I would have been a goner if it weren’t for him. Maybe I should consider getting a Pokemon… Eh, one problem at a time, and speaking of…

Glancing behind Seedot, I noticed a considerable number of Petaya Berries lying broken on the ground. They were absolutely smashed to bits, and some of their insides were very clearly visible. That’s like, the opposite of salvageable. Seedot took notice, but very quickly decided the ground was much more interesting than the Petaya stash. 

I didn’t even have to get close to know the Petayas just weren’t salvageable in the slightest. Not a single one seemed anyway close to intact. I guess Seedot’s Tackle must have caused him to drop all the Berries he was carrying. Man. 

 Seedot glanced over to me, seeming disappointed by the sudden mood shift. I looked up from the berries and to the dense trees above us. It didn’t seem too dark yet. If we’re lucky, we might have a shot at getting back home before it becomes nightfall.  

“Alright, let’s try further down the south end, we haven’t checked around there yet. We might be able to scrounge up a few Petayas before Ms. LeFitz kills me.” Seedot shook his head, seemingly unimpressed with me. 

“Look, I understand she isn’t actually going to do that, but… ah, whatever, come on, let’s go.”

I picked up the crate and set off, with Seedot following close behind me. We’re going to bring at least something back. I’m certain of it. 

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Walking, as it turns out, is seriously a chore. We were only about halfway to the south end of Petalburg Woods, and all that’s happened is that it’s just gotten darker, with no extra Petayas in sight. So yeah, I’m bored, kind of stressed, and not having the best time. And all that means is that I’m dreading that math homework back at my dorm even more. I knew I should’ve listened to my Mom when she said math homework was the root of all evil. 

And so here I am, just thinking about stuff, usual stuff, things like scheduling and what my math problems could be… Not like that helped with my work though. I’m not sure why I expected my brain to remember the problems given I barely looked at them, but hey, here we are.

 On an unrelated note, at least the crate’s a bit lighter. As it turns out, it wasn’t just our walk that was heading south. Our Petaya stash had been steadily decreasing as a large number of forest Pokemon had been snatching our berries before we could react. Most of them were bird Pokemon like Taillow, or insectoid Pokemon like Ninjask. Seedot was scared deathless by those kinds of Pokemon, meaning we had no way to get them to stop. And thus, here we are with fewer berries than what we had started with in the first place. I couldn’t even cover this thing if I wanted to either. Just my luck that we got some of those old wooden crates with no top on it and not anything that came from the modern age. Old Ms. LeFitz and her antiques… man. And it was also just my luck that it was inching closer and closer to sundown the more we walked. I’m losing hope we’ll come back with even half a crate of Petayas at the rate we’re going. 

Seedot was busy sleeping in the now much more empty crate. It was empty enough that he could roll around in there without repercussion. He also puts up enough of a fight that the Pokemon will probably ignore him. Probably. 

Still, this excursion had taken a lot out of both of us. I was mainly powered on adrenaline right now, and I assume Seedot’s already used most of his. You may be wondering “John, what exactly is so stressful about this situation that you’re working off of adrenaline?” Firstly, I nearly died to a Cascoon today. Secondly, I have Ms. LeFitz to look forward to when I get back, a fate worse than death. 

Actually, looking at Seedot, it makes me wonder… How did those two meet? Given how old they both are, I guess they’ve known each other for a long time… makes me wonder honestly. Maybe they met back when Ms. LeFitz was nicer? I can’t imagine Seedot sticking with someone that nasty constantly. Or maybe she had a softer side I didn’t know about…

…

Hah, fat chance on that one. 

Still, I’ve been thinking for a while that maybe… OH SHOOT WHAT IN ARCEUS’ NAME IS THA-

And as it turns out, maybe it would have been a good idea to do this thing called “paying attention,” mainly because that was a nasty tumble. 

Ow. I can see the dirt in front of me. Actually, scratch that, I can feel it. And I can feel the scrape on my leg… Actually, I can feel a bit more than that. I am in agony right now. What did I even…?

Oh, I see. I tripped on a root while I wasn’t paying attention. That’s fun. It’s a pretty big one too… Hitting that thing was like stubbing your toe on the fridge, and I am not enjoying the feeling. 

Seedot was standing just ahead of me. Seems he fell out of the crate as it dropped. Unlike me, he was actually being responsible and checking out if our Petaya stash was alright or not, but I can tell that he was not enjoying the rude awakening. Oh, hey, seems he’s finally noticed me. Great. 

Seedot came scurrying over to me, and it seems like he’s only just noticed that I was down for the count. Glad you care so much bud. Seedot lightly headbutted me a few times and then jumped. Seems he was trying to encourage me to get up. I’m trying, little guy, one thing at a time. 

Ok, let’s get up… and… oh Arceus my leg does not like that. 

I got up with some semblance of difficulty… actually, scratch that, a lot of difficulty. My leg hurts a lot. I’m nearly certain that it’s sprained, just judging by the pain alone… Which is not good for me. I’ve got to turn back with what I’ve got… all the Berries are certainly going to be gone by the time we’re back, and I have to do all of the walking we just spent ages doing on a sprained ankle. This is basically the opposite of what they advise you to do when you get one of these, but hey, such is life. 

And besides, it’s getting dark. And when it’s dark… Well, that’s when the Murkrow come out to play. And I do not fancy encountering those guys at their most diabolical when I can’t even see them. Not to mention, bad omens and all… Oh well, as if this ankle already isn’t a bad enough one already. Guess I should take the crate and get moving… 

…

Where’s the crate? 

I found the answer very quickly. 

“A Vigoroth?”

Hearing its name, the Vigoroth turned its head to me before looking back at the berries. It stared at me again for several seconds, before it turned tail and darted straight into the depths of the woods.

“Hey! Get back here you big monkey! That’s ours!” Okay, definitely not my best insult, but I’m not exactly worried about that right now. Ms. LeFitz is gonna have my head if I don’t bring anything back, and sprained ankle be darned, because I’m more scared of her than I am of this ankle. So I’m doing the one thing any sensible human would do. 

I’m gonna run after it. 

The Vigoroth was already far and away by the time I began going after it, but I’ve got to be persistent. That thing can only go so far, right? I hope so, anyways. Right now, my situation is based on luck, which isn’t exactly my strong suit.

Unfortunately for me, this Vigoroth is moving fast. I’m losing track of it already… that’s never good. It’s basically a white speck on the horizon as of right now. Can this thing comprehend the idea of slowing down?

Ow- Oh Arceus my leg hurts like nothing else. Dear goodness… I don’t think I physically can continue going after this thing anymore, otherwise I might…

…Trip. 

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Ok, I’ve managed to limp a fair bit away. That tumble was not fun, and my leg feels like Groudon’s lava right about now. So… maybe running on this thing after a super hyperactive monkey wasn’t one of my greatest ideas… Ow… but right now, I think the best thing to do is find somewhere to sit down and take a breather-

Oh, hey, perfect, actually. A clearing. And it looks pretty empty too. Hope I’m not disturbing another Cascoon or something. I’ve had enough ambushes for one lifetime. 

Oh well, at this point, that would just be added to the checklist of subpar things that have happened today. Being turned into paste would probably be the worst on said list, but hey, I’m too tired to care right now. I just need a lie down. 

I propped myself against a tree around the exterior of the clearing. At least if there was some big dangerous Pokemon, I could hide in the bushes. 

And then… I finally was able to sit down. 

It’s only dawned on me now just how tired I’ve been. I don’t think I’ve taken a single rest during this entire trip, and my leg is feeling even worse now that it’s not running off of adrenaline. I once got bit by a Zubat when I was seven. That hurt like nothing else could, and it’s the worst thing I’ve experienced in my life. Take that pain and dial it up by eleven. 

I can only imagine what Ms. LeFitz is gonna do once I’m back. Make me sell Lava Cookies at Jagged Pass maybe? I hope not. I’ve got a college schedule to maintain. Maybe she’ll force me to go Clamperl diving. Scratch that, I couldn’t even swim if I wanted to. Oh well, so long as it’s manageable, I’ll at least have Seedot by my side to help me…

Wait, hang on. Where’s Seedot? 

I looked around, and sure enough, no acorn in sight. I must have lost him while chasing after Vigoroth. Drat. This is the second time today. 

Guess I’ll have to wait and see if he can find me, I’m in no shape to run around after him. 

Well, let’s see here… this place is looking pretty nice, I guess. I’d probably come here to watch the sunset or something if I wasn’t in such a dire shape. I didn’t even know a clearing like this existed in Petalburg Woods. You’d think a clearing with as large a hole in the treetops would be popular, right? Seriously, the roundness of this circle is almost unnatural. It’s like someone got a cake cutter and sliced it out of the forest. Obviously not what happened, but still. 

Ah well, at least it was nice and sunny. Well, with as much sun as you could get around this time of day, anyway. By the looks of it, it was decently close to sunset. The sky was beginning to change color from a light blue to a burnt orange. Not bad overall, this clearing gives a really nice view. But it also means we’ve failed in our task at gathering the Petayas in time, and that means Ms. LeFitz is gonna kill me.

Man, I remember when I first met her. I could’ve had a normal first meeting, but nope, I bumped into her cart and got a stern talking to, and then all of a sudden I had to go to Slateport City to buy some berries for her. As a newcomer to the city, I was very confused on where Slateport was, and needless to say I got a teensy bit lost. And by a teensy bit lost, I mean I accidentally wandered onto the top of a volcano. Figuring out how to get down again was a doozy, and having to explain that to Ms. LeFitz… well, I haven’t been the same since for a good reason. 

…

Well, staring at this sky sure is exciting. And a bit boring. And a bit painful, my leg still hurts. Maybe I should try shouting for Seedot again? Actually, last time I did that, I nearly signed the contract for my own death, so…

And almost exactly as I thought that, a bush started rustling next to me. I couldn’t move because of my ankle, so if it was that Cascoon back for vengeance, then I was in some hot water. Alright, brace yourself John. Whatever it is, just hope it won’t kill you-

And out of the bush popped none other than Seedot. Covered in a bunch of leftover leaves and looking very tired, yes, but it was Seedot. If it didn’t hurt to move, I would have fallen over and hugged him. A familiar face is something I needed right now.

Seedot seemingly reciprocated. When he saw me he hopped up in the air with glee, looking extremely happy. Guess he was searching for me as long as I had been lying about here, huh? I really need to stop making him chase after me so much. 

“Sorry about all that little guy, I got a bit too caught up in everything.” Not my greatest explanation, but Seedot understood. He sat down next to me, seemingly enjoying the rest, but something soon caught his eye. He scurried over to it and began inspecting it, and to me, Seedot sort of looked like he was almost scrutinizing it, whatever it is. Almost like… he was trying to figure out what it was, in a way, or why it was there. 

Alright, he’s got me curious now, let me just scootch over a little… Hm, this still hurts a bit… but I think the rest is doing me good. If I can scootch without my leg going berserk, then that means I might be able to leave this forest later. Keyword, might. But I suppose one thing at a time. What is Seedot’s mysterious object?

…

I don’t know how I didn’t notice this earlier, because simply put, this is the most brilliant feather I have ever seen. It was smaller than a Taillow feather, and was rather matte, which I guess explains how I hadn’t noticed it, but when the sun shone on it, the light reflected back with the most brilliant luster imaginable. Seedot definitely had a good eye to notice this lying way off to the side of the path. 

The feather glistened a dazzling red, a type which I would describe as a bright crimson. Makes me wonder what species it belongs to. I had never seen anything like it before, and its allure seemed odd given the typical dreariness of Petalburg Woods. I don’t think I’ve heard of anything this vibrant around here. This, I’d say, is definitely worth keeping as a souvenir. Even if it is from a trip where I almost got murdered by a cocoon and had my fruits stolen by a monkey, but hey, what can you do? Besides, whatever species this belongs to must be a cool one… I’m super interested in figuring out where this came from. Might be a fun side hobby. Maybe. I dunno, might be short, might be long. I’ll figure it out as I go along.

I picked up the feather, and that’s where everything went wrong. 

I turned the feather around in my hand a little to get a better view of it, and the light glistened even more vibrantly than when I had initially seen it. However, the feather did something I wasn’t expecting. It began to sort of… melt. But not just your regular old melting, nah. The feather was beginning to melt into my skin. 

I was caught completely off guard, and I knew full well then I had to get it off my hand. I didn’t know what that thing was, or what it was intending to do. But if something’s melting into you, typically it’s bad news. 

I tried to swat it off my hand, but all that did was get it attached to my other hand as well. I tried shaking my hands, but the feather-turned-goop just stayed stuck to my hand. I don’t think even a drop fell off. 

I began thinking about what else I could try, but the feather’s form had almost entirely dissipated into my hand. As soon as it had begun, it was over, and the feather was gone, as if it had never existed. There was no pain felt, and no new injuries added to my body. The feather just ceased to be. 

I sat in silence, staring at my hand, the memory of the feather still fresh, but it was just gone. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. How is that possible? T

Seedot was jumping up and down frantically next to me, trying to signal my attention. He seemed worried, and I couldn’t blame him, because frankly? I was too. What is this feather? Why did it… melt into me? 

“D-don’t worry about it Seedot. I’m sure that whatever that was, it was just some Pokemon’s form of playing a prank on me.” I know full well that Seedot knows that it isn’t the case, and honestly? So do I. But regardless, I just… I don’t want to think about this right now. 

…

Let’s see… old lady, yep. She’s still scary. Scarier than anything else that can be conjured up right now, anyway. I’ll worry about this… thing, another time. I can’t… no, I won’t focus on this… not while I still have her and my ankle to deal with. 

I made my move to leave. I guess the rest did my ankle a favor, as it was moving with less pain than it was earlier. That’s gonna begin to sting later, though. Best get a move on while it lasts. 

Seedot began following close behind me. He looked very apprehensive about the whole thing, not to mention concerned. He saw the same thing I did, so he’s probably just as freaked out. Which worries me even more. You’d think a Pokemon would know if this was natural or not, but Seedot’s reactions didn’t look to me like he thought it was natural… 

“Come on little guy, it was probably a Duskull playing an optical illusion on us, or whatever they do.” I gulped after saying that. That thought was more for reassuring myself than Seedot. It was always possible those little trickster Pokemon were up to their shenanigans, but I know full well they didn’t like Petalburg Woods thanks to the large Volbeat and Illumise population…

No, stop second guessing yourself John, that was almost certainly it. Stop worrying about the feather. Stop it. Now’s not the time. 

I got up and walked off. Seedot followed behind me, but I wasn’t constantly checking on him. I needed to get home ASAP. My knees were trembling. That wasn’t like me. I’m slightly jittery. Again, unlike me. There was nothing wrong with that feather… no, there must’ve been… maybe. 

What could it have been? Where did it come from? Why did it… melt? Yeah, even if it’s harmless, that’s definitely worth a read. Must be rare… or something. Maybe a feather from some rare Pokemon that can melt its feathers? Must be it. 

I can check in with the library tomorrow. Mrs. Ecklevee is gonna be so surprised to finally see me taking a book out, I’ll say that much. Heh. Still, gotta get back soon. The sky’s beginning to darken a ton. I’m even beginning to see the stars. 

Man, that brings me back, the stars. Man, it’s been a while since the last time my friends and I stargazed by Rusturf Tunnel. All those constellations… man is it fun… Looking for em, too. When one of us spots a constellation and directs everyone else to it…  Boy is it cool being that one. One day, though, we’ll all see those constellations together again, and… 

Wait, hang on. Shoot! How could I have forgotten!? The stars! That’s why I was cramming all that work in earlier. Stargazing. Tomorrow night, with my buds. That’s embarrassing.

Wait a second, how much more work did I have back at home again?

…

Curse you, Ms. LeFitz. 

Still, even as I proceeded home… something was nagging at me. My mind was off of that feather for now… but it was like something was planted back there. A seed that wouldn’t sprout, just sitting there, waiting for the right time… And I really only had one though at the time… one hope… 

This better not bite me back in the butt later.

Chapter Text

When you’re in trouble, do you ever just start thinking about the most random things? Like, when you forget to do the laundry while your parents are out, and then they come back and you remember you haven’t done it yet? Yeah, right now, that was me. 

I was thinking about random things, or well, trying to, anyway. Sometimes the harsh reality is hard to escape from. I know full well that the old hag is gonna kill me once I explain the situation. Right now, I’d have said that some Pokemon was using Earthquake nearby, because my legs were shaking. Nothing really scares me too much, well, most things anyway. For instance, I’m scared of getting into the water with a Sharpedo, for one. And getting into the water with an Octillery. And also getting into the water with a Gorebyss… yeah, let’s just say the aquarium wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. 

But regardless, if there’s one non aquatic based thing I’m scared of, it’s Ms. LeFitz. The world could begin burning under Groudon’s drought and I wouldn’t care if Ms. LeFitz came yelling for me. Never get on her bad side. 

On one occasion where I got… “asked” by her to help with something, I was tasked with going into Meteor Falls to, in her words, “Collect some bits and bobs some gullible tourists would purchase”, which unfortunately didn’t give me much clarity on what specifically that meant. She gave me a box to put those assorted objects in, like today’s Petaya incident, and off I went.

Unfortunately, I didn’t expect being physically assaulted by a Jigglypuff to be on my to-do list that day. I ended up dropping the whole thing into the falls. Not only did the Jigglypuff give me an earful, but so did Ms. LeFitz after she sent Seedot to check on me, and found that I was “sleeping on the job.” I swear, you could hear nails on a chalkboard as far away as Lilycove when I had to explain that . 

But where was I? Oh yeah, random thoughts. Well, the whole ordeal randomly sent me down a rabbit hole in my memories, back to a time when I was still in Oldale. Ah, those were the days. I kind of miss it. 

Back in Oldale, everyone knew everyone. So whenever something happened, everyone knew about it, and it was a big deal. Bear with me, that’s important. There was one time where we chose to host a baseball tournament, and we all worked together with a Pokemon supplied by our parents, main reason being that they wanted to excite us little kiddos into it. When you’re that small, you’re never able to command Pokemon of your own. It was any child’s dream.

As for myself, I’d say I was about seven at the time. I was partnered with my mom’s Poochyena. I always hated that thing. Always had a devious look on its face, and everytime I came close to it, it snarled at me. Without fail. That thing was a devil in the disguise of a Poochyena, man. In more practical terms though, it meant our cohesion on the field, putting it bluntly, wasn’t the greatest.

This form of baseball functioned identically to the usual, but instead of running the bases and being eliminated by someone touching you with a baseball, you had to win a Pokemon battle to make it through a base. Obviously, a bit scaled back since we were like, seven, but needless to say, we were all very excited. Well, except for me, anyway. I wasn’t too particularly keen on battling with Poochyena. My teammates knew how much we hated each other, and I was put last in order for batting. I was pretty happy with that, even though I admittedly didn’t like sitting out most things. Unfortunately, though, thanks to how the game played out, I came in at the pivotal moment of the game, at the point that decided who would win or lose. If I got struck out there, our team was going to lose. I managed to get lucky and hit a good shot, and I ran over to first base. There, however, was where things went south.

I had to deal with a girl named Angela, and her father’s Skitty. We commenced battle, but things went poorly almost immediately. Poochyena failed to obey my orders several times over, and when he did obey, my own lack of skill with battle kicked in. I’d command an attack that was easily dodged, or Poochyena would be easily countered by Skitty. The straw that broke the Numel’s back then was when I ordered Poochyena to dodge, which accidentally sent it diving into Skitty’s Disarming Voice attack. Poochyena and I suffered a humiliating defeat that day, and the other kids there would not let it down. Poochyena still doesn’t like me, and the feeling’s still mutual, but I understood even back then that the whole deal was my fault. Time moved on and people forgot, even Poochyena, but I never did. 

I suppose in a way, that whole situation is identical to this one, I encounter some big conundrum I can’t properly handle while attempting to do something else, namely, being unable to stop that Vigoroth while collecting Berries, and end up failing the entire task, soon to face a whole bunch of serious scrutiny. 

Hey, maybe one day, I could get a partner Pokemon. Become a battling whiz or something. Then maybe I’d stop thinking about that from time to time. Wouldn’t that be a sight to behold? John Gravy, beating down enemy Pokemon and winning. Heh, I don’t think anyone could see that coming. Though, I guess if you really want something unforeseen, you’d have to talk to that feather first-

I stopped dead in my tracks. Nope. Not thinking about that right now. One poison at a time, I already have to process Ms LeFitz. This is bad enough as it is. 

Seedot had also stopped, and was now also staring at me, cocking his head sideways, confused. Does he even have a head? Does his body count as a head? Good questions, I’ll have to ask someone sometime. Still, the little guy’s been walking the whole way… I’d carry him, but I’m way too drained right now. Especially with the state my ankle’s in… 

Hang on, actually, what happened to my ankle? I’ve been feeling fine the whole way back. Like, I haven’t felt any injury at all. It’s just sort of faded away on the way over, and I didn’t even notice. But that can’t be right-

I took a moment to pull up my pant leg, revealing my ankle. While I didn’t get to see the severity of the injury, I figured just from pain alone that it was bruised up to some degree. And yet, here, there’s nothing wrong. It looks… fine. 

I poked my ankle to test it out, and I felt no pain. It hadn’t even devolved into one of those that only hurt when you touch it. This is weird. It’s like my injury just decided to call it quits and leave.

Man, this day is just getting weirder and weirder by the minute. No ankle should heal that quickly, especially when it’s a twisted one. 

I looked at Seedot, who just seemed perplexed as to why I stopped more than anything. Maybe he’d understand a bit better if I explained it to him. 

“Seedot, you remember my ankle from earlier, right?” Seedot nodded along. “Y'know how it was injured and all that?” Seedot nodded again. Still seemed confused. Alright, seems he still isn’t grasping the big picture here. 

I poked my ankle again. Still as perplexed as before. I poked it a few more times, and Seedot’s eyes widened a little. I think he’s starting to understand what I’m getting at. If my poking isn’t causing me to visibly flinch, then I’m feeling no pain. If I’m feeling no pain, then that isn’t normal. 

“Yeah, see? My ankle isn’t hurting anymore. And I’ve got no clue why.” 

Seedot’s eyes relaxed slightly, and he seemed to begin thinking about it. I’ve already thought about it a good deal, and unless the little guy suddenly becomes a super genius and names some super power Pokemon thing that causes this, and then somehow relays this to me, then I doubt he’s getting anywhere either. 

Oh well, no use worrying about it right now, a magically healing ankle could wait.. I still have her to get through. And honestly, that’s more concerning than any mysterious forest floor object could ever be. 

“Come on Seedot, up and at em. Let’s go face the music.” 

--------------------------------------------------------

If there was one word to describe Ms. LeFitz, it was unrelenting fury. Granted, that’s two words, but it’s hard to summarize a presence like Ms. LeFitz in one. Just like how it was a bit hard to summarize what happened in the woods in terms that wouldn’t get me killed. 

“John Gravy, why in this ever living world are you completely covered in all that grime?”And is that… Pokemon fur on your sweater?” Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Bah, nevermind that, more importantly, where is the crate of Petaya Berries I requested!? Don’t tell me you’re slacking on the job again!” 

“Well… it wasn’t really all that simple.” Her face scrunched up in disgust. Not a good sign. 

“ How so? ” Her words came out like Icicle Spears. Cold and unforgiving, with a hint of inevitable pain coming with it. Her glare was one that pierced me to my core. I had to choose my next words carefully… or else I was probably not going to have a good time. 

“Well….” Ok, so how do I phrase this in a way that doesn’t sound like I lost the berries because I fumbled it on a tree root… I know! This is going to work great, just watch. “You see…” If I sound enthusiastic enough, Ms. LeFitz might fall for it.

…

…Look, anything else I’ve tried previously didn’t really work out, alright?

“It was all so sudden, it caught both me and Seedot off guard!” Seedot, who was absentmindedly glancing around at the stalls, suddenly had his attention drawn back to me and Ms. LeFitz. He took a quick glance at her, but decided to go back to staring at nothing almost immediately. I don’t blame him. If looks could kill, Ms. LeFitz would be behind bars for the rest of her days. Man, I wish I wasn’t forced to look at her dead in the eyes. Seedot has a luxury  I don't have right now. 

But… if I can have Seedot corroborate, I might have a chance at getting off on this one. Key word being might . There’s no such thing as getting off lightly with Ms. LeFitz. 

“We were walking down the southern end of Petalburg Woods, when suddenly, a massive, brutish Vigoroth leaped out of the trees!” I made some arm motions that looked like something jumping out of a bush, to hammer the point across. Ms. LeFitz looked unimpressed. “And then, it knocked me to the ground, and made a break for it with the Petaya Berries! I tried chasing after it, but I just wasn’t fast enough!” Ok, I was over-exaggerating a little, but what’s a lie when the truth is gonna get you in so much trouble? Hm… actually, bad philosophy, might need to retool that one. 

Regardless, Ms. LeFitz had barely moved a muscle the whole time. Y’know how when you put the kettle on, it just sort of sits there until it boils over? Yeah, I was getting that kind of feeling from Ms. LeFitz right now. Like a volcano getting ready to erupt. 

Her eyes had hardly moved even once, even when I brought up the Vigoroth. Her eyes had narrowed slightly, at least. It looked scrutinizing though…. Yeesh. Who knew the equivalent of a living skeleton could give you such a death stare? I better wrap this up quickly before I mention something about the… 

Feather.

Nope, nope, not thinking about that right now. Gotta get this out of my head. Focus on one thing at a time, John. One thing at a time. 

“And… uh… yeah. That’s what happened. Sorry about losing your crate Ms. LeFitz.” Ms. LeFitz still looked unimpressed. I lightly chuckled. Not sure why, maybe it was to ease the tension or to release stress, but it unfortunately didn’t help me in either of those departments.

“Um… Seedot can vouch for me, right little buddy?” 

Seedot seemed to be deep in thought when I mentioned him, and he jumped back in surprise. Seedot took a moment to calm his nerves, and glanced between the two of us, trying to figure out what was going on. It seems like he got his head stuck in the clouds again. Was he thinking about something? 

“You can vouch for what I said about what happened in the forest, right?” 

That probably came off as more pleading than asking for verification, but at this point, I was getting desperate to not get caught in the act. 

Ms. LeFitz coughed, a sign she was about to begin speaking, and I prepared for the worst. What was it gonna be this time? Finding Lotad leaves along Route 103? Delivering a package of Macho Braces to Petalburg? Cleaning Taillow droppings off of her house? I hope it’s not that one. I still have nightmares. 

“Mr. Gravy.”

 I snapped to attention almost immediately. To anyone else, she may have sounded calm, but I knew better. When Ms. LeFitz is calm, she’s typically angry enough to make a volcano jealous. My odds weren’t looking too good. 

But Ms. LeFitz being Ms. LeFitz, she managed to surprise me. “I will forgive you for losing my crate….” I let out a sigh. “BUT!” I snapped back to attention again. Buts were never good. “You shall need to make this up to me. Lucky for you, I have nothing I need your help with right now.”

She turned around, and then suddenly whirled back around to glare at me again. “ But , if I need you to accomplish a task for me, I shall have Seedot go and get you, and I shall expect you not to fumble it, do you understand me?” I nodded furiously. I need to get out of here.“Good, now begone with you, child.”

Ignoring the fact I was apparently degraded to ‘child’ now in her list of insulting nicknames, I took my leave as hastily as I could. I tried to make it look casual, but hey, who knows how that looked.

I let my thoughts wander a little as I made my way back to my dorm. The sky was great tonight. It was at the very tail end of sunset, so I’m estimating that I’ll only have a few minutes of light left before it hits nightfall. I got perfect timing with Seedot, then.

Unfortunately for me, I was a bit distracted, and that distraction meant that I almost didn’t see the random dude running into me headfirst. I say almost, because while I did see him, he was going too fast for me to properly avoid an impact. And it certainly didn’t help me with how much that hurt. Ow. Seriously, was this guy made of bricks? That’s probably going to be a massive bruise tomorrow. 

“SorryyoungmanmymostheartfeltapologiesIwasnotintendingtobumpintoyou-” 

I could honestly barely make out what he said, but I could at least tell what he was doing. He had dropped some papers from the looks of things, and was scrambling to pick them up. As he was snatching them, I got a quick glimpse of him. While he looked like a rather nondescript guy, I could see the badge on his suit. Looks like he was from Devon Corp. 

He muttered something along the lines of “SorryagainyoungsportIvegottodashgooday” before he dashed off to where I had just left, Petalburg Woods. What a peculiar guy. 

I made a move to get up, but I caught something out of the corner of my eye. It was a few of those papers he was carrying. Did he miss a few? Guess I’ll have to bring those back… but running off after that guy this late seems like a fool’s errand, and while I could bring these back to the Devon Corporation, visitor hours were going to be running out soon, and they’d probably forcefully eject me from the premises before I got anywhere close. Probably accused of stealing as well. Whatever. I’ll just bring these back tomorrow. 

The Devon Corp were interesting customers. They made basically everything and anything. Poke Balls? Check. PokeNavs? Check. Old devices that look like they came from an old horror flick? Check. Anything that looked interesting, they were invested. I suppose that’s why they were still going. Nearly anything you touched was Devon. And it’s not like you could look away literally, either. All I have to do is look up and… yep, there it is. Their highly reflective glass building. It’s painful to look at. The sun reflects off of it at just the right angle, and it’s nasty . 

I was nearly at campus. It wasn’t too bad of a walk, even if it was nearly nightfall. It’s not like I could have missed the place, anyway. Our campus is one of the biggest buildings in town. May not be as tall as the Devon Corp HQ, but it certainly beats it in terms of overall size, not to mention terms of architecture. No sane architect would ever install that much glass. 

I took out my student ID, and swiped it at the entrance gate. It’s a pretty nice security system all things considered. You either need special clearance from a guard, or a special ID. I’d call it tight if it weren’t for the fact you could easily fly over the gates, and the fact we had exactly one guard on duty out front at any time. Poor Rutherford. Typically asleep on the job anytime you got there. Once I heard the story of one kid who was stuck outside all night because he forgot his ID and Rutherford was asleep. The bad part is that I couldn’t tell if it was just a rumor or not. 

Eh, he certainly beats out the other guard I know decently well by a large margin, anyway. 

I eventually made it to the elevator, catching one last glimpse of the sky before entering. Despite the nighttime lighting, the sky looked open… and free. Those bird Pokemon are lucky. At least they can fly around at night and watch the sunset as much as they want. I have to sit inside dealing with the bane of human existence. And you know what that bane is? Math homework.

Now, lemme think…. What was the answer to that question I was working on again? …Great, I forgot.

Chapter Text

I’m pretty sure dreams are meant to be more normal than this. And honestly, that’s saying a lot. My dreams typically involve the wackiest stuff on the face of the planet. And now here I was, thinking I’d be getting a good night's sleep, and instead my dreams are taking a deep dive into the bizarre. I definitely should not have eaten that two week old Rage Candy Bar at lunch earlier.  

But… this dream in question… it’s hard to describe. It feels like I’m falling, but I don’t look or feel like I’m falling through much of anything. The place I’m in is unorthodox to the extreme. The whole is a mishmash of color, every kind of color imaginable. They’re blending together like an artist’s painting after they had too much coffee that morning…. Ok, bad analogy, but in short, it was extremely messy. Though that was just what was in the siding of this place. Directly above and below me were just two massive gaping white holes. And lemme tell you, if I thought the Devon Corp was bright during the day, these holes are a whole other ballpark. They were essentially their own lightsource. They hurt just to glance at them. But despite the falling sensation, I wasn’t moving up or down towards either hole, thank goodness for that. But… I was just… there, and the holes were there with me. They say dreams are meant to have meaning, but I sure as heck can’t figure out what this is meant to mean. 

Before I could figure out anything about what this was meant to explain to my subconscious, I was yanked out of the spiraling vortex of my mind by some unseen force, and as soon as I started moving, I woke up. 

Now, normally, I would try to take a moment to figure out that dream, but being honest, I don’t think there’s much to figure out. Especially since the place where I woke up was my desk. Oh, yeah. I went super late last night doing my math homework. Probably nodded off in the middle of working. That would probably explain the spiraling colors. I glanced over towards the time. It was 8:45 AM. I made a move to get up from my seat, yawning. If it was 8:45 AM, then that would mean I slept through most of my normal routine, though it’s not like I had to remake my bed, given that I slept at my desk last night. So I guess I’d better get ready for… wait a second. How am I only realizing now? It’s 8:45. Class is in fifteen minutes. Which means…

“Drat!” I yelled, bolting out of my chair at a breakneck pace. If I don’t hurry, this is not going to end well. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rush to my first class was a hard one. The halls heading to our classes were always bursting at the seams with people, and today was no exception. But still, it was like yesterday kicked off a series of unfortunate events that’s still currently ongoing. First, I get stuck behind some slow walkers. Hate those guys. Don’t they have any sense of urgency when classes are about to start in about ten minutes? And then, secondly, the route I normally take to class got blocked off by someone’s Pelipper choosing to summon a torrential rainstorm in the halls (Might I add, that this was the third time in the past month. That thing really needs to learn the definition of “Take it outside”), meaning I had to take the alternate, much longer route. These hallways all look the same, so despite my decent familiarity with the school’s layout, I went the wrong way a couple of times. Maybe getting a Pokemon wouldn’t be too bad for situations like this. It’d certainly help to have a second set of eyes so I don’t confuse the way to the lunchroom for the way to my classes for the fifth time this month. . 

Regardless, I finally made my way to class, just as the bell was about to ring to indicate the start of class. This was my first class of the day, History class. We got a big auditorium for it, though I’m honestly not too sure as to why. It’s a bit too much space if you ask me. They’re probably compensating for something. But of course, as I entered the room, I heard the voice that rang dread in the hearts of all students in this class, yelling from the front of the room. 

“John Gravy, you’re lucky I’m in a good mood this morning.” Drat. That voice was from my History teacher, Mr. Navet. He was a gruff man, and he never seemed to be in a good mood. He was also insanely muscular and at least a foot taller than every student he taught, so to say he’s intimidating is an understatement. Why he’s a History teacher and not dominating the field of competitive sports or something is beyond me. Needless to say, it made him extremely hard to argue with. I will also mention that he’s very strict on the attendance policy, among other things. I gulped in preparation for whatever he was about to say. “I understand you’re a tad late to class, Mr. Gravy.” He glanced at his watch. “I estimate by about three seconds.” I swear, if he tardies me for that… “However, as I said, I’m feeling quite swell this morning, so I’ll let you off with a warning. You won’t get a tardy today, but do take care to make it here earlier than this, or what you’ll see in your foreseeable future is after school detention. Take your seat, Mr. Gravy.” I let loose the air I was holding in. That guy can be scary with his policies. One time, I came exactly as the bell rung, and ended up having to sweep the entire History classroom. Sounds easy, if a bit tedious. Unfortunately for me, this is a college, and there’s a lot of junk chucked around the place in all sorts of nooks and crannies. And you better believe Mr. Navet is very thorough when it comes to making sure we did check everything.  

I went to my seat as quickly as I could to avoid any further remarks. My seat was on the right side of the auditorium, in the middle. Not a bad spot honestly, not so far away you get scorned by the teacher but not so close that you’re right next to him. Plus, it was a fortunately short difference from the entrance. I took my seat as I turned my attention to the chalkboard. Here’s hoping today will be less boring than last class. I can’t stand lectures, honestly. Especially not about something boring like history. It’s a subject which is about learning things that have already happened. I’m not saying it’s unimportant to look back and learn a bit, but it gets super deep into the nitty gritty after a while. Our current unit was focused on Hoennian Myths and Legends, and boy is it a whole ton of that nitty gritty poured right into a cereal bowl for us to consume.  

“Atteeeeennnnntion!” Mr. Navet signaled for the class to stop talking. Despite his booming voice, the discourse among the class had not ceased, and you could tell it was visibly irritating him. He clapped his hands with a deafening boom as he unleashed an ear shattering yell from the front of the classroom. “I WILL HAVE YOUR ATTENTION!” The entire auditorium took on a dead silence, and turned to face him  as soon as they heard him. The room was now filled with an air of fear. We know firsthand how scary Mr. Navet can be. If we were to continue annoying him… well, let’s just say that Mr. Navet is always ready to show just how truly intimidating he could be.  

“Alright class, yesterday we began discussing the legends of the Sealed Chamber. I sincerely hope you all completed last night’s homework, as I’ll be collecting it on your way out. And I can tell when you’ve done it in class!” A few audible groans could be heard throughout the room. “Now, I suppose we should begin with our lesson. Let us have a check for memory from last class…” 

I sort of began fading out after that. He may be a scary teacher, but that certainly doesn’t mean he had my complete attention. He hardly can notice me from so far away from the board, and if you look at least half interested in a class, the teachers don’t really notice. I know from experience, I’ve even done it here before. Nobody goes and takes a massive blow from not paying attention to class, in my experience, especially when all of this information is in our textbooks anyways. If I miss anything, I can study all of this later when I have time. You know, time not being taken up by random side jobs from Ms. LeFitz. 

Oh great, that reminds me. Thinking about all that stuff from the Woods the other day… I did say I was going to check out the library later. Though, then again… do I really want to start looking into this stuff? Just thinking about that… thing… gives me the creeps. Not to mention, all those wonky dreams… Honestly, I’m still gunning on the idea that it was the Rage Candy Bar I ate yesterday. Haha, what do I have to worry about? I’m sure I’ll be fine. Worst that could come of all of that is that I catch some mysterious disease and start growing feathers or something stupid along those lines. Now that’d be funny. ‘Hey guys, look at me, I’m a Taillow!’ I’m sure my friends would have a good chuckle at that one. 

But, at the same time… this is too big to ignore… it’s not every day something like this happens… maybe I should… 

“Mr. Gravy!” I snapped back to reality with quite the startle. “I better not have caught you nodding off up there! I may have been forgiving earlier, but the thing I hate most are people who sleep in class!” I heard a few people snickering from that remark. Seems my earlier hypothesis about him not noticing me was incorrect. Guess I went a bit too deep into my thoughts. 

“I, er, Mr. Navet… I wasn’t-'' I tried to stumble out some form of counter argument about how I wasn’t actually sleeping, but I was quickly cut off by Mr. Navet.

“I don’t wish to hear your attempts at a rebuttal, Mr. Gravy. Now, how about this? Prove to me you were paying attention by answering my question correctly! You should have no problem with this if you were truly watching my explanation, Mr. Gravy.” I could see Mr. Navet smirking. He knows he’s got me. “Now, Mr. Gravy, tell me, where is the supposed resting site of the Legendary Pokemon Regice said to be located?” 

Alright, I have no clue what kind of Pokemon that is. We were discussing Regirock and its legends yesterday, so I’d assume this thing is related…. He said Regi- ice , right? Probably chilly then? Where’s a good cold spot in Hoenn? Scratch that, there aren’t really many of them around, which means… 

“I don’t have all day Mr. Gravy.” I could tell he was getting impatient, and I definitely didn’t have any more time to ponder this. 

“Er…” Gotta think fast. “Is it down by Sootopolis City?” The classroom lay still, all collectively glancing back between me and Mr. Navet. He was merely pondering the answer with his arms crossed. 

“I’ll give you credit for the fact you got it near the sea, but unfortunately, it’s on the complete other side of the region. It is commonly said that Regice slumbers somewhere near the area where Dewford Town is.” Oh great, here we go. “...Which clearly illustrates to me that you were not in fact paying any attention whatsoever to my class!” Some more snickering was heard from my classmates. “And you had all better stop giggling up there or I’ll be quizzing you next!” That sent them all to silence. He turned his attention back towards me. “Mr. Gravy, see me here after classes are done for today. You know I don’t tolerate tardiness, and I definitely don’t tolerate sleepers.” 

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So yeah, as it turns out I may not be as skilled at avoiding detection as I thought. Landing after school with Mr. Navet is a nasty punishment. Not to mention that after that, he kept glancing my way all class, like I was a ticking time bomb that would blow, or, rather, fall asleep, at any given moment. So thus, I was forced to sit through and endure that whole lecture of Mr. Navet positively gushing about the ancient legends of some probably fake Pokemon made of some really fancy ice or something. Needless to say, I practically blitzed out of that room the moment I heard the bell. But what was I saying? Oh yeah, after school with Mr. Navet. I’ve only heard horror stories from there. My broom sweeping last time I was there was nothing compared to the things you overhear in the halls. I’ve been lucky enough to avoid something that bad so far, but my luck’s been running dry a lot recently, I’ve noticed. But regardless, a couple of notable examples include: One guy who had to correct multiple choice quizzes for the whole grade, another who had to dust every chair in the classroom, and that one dude who had the luxury of having to take care of Mr. Navet’s Swalot for an hour. That guy was never the same. So, in short summary, I have no clue what Mr. Navet has in for me. Another fun thing to think about. We’ve really got a pile of these growing now, huh? 

After a long walk through the halls (Why are these classes on opposite ends of the building from each other?), I eventually made my way to my next class, Math class. Who doesn’t love Math class? I sighed. Welp, here we go. 

The Math classroom was very unlike the History classroom in the sense that it was much like the entrance to the dorm building. It really could do with some revamping sometime soon. The room was small and cramped, being a dull gray color all around. Instead of the big auditorium kind of deal we had in History, there were desks, all lined up in rows, with a simple blackboard at the front of the room. The whole room really showed its wear and tear. There were chipped floorboards and cracks in the paint on the wall, and there was also a hole at the right of the room, where one very lost Zigzagoon pops out from sometimes. I don’t think anyone but me has noticed him yet. I sometimes leave some leftovers for the little guy when no one’s looking. Definitely better than eating some of the stuff school lunch gives out sometimes.  

The bell rung to signal the start of class. Surprisingly, I was actually on time for once, a first for this class. Guess the Mr. Navet stress got to me in more ways than one. Not that it mattered much, but it was good to know it was possible to not be late. I typically don’t have to worry about being too late to this class, though, because…

“Good morning class! I hope you’re all enjoying this fine start to our beautiful day!” …Because of my teacher. In comparison to Mr. Navet, who’s incredibly strict when it comes to his class, and is one very angry man, our math teacher was an absolute saint. When I first attended this class, I was coming in late, and I was hastily explaining the reasons for my tardiness to her in an attempt to maybe salvage my skin from the lateness punishment. Instead, she made it so I was exempt from that punishment thanks to how circumstances played out. You wouldn’t catch Mr. Navet dead doing something like that. She does stuff like this for everyone. One guy in the corner of the room was struggling with some more advanced formulas, and she made sure the class got more review on the topic to ensure we were all caught up on it. She made time for everyone. Even when we missed homework, she never yells at us or anything, instead she just becomes incredibly sad. We complete our work solely so that doesn’t happen, because by Arceus, nothing tugs on your heartstrings other than that. Is it basically a guilt trip? Yes. Do we go through with this anyways? Also yes. She was universally beloved by all of her students, myself included. 

Smiling after the class greeted her back, she began laying out today’s game plan. “Today, class, I’ll start by collecting your homework. After that… Well, I’ve been feeling like recently the work’s been a bit hard on all of you… I can see the sleep bags under your eyes back there, Mr. Kent.” Boy, lemme tell you Kent back there wasn’t the only one feeling that. Pretty sure my eyes were a deeper black than the night sky right now. “So, today, we’ll be learning about calculations related to Pokemon battling.” A large amount of uproarious applause burst forth from the class. She clapped for silence, quickly calming the room. “I’ll also be giving you the opportunity to bring out your Pokemon partners for these class periods where we’ll be focusing on this subject. Consider it my treat.” She smiled. “ Just, please, refrain from actually battling or using moves… my room is damaged enough as it is.” A silent celebration was being held among my classmates at the prospect of being able to bring their Pokemon out. You could positively feel the energy in the room. Our school had a policy where Pokemon could only be brought out after school hours… or if the teacher permitted it, like right now. But those opportunities were few and far between… So for an opportunity like this… well, most students are ecstatic to spend more time with their Pokemon. To anybody else, this would be cause for celebration… but for me? I don’t really have a partner Pokemon. So honestly? I could care less. Especially since these kinds of classes are when everyone asks me where my partner is, and I have to go and tell them I don’t have one. Then they just give me a weird look and sort of wander away from me. It’s incredibly awkward for me, you can feel the disappointment oozing off of people when I say that. Man. Oh well, I’m just hoping the Pokemon don’t act up again. Last time we did something like this, I couldn’t get the smell of Torkoal smoke off of me for weeks. 

My classmates sent out their Pokemon as the teacher went to the board. A lot of noise could be heard as the Pokemon greeted their trainers in their own ways. I could clearly see someone’s Wingull flying circles around its trainer’s head, cawing, while another person’s Shelgon was jumping around with glee. “Alright class, please settle down. For today’s lesson, we’ll be learning about probabilities in relation to Pokemon attacks.” Our teacher went up to the chalkboard and began sketching down some drawings of Pokemon. She quickly whipped up what appeared to be a Combusken and a Vigoroth. Too soon lady, too soon. “Combusken here uses Flamethrower on poor old Vigoroth. Now class, what’s the chance that Flamethrower will cause Vigoroth to not only take damage, but be burned from the attack?” The class grew silent, unfamiliar with this kind of thing. None of us had much prior experience with probabilities. 

A girl raised her hand in the back. “Five percent?” 

The teacher shook her head. “Unfortunately not, my apologies.” Another student raised his hand.

“Twenty percent?” She shook her head again. 

“No, unfortunately.” She sighed. “I’m sorry class, I shouldn’t have expected you to know this material before I began asking questions. I shall demonstrate, then.” 

The teacher began moving to the board and explaining the chance for Flamethrower to Burn in great detail.  As I moved in to listen closer, I became aware of a feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around to try to discern the cause, only to find someone’s Swablu about a desk behind me staring at my way. It looked confused about me, like it was trying to figure me out. The moment it saw me staring, it looked away, slightly embarrassed… and nervous? I turned back to the board so its trainer wouldn’t notice and think I was being weird. The way that Swablu was looking at me though… it looked almost like it didn’t understand me… Well, I guess I did just roll around in the dirt the other night, so that might explain it. 

I disregarded Swablu as I turned my attention back to the board. Seems our teacher had finished explaining probabilities. “...I hope that helps you all tremendously in your education. Now, I shall be handing out a small work assignment for you to complete with a partner. You can work with your Pokemon as well as your partner, which I hope will make the experience that much more fun for all of you involved!” She delivered our papers to each of our desks with rapid pace, and soon clapped her hands to indicate we could all begin finding partners.

Despite the fact I love our teacher, I definitely disliked lacking friends in this class. I was not the greatest with math homework as you could probably tell with my ineptitude the other night, and I had no one I could easily go to for help a good deal of the time. Looking at this sheet, it seemed simple enough, given that it was new material, but it still didn’t look fun. Not to mention without a partner or friend, there was no fun to be had with this. I looked around to see who was without a partner. Just from a glance, nearly everyone seemed to be taken. 

“Hey, excuse me-”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I’m still scarred from last night’s “Random things jumping out of a bush to ruin me” thing that was going on. I’m also fairly certain that I jumped a solid two feet from that. 

“Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” This is definitely one of the more embarrassing moments of my life. I turn around to greet the voice, which I did actually recognize. The person the voice came from was none other than that girl who piped up earlier. I recognized her from some past classes, and I’m fairly certain I’ve seen her in the halls sometimes. If I remember correctly from what the teacher’s yelled, her name was like… Audrey? Auburn? Something with an A and a U. 

“Oh, no, it’s fine, I just got a bit surprised is all.”  

The girl sighed. “That’s good. I was just wondering if you had a partner or not. Seems I got the short end of the stick with partners this class.” I’m not quite sure if that was a subtle diss towards me or her just saying she couldn’t find a partner. I sure hope it was the latter. 

“I’m currently lacking in a partner, so we can work together if you’d like.” She released the breath she was holding. I didn’t even realize she was holding it in. Seems she was relieved to find someone to work with. 

“That’s great. Let’s get to work then.” She took the now vacant seat next to me, and put her paper down on the table. A Pikachu jumped up onto the table, sniffing the surroundings. She apparently noticed my glance towards the little guy, as she went into an explanation. “This little guy is my partner, Pikachu. Sorry if he’s disturbing you.” I assured her I was fine with him, but he clearly wasn’t fine with me. Once he noticed me, he walked up to me and began sniffing my arm, before quickly arching back with disgust. He glanced at me with a squint, head cocked, as if he was trying to figure me out. It was the same look that Swablu gave me earlier. I sure hope this isn’t becoming a running trend. She quickly noticed Pikachu’s apprehension, and picked him up and began stroking his back. “Don’t worry Pika, he’s fine. He’s working with us on the math assignment, no need to get stingy.” He calmed down a bit, but he still glared at me like I caught the plague. Never thought I’d get stared down by that little face, but I suppose here we are. 

“Um, well, let’s get to work, then.” I swiftly tried changing the subject so we could stop worrying about Pikachu. 

“Ah, right, so, here, Question One. If Rock Slide has a ninety percent chance to miss, how many times out of ten will it hit? Well that’s simple… nine out of ten times.” She crossed off the box on her paper as she turned to me. “So, uh, before we start calling each other things like “you” or “man” or something and it gets awkward, what’s your name?” 

“Oh, uh, my name’s John.” 

“John? That’s a rather basic name,” she replied with confusion. Now that took me aback.

“Look, I didn’t get to choose my name, y'know. Blame my parents for that one.” 

She snickered at me, and I just rolled my eyes. “Well, my name’s August. Certainly not as basic as your name, so I’d say mine’s better.” I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, if I were to call John into a crowd, I’m pretty sure ten people would respond.”

“Well excuse me miss, you’re named after a month. I could look at a calendar and you’d come running.” She grimaced. 

“Well, aren’t you getting daring today, Mr. John.” She paused with her arms crossed before a devilish smirk crossed her face. “And you know what? I think you could do with a nickname or something. Something pretty fancy I can do shorthand. No way am I gonna stick to calling you something simple like John.”

I chuckled. “Not sure how you can shorten John. That’s basically the squatest name you can get.” 

She rubbed Pikachu under his chin before turning back to me. “Well, I mean, who said it had to be related to your name?” Oh great. Now I see where she’s going with this. “My Pikachu doesn’t seem to like you, so…. Hm…” She thought for a moment. “I know! I’ll call you Mousetrap!” 

I was taken by surprise. “Mousetrap!? You couldn’t have come up with anything that had more, y’know, positive , connotations?” 

August giggled. “It doesn't need to be positive if it’s shorthand. Besides, I think it’s funny, Mousetrap.” I turned back to my work. We’ve barely talked and this conversation is already grinding my gears. Just what have I gotten myself into with this girl? I can only hope this will be a one time partnership. 

We continued bickering on and off as we continued our work. She had to explain it to me at certain points (Which got me a whole ton of mockery in exchange), but overall the paper wasn’t too hard in terms of material, and it definitely wasn’t an unenjoyable experience because of our banter. Her Pikachu was glaring at me the whole time, still looking like a mix of confused and angry. Gave me the heebie jeebies. Still, we finished our work just as the bell rung for our next class. 

“Gotta say Mousetrap,” said August, packing up her work. “You aren't too bad of a character. Might just hang out with you again sometime.” Oh Arceus, this girl is already becoming a handful to deal with. I just hope this was just a bad first impression on my end and things warm up next time she does choose to bump into me again. She’s not horrible, but she’s certainly going to make things embarrassing if she starts running around the school with stories of her teasing. 

“Oh, uh, yeah, sounds good. Looking forward to it.” In truth, I wasn’t, but you aren’t gonna say that to someone’s face. And I definitely don’t want to tick off August.

“Alrighty then! Catch you later! Toodeloo!” She dashed off into the already crowded hallway of people. Thinking about it, we only talked for a little while, yet she’s already left a big impact on me. August… I guess I’ve gotta make sure to remember her in case she does come calling again. 

I sighed. I just hope next class is gonna be a bit more calm than the last two.

Chapter Text

Heading to my next class is significantly easier than heading to Math. Instead of having to go through the whole school to make it to my next class, all I have to do to get to my next class is head through one of the main lobbies. Unlike the lobby that led to our dorms, which was really quite small, and more of a really lonely reception desk than anything, the main lobbies were massive, being about three math classrooms wide and tall. They acted as a sort of conjoining point for the complex of halls in this place, with four exits on both the top and bottom floors. As for the path from Math to my next class, I come from the bottom floor going up, then go down one of the right side exits. They really could’ve tried making paths from class to class be less complicated, but no, this school just had to be its own little labyrinth when it came to regular old walking. 

As I was heading up the stairs for my next class, I was mentally preparing for it. Not in a negative way, granted. Next class was Art. Now, art isn’t bad , but I’m not a master artist, so my feelings are extremely neutral overall. At least it was more fun than any of the other classes could dare hope to be described as. And of course… Oh shoot, it’s this guy. 

“Hey hey hey, how’s it poppin’ my favorite student?” Oh great. 

I turned around to spy him approaching from behind, waving at me. This guy is one of the school security guards; he calls himself Contour. He’s told me himself that it’s not his actual name, but he just does it because it’s, “cool,” according to him. I dunno, he’s always given off weird vibes to me.  For instance, who says, “how’s it poppin” in this day and age? 

But that’s besides the point. Contour is a guy who really wants to hang out with me. Now normally, I’d be fine with being friends with random strangers who approach me in the hallways, but this guy is always bugging me at the worst possible opportunities. He always wants to have a conversation when I’m five minutes late for my Science class, or when I’m a minute away from making it to Math on time. It’s like he’s a living impediment to healthy scheduling. 

“Oh, uh, hey Contour,” I replied back. I always try to be courteous with this dude, but boy, right now I need to get to class, and I really don’t feel like talking to this guy. I just hope he doesn’t have much to say this time. Last time I got into a conversation with him, he went on and on about some really “radical” topics from the Paldea region. Never before did I have a feeling of escape as strong as then. 

“Come on, John, a little bit more excitement would be good. You know what they say, “Your mood rubs off on people” and all that pizazz. And I assume you don’t want people falling asleep on you, correct?” I dunno, Contour, I’d like you to fall asleep right about now. 

“Um, yeah, I’ll just-”

“You know, looking at it…” Contour came uncomfortably close to my face. “... You’re looking awfully tired, more so than usual. Have you been sleeping at all?” 

“Er…” This was one uncomfortable situation. “.... Yeahhhh ?” Contour looked at me with squinted eyes, but he soon released his glare. He sighed and turned his back to me.

“Well, I suppose I can’t really moderate your sleep schedule, but you can’t expect to do well on mid-years without a good night’s rest. I’ll drop by your room later to make sure you’re asleep by ten, K?”  I do not appreciate this guy visiting me in the dead of night to try to tell me to sleep, especially since I know how annoying that can get. When he comes to notify you of something, he just knocks, asks, and if he’s rejected, leaves. Sounds simple, but then he comes back a minute later and does the same thing, and continues until he eventually annoys us enough to keel to his demands. He may play dumb when we accuse him of that, but Contour plays dirty. Thankfully, I actually have a valid excuse for once. 

“Oh, uh, I’ll actually be going stargazing with some pals tonight, so I won’t be in my room…” 

“Oh, I see. Hope those stars are good tonight, and don’t go out too late. Oh! And don’t come back to blame me when you’re a living zombie tomorrow thanks to participating in another all-nighter. Though if I’m being honest… you already kind of look like one.” He paused for a moment to gather my reaction. “No hard feelings,” he added quickly, seemingly because I looked apprehensive. If so, I hope he realizes I’m not offended, I just want to leave. Though… Do I really look that bad? 

“I got a class to catch, gotta dash. Seeya!” I ran to class before Contour could fire back a response. It’s not that talking to Contour was entirely unpleasant … Actually, it kind of was, most of the time,but, well, I’m running late, and that guy goes for ages . I’d know, I met that guy on my first day. He was waving to all the new attendees on entrance day, and I waved back. Apparently, that made me a special exception to something, as he tracked me down and always tried being friendly with me ever since. It’s not unpleasant being buddies with a security guard, and I’ve had some good exchanges with him before, but as I said before, he always seems to find me at the worst possible moments. I’m expecting to see a lot more of him later today, beyond just his night crawling antics. You never know when that guy will show up for something.    

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The dash to Art at least, was not too bad bar that earlier hiccup. Art is much easier to get to than my other classes, given that I’m not making a mad dash throughout the whole school just to make it on time. Despite that, I always feel like the school is against Art class in a way, as all of the classrooms that teach it are in their own dedicated Art wing. Sounds nice, except the Art wing is literally one long hallway with the classrooms dotting both sides. It looks extremely depressing from afar. They really need a budget improvement around here. 

Still, thankfully for me, I made it on time despite Contour’s interruption. That guy is literally the only reason I ever get a tardy in this class. 

I headed to my seat to wait for our teacher, Mr. Vermelhike. He’s a very free spirit, if there was one word I could use to describe him, it’d be laidback. He’s like the definition of it in human form. He’s a bit too laidback if you ask me. He’s always late to his own class, and comes in wearing sandals and a lab coat, of all things. In class, you can expect him to either be wandering around helping us with our work or sitting at his rather cluttered desk playing video games. He’s a pretty nice guy all things considered, if a bit of an oddball (There is jazz music playing 24/7, if that’s not oddball, I’m not sure what is. I’m surprised he hasn’t been driven insane yet. I certainly have been.) He’s helped me with assignments in the past, even late into the night, if I came to visit him. Thinking about it, him always being up so late really explains a lot of what I just said. Maybe I should try to get Contour to enforce a sleep schedule upon him some time. 

Still, him being this late always got on my nerves. Here I was, sitting here scratching my stomach and absentmindedly glancing at the seemingly hundreds of easels scattered all over the brick laden walls, and there’s no teacher in sight.  It’s been about five minutes now since the bell rang, and he still hasn’t shown up. I suppose the one luxury of this schedule of his was that you literally couldn’t be late if you tried, but for a class I actually kind of half wanted to do, this was not pleasant Though it definitely saved a certain someone’s hide. 

“Boo!” 

“GAH!” 

“Haha! I’ve gotcha again little buddy!” 

And that right there is how you know when that certain someone has entered the room. And that certain someone also happens to be one of my closest buds, Callum. We’ve got a long history, but right now, I guess the best way to describe him would be a jokester. A rather annoying one at that. I still dunno how someone as big and burly as him is able to sneak into class without making a sound, but by golly he does it. He takes every chance he gets to sneak up on me, and even makes sure to space this stuff out so I don’t start expecting it. And as you can tell, it’s working. I’ve asked him sometimes how he does it, and every time he just replies with “A magician never tells his secrets.” He’s not a magician. I still don’t know what he means by that. 

Callum’s uproarious laughter over scaring me again had finally died down as he took his seat next to me. Unlike my previous two classes, I’ve got a friend here. Much more, well, friendly here this way.

“So, John, how you doing?” He patted me on the back a couple of times. 

“I’m just saying man, that joke starts getting old after a while.” He laughed. 

“Come on, you should see the look on your face sometime, I literally can’t get tired of it, Mr. Girafarig neck.” 

“Seriously man?” Now that joke was just disappointing. “Where’d you even get that one from?” 

“Well I mean, your neck is looking awfully long today, for starters.”

“My neck doesn’t just rapidly change sizes, Mr. Slaking Arms.” 

The two of us glared at each other for a few moments. But soon enough, we just broke down into laughter. 

“Never change John, never change.” 

“Well, on another note, Callum, how’d History class go on your end?” The reason Callum is always so late to this class is because just like with my History Class, his History Class and our Art class are on practically opposite ends of the building. We both got lucky with our teachers in terms of leniency, at least. 

“Not going too badly. This Hoenn Legends unit is getting really boring though. I don’t see any real reason we need to learn about that Regi Ice Cube fella or whatever his name is. I just take that class as an opportunity to nap.”

I chuckled. “At least you get that luxury. I’m stuck with Mr. Navet.”

“Oh yeah, I heard he drilled you a whole ton earlier.” Wow, I really underestimate the speed of the gossip that spreads in this school. “Is it true you were nodding off in class?”

“Less nodding off and more ‘Not paying attention.” Callum nodded. 

“Is it also true he’s going to force you to scrub the halls for a week?”

“Er, no, thankfully.” What kind of rumors were being spread around?

“Well thank goodness for that, especially since we’re going to see those stars out by Rusturf later. We don’t want you missing it for something stupid like that, now do we?” 

“Yep, no we don’t. But, uh, just what else have you been hearing-” But before I could continue that conversation, none other than Mr. Vermelhike finally bolted into the room. You could’ve told me that was a Manectric in human form and I’d have believed you. He ran in quick as a wink and immediately crashed onto the floor, sending his papers flying. 

After an overly long and pregnant pause, Mr. Vermelhike recovered, and began gathering his papers like a furious whirlwind. Before I knew it, he was bolt upright, as if nothing happened at all. He adjusted his classes as he finally gave his opening statement to the class. 

“Sorry for being late everybody, a Swellow lost her chicks in the school courtyard, and I couldn’t just leave them, so…” he trailed off and coughed. “Well, that aside, I hope you’re all excited for another day of art class! We’ll be starting something a little new today, namely…” He shuffled around his papers, looking for what, presumably, the lesson plan was. After a prolonged thirty or so seconds of searching, he made a motion for the class to wait a moment. 

“Looks to me like that assignment may have needed more time in the oven,” Callum whispered to me. I chuckled a little as Mr. Vermelhike seemed to have finally located the paper he was looking for.

“It seems, class, that today, we’ll be painting…uh..” He cut himself off. Seems like he forgot what he was going to say. “...Well, I believe this should be a fun little assignment. Now then, as for the assignment in further detail… you’ll be painting…. A… um… Pokemon! Yes, as well as the environment around them. No other major requirements, so feel free to let your creative juices flow!” He paused, and gave a brief thumbs up to indicate if we understood or not before continuing. “Grab one of the easels scattered about the room and get to work. Paint supplies can be found in the closet at the back there. There’s plenty to go around… but please don’t hog.”

Our classmates took this as an opportunity to get moving, and they instantly began to raid the supply closet. People say there’s no time like the present, but with the swarm of people, I think there’s definitely some merit in waiting a tad. Callum also chose to follow my lead, eyeing the mass of people for an opening. 

I turned back to Mr. Vermelhike: He seemed to be very busy all of a sudden. He had dumped his papers into a half hearted pile on his desk and was sheepishly answering someone on the phone. I couldn’t overhear what he was saying over the roar of the class, but from the looks of it, he was not having a good time. Personally, I’m hoping that he’s getting some flack for his constant tardiness, but knowing the school administration, there’s a solid 50/50 it’s either that or them calling him to act as another emergency substitute teacher. Whatever the case, I continued observing him for a little while longer before Callum signaled for my attention. The closet was no longer covered in the horde of people it was submerged in before, giving us the opportunity to finally grab what we needed. 

Unfortunately for us, what Mr. Vermelhike said was a lie: There were definitely not enough colors to go around. The sad part about being in a whole class of art students is that they love color diversity, and that means the colors run about as dry as a paint bucket in the sun. It was a sorry state of affairs in that cupboard. A few stray paint bottles dotted the deep recesses of its gaping void, and I’m fairly certain most of them had dried out eons ago. 

“We’ve certainly got some cobwebs brewing here, haven’t we?” said Callum, sarcastically. Seems he was doing the same as me, which was looking for any semblance of good color in this place. And unfortunately for us, we were both failing. 

“Yep, which is why I’m not gonna bother too much.” I grabbed a pink paint bottle from the top, and a black one that lay forgotten at the bottom of the closet. Hopefully that one still worked. 

“What are you thinking of doing?” 

“Have you ever heard of a Flamigo?” Callum stared at me quizzically. “I thought not. They’re not native to Hoenn. I once had a very annoying security guard explain to me their whole species biology once, and I found myself interested and did some digging.” 

“Sounds interesting. What exactly does it look like?” 

“Well, I suppose I can show you.” 

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Turns out, I could not show him. This is going to be a severe blemish on my artistic integrity from this day forward. 

“That Flamigo is looking more to me like a very sad blob of Azumarill vomit, I’m sorry to say.” Thanks for the compliment Callum. Note to self: Make sure this never sees the light of day again.  

“Look, I’m working on it, alright? Besides, how do you even know what Azumarill vomit looks like, Callum?”

“I get into situations sometimes.”

I sighed and turned back to my painting, but I had to admit:  it was not looking good right now. Flamigo have a rather simple body shape, being basically a circle, two long legs, a neck, and a head and beak. Sounds really simple, but unfortunately for me, a couple of things are happening that make that ever so slightly difficult. One, this pink really sucks. It feels half dead and is looking a rather sickly shade instead of the bright color I was aiming for. Not a big deal, but it definitely helps the Azumarill vomit analogy. Secondly, I was being distracted by this one really massive itch on my stomach. I was already idly scratching it earlier, but it’s just been getting worse and worse. I have no idea what brought it on, but I’m thinking right now that I might have scratched myself on some poison ivy when I was in Petalburg Woods and gotten a rash. That’s normally no biggie, I’d just check, see what’s up, “Oh hey look it’s a bug bite,” and nothing is lost. But , I can’t really take off my shirt to check, and I only have so much time in this art class. I can’t waste it by going to the bathroom and checking. And, let me tell you, an itch this massive and annoying really does a number on your concentration. 

I gave it another once over to see what was salvageable. The body was more of an oval than a circle, and the neck was looking extremely deformed. The legs looked fine, at least, but I definitely oversized the wings. As the pink was already layered over a lot of it, there wasn’t much I could change without restarting the whole thing, which I did not have time for. So that meant that this sad Flamigo was going to remain in this sorry state for the rest of eternity. Sorry buddy. Maybe if I can nail the background down, it’ll look a bit nicer? 

I glanced over to Callum’s painting. He chose to sketch his own partner Pokemon, a Kecleon. For being based on memory alone, it was rather impressively detailed. You can tell that he spent a lot of time with the Pokemon, for even minor details such as head and stripe size were all done to perfection. I guess I sort of dampened my potential by being lazy and going with something I had really only looked at briefly a while ago. I only had the one image, and Callum had several years to go by. I’m really starting to regret my choice here. 

“Hey, Callum, could I borrow some of your colors?” If I want to salvage Flamigo, I’ll need some actual color variety. 

“When I’m done, I’ve nearly got the background down to perfection. You can use them then.” Callum was really engrossed in his work right now, so I chose to leave it at that. If I kept bugging him, it wasn’t going to go any faster. May as well wait.

…

…

Man, this is boring. 

I need this guy to be done so I can use those colors, but sitting here doing nothing is extremely unfulfilling. I wasn’t expecting to have time to kill, so, I might as well check up on this… itch. I’ve never had it this bad before, so something’s definitely up. May as well figure out what’s what instead of sitting here looking really lost.  

I approached Mr. Vermelhike, who was anxiously reclining in his chair. Looking at him, he seems nervous, as if he’s waiting for something. I tried to approach him as calmly as I could, and it worked, to some extent. Upon spotting me, he looked frightened like nothing else for the brief few seconds before he registered it was me. Perhaps it was something on the phone call? What was said must have really shaken him up. Oh well, I’ll think about it later. Right now, I’ve got my own problems. 

“Ah… uh,  John… need a, uh….hand, with your… um…” He glanced over to my Flamigo painting. If he wasn’t looking frightened before, I think Flamigo just killed whatever form of confidence was left within him.  

“Uh, no, actually…” Let’s just change the subject before he faints right here and now. “Could I use the bathroom?”

“Oh! Of course, just… make sure to take the hall pass on your way out.” 

I nodded and went towards the exit, taking care to grab the pass on the way out. I normally don’t like carrying these things around with me, but boy, the security guards in the hall were incredibly strict with these. Not even Contour would let me off the hook for something like that.  

As I exited into the halls, speak of the devil, there was Contour. I spied him standing near the staircase, surveying the area. He waved to me, and I waved back. He didn’t seem too downtrodden about my earlier departure, at least. I’m just glad that Contour understands when I’m trying to use the bathroom and leaves me be to go do my business. But, then again, it just fills me with the dread of his inevitable stalling on the way back. 

I arrived at the bathroom soon afterwards. There were several of these in the building, with this being the closest one to the art wing. While they all were in different spots, they certainly weren’t very different in terms of how much of a bad shape they were all in. People were not nice to bathrooms. You’ll never notice it on the outside, but boy, the inside was a different story. Last time I went to this particular bathroom, there was a soap dispenser missing, toilet paper on the walls, and a whole packed lunch in the urinal. I could tell that, this time, they had at least fixed the soap dispenser, but in exchange, the paper towel dispenser got taken instead. I feel bad for anyone who was actually here to use the bathroom. I, on the other hand, was here to examine this itch spot. No one was using this bathroom, conveniently enough, so I was free to use the stall in here. Each bathroom came with one stall and three urinals, and when there were so many students in the school, it definitely was a rarity to find this place empty, especially when it came to the stall. Still, if it allowed me freedom to check my stomach, I certainly wasn’t complaining. 

Locking the stall door behind me, I now was free to check how severe this theoretical rash was. If it was bad enough, I may have to go to the Nurse’s and get something for it, and I certainly don’t envy the time lost on the Flamigo painting, not to mention, having to explain why I had a rash this bad in the first place. 

I pulled up my shirt to check, but needless to say, it was something I certainly wasn’t expecting. As I expected, there was, indeed, a rash. But what I wasn’t expecting was just how nasty it was. It practically covered my whole stomach, and was beginning to extend to my chest. I had never seen a rash this big before… or well, ever. I’m beginning to doubt that it was related to the poison ivy now, I definitely didn’t get into this much yesterday. So, I guess nurse’s office is something I kind of have to do… leaving this thing alone will only spell bad news.  

…And yet, while I know I have to… why do I just… not want to? It’s not like me to be this lazy when it comes to things like this, and yet… this just feels kind of… normal? In a way? A rash this big could be potentially horrible if left unchecked. But at the same time… I’m not feeling too worried. I’ve been scratching it like a madman, so that might have contributed to something… but at the same time, it shouldn’t have extended so far upwards just from mindlessly prodding it…

Ok, new gameplan. I’ll leave it be for a while, and if it gets worse by tomorrow, then I’ll go to the nurse’s office. Perfect compromise. It’s probably nothing anyways. As for right now, I just have to hope this itch lets up, because I really don’t want to botch that poor Flamigo any more than it already has been. 

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With that rash still being in the back of my mind, and a very poorly done painting to get back to, Contour was the one person I wanted to encounter the least right now. But seeing as I had left him in the middle of a conversation earlier, this guy would not let me off the hook now.

“Sooooooo, how’s it coming along in art class?” This guy’s enthusiasm starts getting tiring after a while, I’ll say that much.

“It’s going fine, Contour. Can we talk later? I’ve got art class I need to be getting to.” 

“Well, look,” He turned to look at his watch for a moment. “Fine, just, at least answer me one last thing.”

“And what would that be?” 

“Would you happen, by any chance, to have found any form of important looking items on the premises? We’ve gotten a call, recently, about some stuff going missing in the area, and we were told to double check around. Real sorry about the tonal shift and all, I was gonna segue into this a bit more naturally… but you’re in a rush, and it’s my job… you must understand.” 

“No, no, it’s fine, Contour.” I honestly preferred him when he was serious. He grates my ears far less that way. “But, in regards to your question, nope, haven’t found a thing.” 

Contour thought to himself for a moment, but any type of serious thought he was having was immediately extinguished as he returned to his usual jovial self. 

“Ah, goodie good, I thought not, just thought I’d double check. Anywho, don’t mind if I drop by later today, bro? B-before your, uh, big event of course. Just so we can wrap this conversation up and I can stop bugging you?”

Oh great, here we go. “Um, sure, I don’t mind.”

“Great, I’ll be there after school’s done for the day. You’ve still got two more classes, am I correct?” 

“Well, lunch is in between, but, yes.” 

“Goodie good, see you then. Good luck with that painting of yours.” I nodded and waved as I took my leave. Now, that conversation seems normal enough, but I’ve had to talk to this guy enough to the point where I know he’s busy right now. Well, not totally busy, as he had the time to talk to me… but he’s definitely got something on his mind. Something he’s very occupied with. I’d assume it’s those “important items.” I kind of lied when he asked me, because I knew full well that if I brought up those Devon documents I picked up last night, he was 100% going to be on my case about it. I’m sure they’re important, but they can definitely wait a couple of hours for me to finish school first. I don’t know if that’s what’s got Contour on such high alert or not, but if it is, I may have to check out what’s in those docs. I should at least understand what’s in my possession, right? But, hey, that’s later me’s job. Right now, it’s Flamigo time. 

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By the time I got back, Callum had finally finished up with his painting. Boy, did it look stellar . I’ve already given my thoughts on it, but all the finishing touches did was reinforce that philosophy. And by comparison, it also made my portrait look even more sad than before. Oh well, that’s what my own finishing touches are for. 

“Ah, there you are. I’ve just finished, you can take the colors I was using for yours, now.” I took what he had, which were the basic colors of green, red, blue, and yellow, and as they were handed off to me, Callum whispered one last thing. “And by the way, you definitely need them, no offense.” Thanks Callum. 

I already had a background in mind for this. With green, I can draw some grass, and with blue, I can maybe draw some water… but then again, I’ve got to use that for the sky, so I’ll have to space out the water and the sky with the grassy area. May as well start with the horizon.

I began to work with blinding speed. At least, I hoped it was blinding speed. Class only had about fifteen minutes left, after all. I started with the green line down the middle. As the horizon, it would show where the cutoff between sky and land was. It was a bit uneven, because unfortunately for me, my itchy rash still persisted, but it was serviceable enough. I doubt anyone will notice. 

Next came the sky. I chose to tackle it first due to the fact it required less detail than the land, which means I can get more of the painting done quicker. I filled in a big yellow sun to start with, a nice, classic old thing in the top right corner of the painting, and then began on the blue. It takes a heck of a long time to fill up, but I made some good headway smoothly and quickly. I accidentally brushed into Flamigo a few times, and the pink ended up merging with the blue at some points, so the further down I went, the more purple the sky became as a result. Maybe I could say that it was becoming nighttime? Yeah, that could work. 

The land came much more smoothly. I started by creating a small pool of water around Flamigo, but it ended up being a bit messy, and once again merged with the colors used for Flamigo. Unfortunate, but not unworkable. I separated the water and the sky with some green, for the grass, and continued to fill in the rest of the land as best as I could. 

“Five minutes, class! Five minutes!” 

Oh dear. I’m nearly done with the thing too. Just a bit more green… and I should be good to go. Let’s just finish up here and…. 

Ah phooey, accidentally brushed into the water. Curse this itch. Better hope he doesn’t notice the sudden shade change around the leg. At the very least, this is coming along… alright. It’s not going to be hung in a museum or anything, but I think it’s looking… serviceable. 

At the very least, this should be the last of the finishing touches… and….

“Alright class, the bell’s about to ring! Get packed up for your next class!” Mr. Vermelhike went back to his computer, but sprung up again almost immediately. “Oh! I almost forgot! It’s lunch next! Get ready for lunch, class! And before I forget, make sure to return the paints to the cabinet at the back!” 

I returned the paints on behalf of Callum, (It was somehow much easier to put them back than when we needed to obtain them the first time around) as we both took a seat in urgent spirits. I looked up at the Flamigo painting. Looks like it was made in first grade, what, with the horribly deformed Pokemon in the center and the appalling mixed colors meshing together to create one unholy abomination, but at least I don’t think I’ll be failing today’s assignment any time soon. 

“So, John, you ready for lunch?” Callum asked, completely out of the blue. 

“Boy, am I ever. Today’s been a wild one.” 

“Haha, I can tell.” A smirk crossed his face, which was deeply disturbing. “Speaking of which, I’ve heard they’re serving strawberry shortcake alongside lunch today.” 

Ok, now that explains the devilish grin. Being one of my lifelong friends, this guy knows my darkest secret: I’m a sucker for strawberry shortcake. I just can’t get enough of that confection… that taste… it’s just so perfect. Definitely what I’d describe as the quintessential food. And the school cafeteria was serving it today… that was a miracle in and of itself. They never serve good food, but the fact that strawberry shortcake is even there is a blessing from the heavens. Nothing is stopping me from getting my meal today. 

And with that new goal in mind, the bell rung to indicate the end of class, and I was out of there, Callum following close behind. Lunch is always the best period of the day, so needless to say, I’m glad I’ll at least be getting a break from the mess that’s been going on recently. Nothing can possibly go further south from here.

Chapter Text

Target acquired. The strawberry shortcake is now in my possession. And might I say, it’s a pretty darn good one too. Today truly is a good day.

Well, in one aspect, at least. The rest of it… kind of debatable honestly. But, man, you can’t get anything better than lunch time. You get to chill with your buds, not have to worry about the assignments for the day, that kind of thing. And that’s exactly what I’m doing right now, not worrying about that one assignment I forgot to do last night that I only just remembered while I was in line for strawberry shortcake, while chilling with my friends. This is the ideal of life. The ideal that says I’ll deal with the first part of all that later. 

So here I am now, chilling with my friends, as we’re waiting for the last of us to arrive. Us four are practically inseparable. We’ve known each other for a good while now, some of us more than others, of course. I’ve known Callum for a heck of a long time, but I’ve only met the other two members of our group recently. Well, recently compared to Callum. Me and him have known them for about a year at this point, and we hit it off almost immediately. Unfortunately for us, though, we all hardly share classes, so this is really our only opportunity to have all four of us together at once… and hey, speaking of, there she is, the last one of us to show up, late as usual. 

And now, as it always is with us, the moment all four of us are here, we waste no time getting right down to business. Casual stuff, how’s your day, anything interesting, all that stuff. Watch. 

“So, how’s everyone been doing? Hope that your teachers haven’t been putting you through the ringer.” Yep, see, there you go. Callum even started it, as usual. With us, it’s like clockwork. And it’s beautiful. 

Our next friend, Geronimo, chose to follow up on Callum’s inquiry. “Well, I still really dislike Mr. Zut, but he actually went easier on us today than normal. We got to watch this quite excellent documentary instead of the usual lecture.” If you couldn’t tell, Geronimo’s basically the chatterbox of our group, and he always seems to know everything. The living thesaurus we call him. I think he’s probably the only person who would get excited over a documentary just for the fun of it. I know I’d personally get excited just for the opportunity to take a nap in the vague hope of repairing my below average sleep schedule, but when Mr. Navet’s your teacher, you tend to have problems with that. 

“Ha, I wish my teacher would let us watch a documentary. I dunno about you guys, but his voice is like the audio equivalent of watching paint dry,” replied Callum, somehow already halfway through his very large sandwich. 

“I think personally that I’d just take a nap,” I said, deciding to chime in with my opinion. The others laughed at the joke, so I’d say that was a success. Though I notice Geronimo’s staring at me with dead set eyes that signal to me that he is about to serve his own form of vengeance. Not looking forward to this one.

“John, education is something of such a high value that you can’t just degrade it like you are. Taking a nap is highly  irresponsible, and definitely illustrates to me that your sleep schedule is certainly subpar.”

“Well, what time do you go to bed then, Mr. ‘Your Sleep Schedule is Subpar’?” 

“Ten PM at the latest, Mr. ‘I’m Highly Irresponsible and Got Publicly Humiliated by a History Teacher.”

Yeah, ok, so let’s back that one up a bit. I am not going to take that from Geronimo of all people, for starters, and secondly, ten PM? Literally how ? He has to have some kind of Pokemon helping him with his homework, there is no way. 

Ok, never mind that, I’ll ask him later. Right now, I’ve gotta sidetrack this before he starts bringing up embarrassing moments in my past. Geronimo plays dirty. Never underestimate Geronimo. 

“Ok, well, look, it's not my fault a crazy old lady with anger issues forced me to walk around the woods at nightfall. You’d be having a terrible sleep schedule too if you nearly became Cascoon lunch.”

“I still wonder how you get into these situations sometimes, John.” And that was the fourth member of our group, Lila, popping in at long last. “Like, seriously, Cascoon lunch?” Lila is a close friend of ours, and probably the only one with an establishment of common sense here. I sometimes feel like she heavily questions her life decisions every time she’s here with us. Still, she has fun with us all the same, and I’m never letting down the one time that… wait I’m getting off track. I am not letting this attack on my integrity stand. 

“Well look, I don’t get into them all the time -”

“Just last class you had a whole situation because you couldn’t paint properly.”

“Shut up Callum.” 

“Well, look, they do kind of have points, John,” said Geronimo, adjusting his glasses.

All I could say in response was let out sputtered attempts at an argument as the others laughed at my plight. Unfortunately, I also have to admit that they had a point. Just this past day alone I’ve gotten into more misadventures than I’d normally want. Like, we had “thing that shall not be named,” monkey assault, getting yelled at by an old lady, coming into ownership of heavily classified documents, getting sent to detention later, landing a “get together” with Contour, having to return said heavily classified documents, then go stargazing. Oh and also get a real funky rash. Fun.

But hey, bantering with these guys is just plain fun. I’m gonna savor this, especially given the fact that classes are an absolute slog by comparison. This is probably the most fun I have during the school day. 

Well, it seems the laughter’s died down at least, we’re all just eating our food now. Honestly, I’m just glad they didn’t bring up the time I got attacked by a Surskit on complete accident. Who knew throwing a rock near a Pokemon would get it angry?

“So, guys, kind of unrelated, but, you all know how we’re going stargazing later?” asked Lila. 

“Yeah, I mean, how could we forget?” You know, I say that when I forgot about it completely last night. I may be the biggest form of hypocrite out there. 

“Well, I was thinking, after stargazing, we do have a day off on the day after tomorrow…”

“And? What’s your idea?” inquired Geronimo. 

“Well, you see, I found this really cool place down by Meteor Falls… sort of close by to the beach… and I was wondering if you guys would like to come along?” 

A place down by the beach? Well, I admit, the beach is nice, I don’t see what’s so special about this place in particular.

“If it aids with your thought processes in any way, it’s this old log cabin that they rent out from time to time. I was thinking we could rent it out, us four, and have a good time on our day off.” 

Well okay, that certainly helps a fair bit. I’m not opposed to staying someplace close to the shore… that just sounds like fun waiting to happen. Definitely sounds like a grand old time waiting to happen. 

“Sounds fun! I’m down for it.” Callum nodded to my right in agreement, but Geronimo didn’t seem so sure.

“Hold your horses, you two. Lila, do we have to pay money to rent out that place? I’d appreciate some general figure before we make plans.”

Lila smirked as soon as Geronimo finished. “I thought you’d ask that, so I kind of prepared a little something in advance.” She reached for her school bag, and after a little bit of digging inside of it, pulled out what she was after. “I prepared some tickets for you all. Show these to the person on the first floor of the cabin and they’ll know you guys are with me.” She motioned for us to grab them, and each of us took one each. However, something was a little odd about the tickets that I needed to ask about. 

“Lila, why are there five tickets? I thought you said it was just going to be us four?” 

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention… I suppose now’s a good time to bring this up. I was going to invite another friend of mine to come along with… you probably don’t know her.” 

Another friend? That’s not the worst thing in the world. Might be a bit awkward at first, but it doesn’t seem like that would be too world shattering. 

“Oh! Speaking of, there she is right over there!” Lila stood up to wave at her friend, but as we all turned to see who it was… well, I realized who it was almost immediately. 

“August! It’s great to see you!” Lila got up and hugged August as the two began talking to each other. 

Great, it was August from math class. I guess it’s nice that I know her in advance… but like, her? How do those two even know each other? 

“You have great timing, as usual, I was just handing out the tickets now.”

“Oh, wow, really?” She snickered. “Am I just that good, or what?”

The two continued chatting as Callum leaned in to ask me something.  

“John, what’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“It’s not that I’ve seen a ghost, it’s just that… well… she’s in my math class.”

“Who, that August girl?”

“Yep, her.”

“Well, that’s good, you know a friend of a friend.”

“Callum, I don’t think you understand.”

“What do I not get here?”

“We had to work together earlier.”

“Oh.” Guess I should start explaining now. 

“Her Pikachu hates my guts, and she’s started calling me annoying nicknames as well. You do not understand how annoying that’s going to get if she keeps it up.”

Callum snorted. Thanks Callum.

“Well, I can’t help you much there, buddy. At the very least, it’ll be fun to watch.”

Callum laughed to himself silently as August and Lila seemingly finished their talk. Lila had seemingly begun introducing us as it wrapped up. Welp, here’s hoping. 

“Alright, so these are my three friends that I’ve talked to you about. That guy on the right with the glasses and the nerdy look is Geronimo, the big one to the left is Callum, and that plain looking guy is…”

“Mousetrap!? You’re friends with Lila?” Lila looked between the two of us, quite surprised. Dear Arceus, I can already tell what was about to happen. I was hoping she wouldn’t remember the Mousetrap thing, but admittedly, it was unlikely that things would be so convenient. Guess I have to roll with this. 

“Ok, firstly, do not call me Mousetrap again,” The damage had already been done of course. If Callum wasn’t silently laughing at me before, then now was what I’d like to call “Callum silently dies,” while Geronimo was smirking off to the side. When Geronimo was smirking, you know deep inside of you that he’s never letting this one go. “And secondly, yes, we do know each other, I’ve been friends with Lila for a long while now.” 

“Wow, small world, huh? Who knew Mousetrap from Math class was friends with Lila over here?” 

“Well, look, how do you know Lila, then? You’ve never been brought up before.”  

“Well, I’d assume, Mousetrap, that it’s because it’s certainly a bit weird to randomly gossip about people you don’t know, eh? I’ve been buds for Lila for a good while now, ever since that one science project, right Mistletoe? 

“Er, yeah, that’s correct.” Lila seemed a bit caught off guard from that. What was that nickname August just used, Mistletoe? Yeah, I feel Lila’s feeling about the same thing I am right now with the “Mousetrap” thing. 

“So, yep, I’ll be joining you all, if that’s alright. It’ll be good to get closer to some new people, a friend of Mistletoe’s is a friend of mine” August smirked as she glanced my way. “Especially since I already know one of them.” 

Wow, that gave me chills down my spine. Knowing August, I can only expect that this is going to be fun for her and not so fun for me. 

Callum and Geronimo both gave their proper greetings to August, though she soon left for another table some other friends of hers were at. By this point, it was nearing the end of lunch, and the others were discussing August as they were packing up.

“Well, she seems nice,” said Callum. 

Geronimo also popped in with his thoughts. “Though, she seems a bit… how do you put it…” 

“She teases people a lot, if that’s what you’re trying to get at, Geronimo. From my one interaction with her, she seems to just do that as a habit. Not too worrisome, granted, but it definitely can be a bit uncomfortable if you don’t like it.” 

“Hm, yes, that definitely seems to summarize my thoughts exactly.” Geronimo readjusted his glasses as Lila soon followed up on his statement.

“Though, speaking of, John, I didn’t know you knew her in advance. You seemed a bit… apprehensive about the whole thing. You didn’t get rubbed the wrong way, did you?”  

“No, no, I’m fine. She’s fine, it’s nothing too big, and nothing to worry about.”  

Lila seemed to eye me for a moment before letting down her glare. Seems she’s satisfied for now. 

“Well, at the very least John, could you answer me this one quick thing?” A smile was blooming on her face as she was saying this, I’m getting concerned now. “Where exactly did this whole ‘Mousetrap’ thing come from?” 

Shoot. “I-, well, funny story, actually-” 

A gift from the heavens descended to make my day as the bell for the end of lunch rang. Thank Arceus I don’t have to explain the origins of that nickname. Time to make my exit as everyone’s stampeding out of here.

“Oh hey, bell’s rung, catch you later guys!” I darted off into the crowd before Lila could respond to me, but hey, no biggie this time around. If she has any questions, she can ask August personally. 

…

Wait. That’s actually worse for me. Shoot. I really need to start thinking these things through more. Oh well, I suppose I can set the record straight then. Though, thinking about it… why am I getting so hung up over this? Just seeing August was an uncomfortable situation, but I don’t necessarily hate her. She teases you and it’s embarrassing, but that’s more funny than it is bad. There’s just something… something about that first meeting that’s been pushing me the wrong way… but what was it?

…Shoot! Almost bumped into some dude, need to watch where I’m going. I can worry about August later… Right now I need to get to my next class without being mauled by people who are twice my size. Seriously, how are these kids even near our age? Oh well, my next class isn’t too far from here, so no need to rush. Not that I even can anyways, given the amount of people. 

But still, I just hope that the cabin thingamajig that’s happening in a few days will go well. Something always seems to happen with me, whether it be sickness or what have you.

But what do I have to worry about beyond a simple rash? I’m sure it’ll go fine.

Chapter Text

After the night in the forest he had just experienced, the last thing Seedot needed was to be subjected to more of Ms. LeFitz’s ramblings. 

Ever since last night, Ms. LeFitz had been brainstorming various ideas on what she could use John Gravy for after the failed Petaya gathering. Seedot was less than pleased by this, as it would mean that, yet again, he would have to go and risk himself on these chores. Hopefully John wouldn’t try getting himself killed again, like he had several times by this point. After he had touched that feather, Seedot was very much questioning the boy’s self preservation skills. 

Seedot had seen it, the feather, and he had immediately deduced it as unnatural. It gave off an aura… a feeling… That something about it was wrong. It shouldn’t have existed, and it should never have existed. And yet he should’ve expected the human to pick it up. It looked mundane, and John most likely wasn’t detecting the same feeling he was. Humans were much more out of touch with their feelings than Pokemon were. 

The merging… the melding that had occurred with John… It spelled bad news for him. Seedot didn’t know what would happen, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that he had to find out more about the feather. If his gut turned out to be correct, and the feather was indeed a threat of some kind… Well, Seedot didn’t want to chance the thought. He had to get to the bottom of this. And he knew just the Pokemon who could help him out. 

Seedot hopped several times on the crate he was standing on to signal for Ms. LeFitz’s attention. Ms. LeFitz, despite her focus on brainstorming, briefly snapped her attention to Seedot. Ms. LeFitz’s displeasure at the interruption could not be adequately described by just words, but she held her tongue for Seedot. Seedot was always happy for that small saving grace, as he had heard all sorts of vulgar things from her mouth over the years, and he certainly didn’t enjoy being on the receiving end. He had heard enough of that when he was younger. 

“Seedot, what’s wrong?” Ms. LeFitz was urgently waiting for Seedot’s answer. Seedot jumped a few times before motioning towards the city. To anyone else, it’d be nonsensical, but Ms. LeFitz perfectly understood his intentions after all these years of being with him. “You wish to take a walk?” Seedot jumped up and down several times with glee, signaling to Ms. LeFitz that she was correct. “Well, alright, just don’t get lost. I’m too old to be chasing after you.” 

Seedot wasted no time in hopping off his crate to go to his destination. He had exactly one person in mind to ask, and he hoped that they were available. It was always busy around this time of day, but then again, at what time were they ever available?

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Taking in the sights of Rustboro City was always nice, but it wasn’t so nice for Seedot with his stubby little feet. It had felt like miles he had walked so far, but for anyone else, it was a distance easily achievable in a short walk. Some days he wished he had evolved into a Nuzleaf. At least they had legs. 

“Ah, if it isn’t little Seedot! I spy you down there clear as day!” Seedot sighed. He knew this Pokemon just by voice alone, but despite how much of a chatterbox they were, they would be very beneficial right now. 

“Swablu! It’s good to see you!” Swablu fluttered down from the sky to greet Seedot, perching on his head, much to his displeasure. 

“How’s it going little acorn? I haven’t seen you in forever! How’s the old hag treating you?” Swablu pecked Seedot’s head. “Hm, still hollow. I tell you Seedot, you need to read some books at the library to beef up that brain of yours.” 

Seedot had only grown mildly annoyed. “Once again, Swablu, she is not an old hag… And could you please get off of my head?”

“Fine, sorry, sorry.” Swablu flew off of Seedot’s head, landing on the ground in front of him. The Cotton Bird Pokemon began preening her feathers as Seedot chose to move the conversation along. 

“The reason I’m out and about, Swablu, is that I’m doing some research on something. Would you happen to know where Castform is right now?” 

“Castform? You’re off talking to that hot shot again? At this point, you’re better off just marrying her.”

Seedot was visibly irritated at this point. “Look, Swablu, I need some information from her, and you know as well as I do that she’s the best source.” 

Swablu was visibly disappointed, but gave in to Seedot’s requests. “Fine, fine, I do know where she is. She’s out on a stroll by Rusturf Tunnel, I saw her there a little while ago after I dropped some Ganlon Berries on her head.” 

“Ignoring that last part, that’s great to hear.” Could you give me a lift?” 

Swablu sighed. “If you planned to move around so much, you should’ve just grown wings. You ever consider evolving into Nuzleaf sometime?” 

“Swablu, I’m too old of an acorn to be judging decisions like that, Swablu. Just help a friend out, alright?” 

“Fine, but you better expect that you’re gonna owe me a big favor after this. Hm…. let’s see, what could I get you to help me out with….?” 

Seedot chuckled to himself as he hopped onto Swablu’s back. Swablu soon attained lift-off, and the duo were on their way to Rusturf Tunnel. It was only a short flight to the Tunnel from Rustboro, but for someone like Seedot, Castform would’ve been long gone by the time he got there. Seedot hoped Ms. LeFitz wouldn’t find out about him going this far away from the city, otherwise she’d probably never let him go out for a walk again. Well, he had his ways anyway. Not like she’d ever know he had snuck this far out. Oh well.

Seedot knew full well that if anyone had information on the feather, it was Castform. Castform had ears in all sorts of high places, so talking to her was a safe bet on getting information. He had his ways of coaxing information out of her, but if the situation was big enough, perhaps she’d spill the beans without much trouble. Hopefully it’d be the former. While the latter was easier, it meant only bad things for John. Seedot hoped it wasn’t those kinds of things. For John’s sake. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swablu and Seedot made their landing outside of the tunnel a few minutes after departing the city. Locating Castform had been a simple task, because as it turned out, she stood out like a sore thumb among the bright greens of the cave exterior. Swablu dropped Seedot off right next to Castform, as she flew off to a perch in a nearby tree.

Castform watched as Seedot approached her. Castform, having been enjoying the walk, was now filled with curiosity at the current situation. “Heya Seedot, it’s been a while. Riding in style I see?”

“It’s not my fault you decided to “take a stroll” so far away from where I live, Castform.” 

Castform scoffed. “I wasn’t expecting the company today. To what do I owe the pleasure? I assume you’re looking for more information, in which case I can safely say that I am not spilling anything to you today.”

Seedot briefly glanced into the cave ahead, before turning back to Swablu.

“Could we talk in the Tunnel up ahead?” Seedot made a gesture towards the tunnel as Castform began to scold him. 

“I’ve already told you this. I may be privy to all sorts of things, but that doesn’t mean I can go and give loads of top secrets to those who come asking for it all willy-nilly-”

“Castform, what do you happen to know about red feathers?” 

Castform immediately stopped. To an outsider, no one would have noticed a change, but for Seedot, he knew immediately that she had gone pale. 

“R-red…. f-feathers?”

“Could we please talk in the cave?” 

Castform barely spared a thought before responding. 

“Yes, let’s. If it’s what I think you’re talking about… it’s imperative that you give me all the details.” 

Castform began floating towards the cave, with Seedot following behind her. Swablu, however, fluttered towards Seedot with objections. 

“Seedot…. I’ve never seen her so utterly terrified before… What did you ask her?”

“Look, Swablu, I’ll tell you some other time. For right now, just wait out here, I’ll only be a minute with Castform.”

Swablu was concerned, but she merely flew back up to the treeline in response to Seedot. Seedot watched, but soon turned tail towards the cave. The sooner he was over with this, the better he would be able to assess the situation at hand. Judging by Castform’s reaction… she had gone with the worst-case response. Not the best sign. 

Still, Seedot could only hope that whatever Castform was about to tell him, that John would be alright. Though that hope was growing slim. Hopefully John was doing alright, now, wherever he was.

Chapter Text

Boy, do I love having to go to a separate building for this one class in particular. 

Today’s next class on the chopping block is Science. Science is a pretty decent class, so it’s not at all bad. Heck, it’s kind of easy if you ask me. But at the same time, being in a separate building on the school’s campus makes it pretty inconvenient. Have to go to a completely different area than for every other class. At the very least, the trip is ironically much quicker. There’s less people when you’re going down a more out of the way path like this. 

Still, the Science Department getting its own building will never stop being funny to me. What were their reasons? Were they talking to each other one day and they threw darts at a board to decide what to use a spare building for? Did the head of the Department bribe the headmaster with cake or something? I suppose I’ll never know, but you can definitely tell where their preferences were when it came to this building. Gotta feel bad for Art. They get a small wing while Science gets a whole building. Poor Mr. Vermelhike. 

At the very least, Science certainly wasn’t the worst class to dedicate a whole building to. Those science nuts were always experimenting with something. Give scientists a lab and who knows what kind of stuff they’ll brew up. Granted, I use “scientists” loosely, most of them were students being overseen by teachers when both parties got bored one evening. They can do anything ranging from chemical reactions to attempting to revive a fossil on any given day. I remember one dude had a whole genetics lab set up. I always found that one interesting. Maybe they were making a genetic abomination in there? Mewtwo Part Two: Mewtwo Strikes Back. Heh, man, imagine. That would certainly be more exciting than half of our school days.

…

Why did that spring to mind all of a sudden? Maybe that whole… melty hand thing, is reminding me of it. I mean, that certainly can’t be some natural thing, can it? They’d certainly be the best guys to talk to when it comes to unnatural looking things like that… 

Eh, it’s probably nothing. Last thing I need is wasting some sciency guys’ time and getting them all mad with me. One time, we had a guest scientist visit the school. Very distinguished guy from Unova with a weird hairdo. He was very nice, very patient and always answered every question with a dignified calm, but one student managed to irritate him a lot…. Let’s just say that I tend to avoid asking too many questions in Science class for a reason. 

Still, this building is the answer to the question of “Where does the school’s budget go?” The place is literally the cleanest building I’ve seen so far, which is kind of surprising given the fact that it’s, y’know, the Science building. You think it’d be the messiest with everything that goes on in there. Like, one of the Pokemon who carries stuff around is a Spinda. Like, seriously, how has it not spilled anything yet?

Though, as a result, this building is the definition of a pure white void. Thank goodness I’m not particularly interested in Science. I wouldn’t want to be specializing in the class if I was in a place like this. Working in this building would drive me insane. This kind of whiteness is basically like looking at Devon Corp’s building all day. It hurts to look at. At least my class is safe to view for those who don’t stare into the sun all day. Speaking of, and thank goodness, for my eyes’ sake, class was only a few rooms away from the entrance. 

The classroom itself was much less tidy than the halls, I assume due to the frequent number of experiments that go on in here. Some of this stuff is kind of impossible to clean up. Splotches of dried out liquids are splattered about here and there on the walls and floors. The hallways are definitely compensating for this. 

Our desks weren’t as messy at least, but they were literally just workbenches with chairs on them. Pretty standard fare science lab stuff. And speaking of standard fare, today seemed to just be a basic lecture, so I guess I don’t have to worry about doing anything extensive today. After the last lab we did, I’m not exactly looking forward to the next one. I still can’t get the smell out of that sweatshirt. 

My tablemate soon took his seat next to me. I’m not too familiar with him, but I do know that his name’s Cedar. All I know about him is that he wants to become a Professor one day, which I only know from conversations I’ve overheard. I don’t really know anyone in this class other than him and the teacher, and I only know Cedar because we’ve had to work together as partners before. And speaking of, here comes the teacher. 

Our Science teacher is Mrs. Dentro. She’s newer to the school than the other teachers, in fact, she only came into the job pretty much as the school year started. Our old teacher had to leave due to unspecified circumstances, so she came in as a surprise replacement. Still, it feels like barely a feather was ruffled, she felt like she was made for this job. What’s odd to me was how young she was. She looked fresh out of college, which is a bit odd given this is… well, a college. I’m not one to judge though, because if she’s handling other college students this well, then she certainly must be good at her job. At least she’s friendly. I’ve had some nasty substitutes in the past, so at least she’s doing a better job than them. Not to mention, she’s very easy to get into contact with for help, both in person and online. Her pink hair stands out among any crowd around here. 

“Good afternoon, class. It’s great to see you all today.” She gave a small smile before continuing on. “Today shall merely be a day of review before your test next week. I’ll be reviewing some topics up on the board, so follow along and I’m sure you’ll all do great.”

Oh right, the Science test. Definitely very excited about that. Totally, one hundred percent. Ah well, not like it was a big quiz anywho, I just needed to keep my head in order and I’d do fine, and so long as nothing springs up all of a sudden that would impede my test taking ability, I doubt my head will be anything but fine. It’s not like this unit is hard, anyway. We’re just learning about basic Pokemon habitats and behaviors and the like, which is pretty rudimentary stuff. Where does Zubat live? Oh, it lives in caves. What two Pokemon have a famous territorial clash almost constantly? Zangoose and Seviper. What’s a common Pokemon who lives in small forests? Seedot. 

Oh, hey, Seedot, good to see you in my thoughts, how have you been? 

…

I’m talking to my brain again. I really need to find better things to do with my time. 

Not like the board is much more interesting, anyway. It’s just a bunch of material I already know. Looks like I’m just going to have to sit this one out.

Let’s see, what’s coming up… I have to go to one more class after this, so there’s that. Then I have the stargazing later, that’s something to look forward to. I guess I have to return those documents? Kind of tedious, but so long as I avoid Ms. LeFitz’s hours, I should be fine. 

Man, there just isn’t much to think about that I haven’t thought about thoroughly already. What’s everyone else doing right now? 

Cedar seems to be doing… something… wait no he’s just taking notes. Darn, I was hoping something exciting would be going on. Ok, let’s see… Mrs. Dentro is still going on and on, this time about the predators of the sea. Same old “Sharpedo and Gorebyss should be avoided” shtick. No one else seems to be doing anything… 

This is one of those days I wish I could just go to sleep on command. At least then Battle Studies would be a more bearable class than it currently is. Hey, with how early the class is tomorrow morning, I might just fall asleep by myself…. 

Wait, hang on… we only have class that early if… 

Did I seriously just convince myself I had a class today that I didn’t actually have? Maybe that rash is starting to get to my brain. I hope it isn’t in my brain. Uh, anyway, in short summary, I guess I have no other classes after this. I completely forgot that I don’t have Battle Studies today. I guess I just have to make sure I get an adequate amount of sleep for it tomorrow… ah, who am I kidding? Stargazing is way more fun, and it’s not like I do anything in that class anyways. Having to do the equivalent of “diet” assignments is one upside to not owning a Pokemon, but it still doesn’t alleviate the tedium of doing them.

Wonder what he’ll make me do tomorrow? “Write a paragraph on Electric types’ abilities in battle,” or maybe something like “Give three examples of Dark type Pokemon, Give three examples of Ice type Pokemon,” etc etc. Yeah, maybe it would be good to learn how to go to sleep on command. I should ask Callum how he does it… oop, I’m being called on. 

“Mr. Gravy, just to check for awareness, what are three examples of Pokemon acclimatized to the Jagged Pass region of Mt. Chimney?”

“Uh… Machop, Spoink, and Numel?” 

“Correct, excellent job Mr. Gravy. Now, next question for the class, what is a Pokemon that naturally prey upon wild Wurmple?” 

Oh well, I guess this is something to do. Better than mulling over nothing to myself. 

“Ah, Mr. Gravy, thank you for raising your hand. Now, what would be an answer to that question?”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

…And we’re finally done. Woohoo. 

It was mostly just losing focus when she was talking, and then answering questions when asked. An average class, but at least none of the work required constant activity. Pretty chill, pretty fun answering questions… It's a very easy way to end the day off, that’s for sure. 

Still, being on the grassy paths leading out of the science building, it’s great to see the day over. The wind was blowing, it was nice out, and I had no classes. Some other students still had classes, though. It’s going to be very noisy later. 

Still, I have a couple of free hours now… I feel like I’m forgetting something. Am I forgetting something? Eh, it’s probably nothing. If I forgot, it wasn’t important. Well, in most cases anyway. One time I left this really good sandwich on the table once, and… ah well, it’s water under the bridge now. I’ll never forget the sight of that Zigzagoon. 

Still, with the day over and classes done, I headed back to my dorm to relax. It feels like it’s been an eternity since I’ve been up there. This day has been one of my longest in a while. Hopefully tomorrow is a little nicer. At least I had the stargazing to look forward to later. 

I passed by the worn down reception desk and entered the elevator. I still had some work to do, but thankfully, the teachers didn’t really decide to assign much of anything today. I might need to double check my math homework later though, with a little thing called “Totally not cheating.” 

As I exited the elevator, it was very clear to see that it had filled up immensely since early this morning. They’re probably just coming back from classes. They’re also probably not butt tired yet, and I doubt we’re having a dorm party this early.  I really need to get into one of those parties sometime, they look like fun. But then again, who do I know that-

Wait, hang on. Why is my door unlocked? I could’ve sworn that I locked it earlier-

“Oh, hey hey hey, who’s there? I’m just doing a routine inspection, is all. Move along.” 

Oh Arceus, there is no way that he actually-

“Contour!? What are you doing in my room?” 

Opening the door, I found Contour on his knees on the floor, examining some papers in my room. By the looks of it, he’s looked through nearly everything in the room, the whole place was a mess… wait hang on, papers? I recognize those-

“Ah, John, great to see you, just the person I was looking for! Decided to pop in a little bit earlier than expected. You wouldn’t mind explaining where you got these documents marked “Top Secret: Property of Devon Corp”, would you?” 

And just when I thought this day was looking up. 

Chapter Text

“Contour, what in the ever living heck are you doing in my room!?”

So, I walk into my room, and I’m greeted by the sight of an over enthusiastic security guard digging through my stuff and browsing top secret documents I may or may not have accidentally “borrowed,” and also, he’s doing it on the floor. Like a normal professional.  

“Well, I’m a security guard. I have full permission to break into your rooms whenever I feel like it. Typically for inspections and such. It works out pretty well, well, except for that one time I busted in on the two students who were-” 

“Ok I get it Contour-” 

“You get it? Good. It also means I have full legal permission to ask you why you have these .” He held up the Devon papers in front of his face. “Now, I’m sure your reasons are all well and good, but I need you to explain to me everything that happened in regards to these docs.” Contour got up and briefly flicked through the papers in front of me. “We received reports that the Devon Corporation lost some papers around the Campus area, so I’ve been busy rummaging through people’s dorms for a good couple hours now. I'm glad I made headway or else I’d be here for… sorry, me and my big mouth. I believe it’s your turn to speak. If you could, please explain where you got these and how.” 

Well, alright. Where do I begin when explaining this?

“Well, yesterday evening, I had just finished a trek through Petalburg Woods…”

“That late? That’s awfully dangerous.”

“Tell that to the old lady.” 

“I have no idea who this old lady is, but she sounds kind of scary, so I don’t blame you. Continue.” 

“...And on my way back I bumped into this guy in a business suit, all in a hurry, and he dropped his papers…”

“Uh-huh.”

“And he left a few behind when gathering them, so I kinda took them back to my dorm.”

Contour raised an eyebrow. “For what purpose?”

“To bring them back tomorrow after the school day was done.”

“Alright, lemme think for a moment.” Contour turned his back to me, and became almost dead silent. It was like his head had eyes on the back of it. It was giving me the heebie jeebies. I’ve never felt this kind of feeling around Contour before. I guess, if he does believe my explanation, that I should probably make sure not to get him on a bad day. 

The tension in the air suddenly dispersed as Contour turned back around with a smile.

“Okey doke, sounds cool. I figured as much anyways.” He put his hand around my shoulders as he began talking again. “Because, I mean, come on. John Gravy? Purposefully stealing documents from a highly influential organization? Don’t make me laugh!” He paused for a moment. “Not that you’re, y’know, completely incompetent or anything, but, I mean, it’s just completely above your paygrade, am I right or am I right man?” 

Thanks for the self-confidence boost Contour. You’re helping immensely. 

“At least I won’t have to pull out any of the severe punishments I was thinking of…” The what now? “Ah, but I suppose I should move on to the main matter at hand, those documents are very important to the Devon Corp, just from a quick read, so we should get a move on and deliver the docs back to them. As I’m a member of the…. Uh… the school’s security team, we’ll probably have a higher chance of being believed. So, come on, let’s go!” 

Contour began gathering up all the papers on the floor, and before I could even blink, was already out the door. I suppose this is going better than expected, given that it won’t be entirely awkward trying to explain this to the Devon Corp people, but this kind of spontaneity is not my style.

“Come on, hurry up ya Slowpoke! Time's a wastin!” 

Well, let’s go, I guess. At least this isn’t going to be too horrible. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I take that back. It was ever so slightly not the greatest thing, to put it lightly. Contour kept nattering on and on about various things and how “funny it is that John Gravy stole secret documents.” This guy’s like a little kid sometimes. I’ve seen some younger cousins of some friends do this at parties. Frankly, the humor in that idea is the only thing keeping me sane right now.

“...Still, I have a friend, his name’s Michael, and he’s pretty cool and all. But I tell him, Michael, man, you need to get a cool codename like I use! And he always says “But you’re a security guard, you hardly need a codename!” And to that I say, of course I do, I mean, who doesn’t!? Having a codename is cool! It’s like saying radical or “what’s poppin,” you gotta leave an impression on people for them to take you seriously in this industry, am I right or am I right John?”

Please shut up, I think I’m going to have a migraine. 

“Uh, yeah, totally.” 

“You haven’t been paying attention, have you?”

“No, not really, sorry. I’ve just been…” What do I say here to get him off of my back? “...Thinking, a lot, about stuff. Yeah. Lots of stuff.” 

Contour paused for a moment, looking rather contemplative. Is he buying this? I do not want to have to deal with whatever he’s going to say if he calls my bluff. 

Contour gave a soft smile. “Yeah, I getcha. I think a lot, too. I have a bit too much free time, as a security guard, if you catch my drift.” He looked to the sky, for a moment, and paused. He seemed to be thinking of something he fondly remembered. 

Before I could ask, Contour had already shifted gears. “Sorry! See, now I’ve gotten all lost in thought, haha, cruel sense of irony, am I right?” He nudged my shoulder as he went back to staring at the sky, with his arms behind his head. “Well, anyway, here, how about we shift the topic of conversation to you for now? Tell me about your night out in the Woods. I’m interested, to say the least, especially since it ended with you gaining top secret documents.”

Right, the woods. It wasn’t really a “night out,” but I suppose I can just tell him. It’s not the hardest thing to recount in a short amount of time once you remove all the downtime from walking and the… thing. 

“Well alright.” I gave the best smile I could as I began recounting my tale. “Yesterday, I was getting pretty bored while doing my assignments, and decided to visit the woods for a hike.” Contour nodded in understanding. “...But on my way to the Woods, I got interrupted by this old lady who yells at me to do things for her.”

“Man, reminds me of home.” He snickered a little as he turned to me with an inquisitive look. “But, John, she’s just a random stranger, from what it sounds like. Why do you help her if she yells at you so much?”

“Because if I don’t, I have a guilty conscience and she yells at me more every time I pass by her market stall.” 

“Fair enough, continue.”  

“But yeah, she gets me to go collect some Petaya Berries in the woods…”

“Petayas? Those are really rare in there. How many did she want?”

“A whole crate.”

 “That’s just criminal. So much so it’d be more worthwhile to just up and arrest her.”

“Haha, I wish. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about going downtown so much. But yeah, me and her Seedot managed to get a decent number, but then…”

“A Seedot?”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“Well, it’s just… um, aren’t Seedot a bit, y’know, lacking, in the arms department?”

“Well it was the only help I had. Pickers can’t be choosers, as they say.” 

Contour thought for a little while, before signaling for me to continue. He clearly had a lot to say on the matter, but was refraining so I could tell my story. That was… oddly appreciative of him. Normally he’d be going on a tangent by now. My story can’t be that interesting, can it?

“Well, as we were walking, the crate I was carrying got snatched by a Vigoroth.”

“Oh, man, that does not sound fun. And I assume you challenged it to a Pokemon battle?” 

“I wish I could have, but Seedot isn’t exactly a prime battler. I doubt he could face down something like a Vigoroth.”

“I meant with your Pokemon. Surely you have at least one?”

Wait, does Contour of all people seriously not know that I don’t own a Pokemon? 

“Yeah… about that… I don’t really have one.”

Contour was dumbfounded. I think this is the most surprised I’ve ever seen him.

“Not a-one?”

“Nope.”

“Hm… color me surprised John. You look like you’d be a natural with a partner. Is there a reason why you’ve decided against it?”

“Not really, just kinda… never had the time, in a way.”

Contour paused for a moment before continuing. 

“Tell you what, I can catch something for you, or see if I can get an Egg of some kind. I may not look it, but I know a lot in the ways of Pokemon, so if there’s anything you’re interested in-”

I chose to cut him off there. “I appreciate the offer, Contour, but right now, I’m not interested in finding a partner Pokemon.”

Contour looked awfully dismayed as he turned away from me. 

“Well, alright, just know the offer’s always on the table, mate. I suppose you should continue your story?”

“Right, so after the Vigoroth, I-” Wait a sec. This is the part with the… thing. I’m not sure it’s wise to tell Contour of all people about that, knowing him and how I’m already in some semi-deep water with him over the Devon documents thing. An awfully fishy… thing, is not going to help my case, to say the least. But then again, he does have knowledge on all sorts of stuff. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt….?

“Ah, John, sorry to cut you off, but we’ve arrived. You can tell me later.” Ah good, Contour didn’t seem to find anything amiss with my mid-sentence stop… wait, we’re here? 

Oh, yep, that’s definitely the Devon Corp building alright. And it’s just as much of an eyesore as ever. They really need to tone down on the glass budget. 

Contour was also staring down the building, but unlike me, was having no difficulty with his eyes. Was he used to staring at the sun on a daily basis? I don’t know how any normal human’s eyes can withstand something like this building so readily. That’s just impressive. 

“Ok, John, follow my lead with this one.” I nodded to confirm. Like it or not, I have to trust Contour on this. Even if it is mainly because I’m in trouble with him, but hey, what can you do? 

We entered the building, and Contour sauntered over to the receptionist’s desk the second we entered. I guess the fact we’re the only ones in the lobby is giving him some confidence. Actually, scratch that. Knowing Contour, he’d probably do this anyway.

“Hi, name’s Contour, and I was wondering if I could have a word with your boss?” The boss? Why would we need to-

“Terribly sorry Mr. Contour, I’m afraid you’ll need to make a reservation if you wish to talk to the CEO, and even then, he’s incredibly busy right now-”

“Oh, that’s quite alright. I suppose these top secret documents of yours that we recovered should stay with us then. Toodeloo!” Contour turned tail and immediately began leaving for the exit door. 

What the heck is this guy doing? Just give him the documents and be over with it. Isn’t he meant to be the responsible one? 

Contour had walked back over to me with a smirk and a wink. To anyone else, it’d look like he was in complete control, but to me, I’m not so sure. But anyone could tell he was about to walk out the door and leave after proclaiming that he had top secret documents. What is he planning here? 

The receptionist looked hesitantly between the two of us. I could see his face sort of twist between the usual receptionist look, a very panicked look, and a very deeply contemplative look before finally calling back to Contour. 

“Could you please show me these “documents” you have in your possession?” 

Contour gave a massive smile as he turned back to the receptionist. “Of course, of course… Alrighty, lookie here!” Contour pulled the papers from behind his back, seemingly out of nowhere. I can confirm that, stating that I am directly behind him. I’m gonna have to ask him about his magic tricks sometime. 

“Let’s see here… something about… ooooo, gene alteration, DNA reassembly… very interesting stuff-”

“I-I’ll see if he’s available sir, please do be quiet, we don’t want to disturb anyone, now do we?” This guy was looking really nervous. Whatever was in the papers had unnerved him greatly. He said to stop so we wouldn’t disturb anyone, but nobody else was here. Whatever these documents are, they must be top class on whatever hidden secrecy scale they’re using if he’s getting so nervous about it. Contour is very good at applying pressure, it seems, and he looked ready to start reciting the entire table of contents of what was written in those papers. I guess he was refraining so his plan could work. That receptionist doesn’t know what kind of a small mercy that is. 

The receptionist hit some buttons on the intercom device on his desk, and began communication to whoever was on the other end. “Mr. Stone, two young men here to see you.” Oh, well that answers that, but who is Mr. Stone? “…They apparently have some documents on Project Thistle that were dropped the other day and are demanding an audience.” 

The intercom buzzed with silence for a few moments before a grainy voice answered. You’d think that a company like this would have better audio quality than that, but I suppose here we are. 

Some indistinct mumbling came through from the other end as the voice exited their end of the call. Whoever that is, they’re certainly efficient. 

“The CEO will see you now.” Oh, he just straight up called the CEO. I guess he really wasn’t that busy after all, then. “...Take the elevator and go to the top floor. Mr. Stone will greet you there.” Contour smiled and turned back to me.

“Excellent, come on John… oh, definitely need to use that one more… Uh, anyways, let’s go and meet the CEO of the Devon Corporation! This field trip is certainly more exciting than anything school sanctioned, eh?”

While you’re not wrong Contour, I seriously do not want to know what kind of hot water you’ve just gotten us into. To me, it feels more like an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” situation. We just met the little Murkrow at the front desk, and now we’re meeting the head Honchkrow. 

I just have to hope Contour knows at least some sense of responsibility. I swear, this guy’s gonna be the death of me one day. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The elevator ride was longer than a Wailord. At this point, it honestly might have been faster to take the stairs, so long as our legs didn’t cave in on the way up, anyway. People kept stopping the elevator to get on, and as we were aiming for the top floor, the elevator took us to every other available floor before that. It probably would’ve been better to come when it wasn’t in the middle of the day, but hey, I blame Contour for that.

Speaking of which, he was looking extremely annoyed. His cockiness from earlier had faded entirely. Probably was suffering with the boredom as much as I was, probably more so, knowing him. He was leaning against the side of the elevator right now. My bets are on his back hurting. My source? Mine does too. 

Contour finally chose to speak after he had stopped talking around twenty minutes ago. “Say, John. Do you need some anti-itch cream for your stomach? You’ve been scratching it like there’s no tomorrow.”

I had barely even registered that I was still doing that. I could definitely tell I’d been scratching a lot though. They say not to scratch a rash because it’ll only make it worse, but it’s almost subconscious scratching at this point. I can’t help it. Note to self, check that out later. 

“I’m fine, Contour. Just ran through some rough patches of ivy in the forest the other night.” 

“Hm… alright.” 

Contour didn’t seem to be in the talking mood right now, and I don’t blame him, being stuck in an elevator for this long would make me extremely bored as well. Knowing Contour, though, he’ll probably be on my back about it once he’s in high spirits again. He’s told me before that “As a security guard, it’s my job to look after all the students I watch over.” And let me tell you, he’s very truthful when it comes to that. A bit more than he’s probably meant to be, honestly. 

Both of us went silent for a while as another person boarded the elevator. Neither of us were too excited about how long this was taking, and I didn’t really feel too open to talking about this stuff while others were in the elevator with us. I’m fairly certain Contour felt the same, judging by how quiet he’s been. 

The person eventually exited the elevator, leaving it as just us two again. 

“Only a few floors away. Thank Arceus, I thought I was going to go insane.” I have never heard Contour sound so exasperated before. 

“Regretting sending us on this little detour yet? I’m not even sure why you did that.” 

“Ah, John, that’s a story for another day. But to answer the first part of your question, I’m not really regretting it just yet. I’ll have to wait and see how it goes before I can make a proper opinion.” He looked away from me with a contemplative glare directed at the elevator wall. “But I will say, this meeting is going to rock .” He winked. I assume that was a joke of some kind. I don’t get it. 

A few minutes passed, and the ding of the elevator reaching its destination reached our ears. The top floor. Salvation at last. 

“Alright, John, the guy we’re about to talk to is tres importante, like, this guy is the CEO of this whole company kinda tres importante. So let me do all the talking, capiche?”

“After what happened downstairs, I hope you aren’t going to try blackmailing him into something.” 

Contour winked. “No promises, John.” This guy scares me sometimes. 

We both headed into the office of whoever this guy was, and boy, was it lavish. Ornate statues and massive paintings were strewn about the place, and several displays were lined up as well. There were a few couches in the center, which were relatively modest by comparison, but they looked really unused. Guess he doesn’t get visitors often. And honestly, I don’t blame them. This place is bright . Who in their right mind would have a massive window be one of the walls? It’s reflecting off of everything . It’s like the exterior of the building except worse. 

“So, you’re these two visitors I’ve been hearing so much about. Took you long enough to show up.” I quickly turned to the voice, who turned out to be an elderly man. He looked and sounded very refined. He’s probably been living lavishly his whole life with the kind of attitude I’m getting from him. A Castform floated near his head, looking very curiously towards us. Hopefully it’s too distracted by Contour to notice me. After my previous dealings with Pokemon today, I don’t want to try explaining to Mr. Stone why his Pokemon is looking at me like I killed someone. 

“My apologies for our tardiness, Mr. Stone, I’m afraid we made the mistake of using your elevator system,” replied Contour. He definitely did not sound happy. These two had better not erupt into some passive aggressive tangent in front of me. 

Mr. Stone, or so he was apparently named, briefly looked sternly at Contour, but replaced it with a smile almost immediately. “Apologies, my dear boy, but our facility is always constantly busy, I’m sure you can understand.” 

“Of course I can, which is why I’m just gonna take a detour from elevators and move on to the main topic at hand here…”

“Yes, those documents you hold. I’m curious, where did you find them?”

“Ah, that’d be something for my friend here to explain. He’s the one who went and stumbled on them the other night, quite literally, so I’ve heard.” Mr. Stone turned to me. Great. I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to talk to this guy, but I suppose I have to now. 

“Er, yeah. I bumped into some guy with a suit last night, and he left a few papers behind on accident. I was waiting for a… um… more… appropriate time to bring them back, as I found them rather late in the day.” Mr. Stone grimaced, and he looked very close to just yelling at someone. Whatever these documents are, they must be important to something. Castform looked at me pensively. Seems it was in deep thought as much as Mr. Stone was. Like trainer like Pokemon, I guess. 

“I see. Thank you for collecting them. It would have been catastrophic if we were to lose them. Now, before your friend here gets all antsy about it…” Contour looked vaguely offended. “...I will not give you any further details about the project discussed in these papers, nor am I at liberty to disclose anything if I wanted to. This project is of the utmost secrecy and not for prying eyes. Could you please give me the papers?” 

Contour nodded, and walked up and gave Mr. Stone the papers. Mr. Stone flipped through the papers as he looked back to use. 

“Excellent. Thank you, you two, you may now go-”

“Sorry, it’s just, there’s a reason why I wanted to talk to you specifically.” Contour, what are you doing? “See, I’ve been interested in this place for a while now… and I was wondering… could me and my friend here take a look around the place? Obviously nowhere top secret unless we’re permitted, but I know full well that, in my case at least, I’ve always wanted to get a behind the scenes look at some of Devon’s next big hits.” Contour gave possibly the fakest smirk I’ve ever seen in my life. “So, could me and my friend here, pretty please with a cherry on top, take a looksie around?” 

The grimace had not left Mr. Stone’s face as he looked Contour over. “I don’t see why not.” He sounded like he had a lot he wanted to say about this. “But do note that visiting hours end at around eight o’clock, and that cameras are not allowed.” 

Contour nodded in agreement, and I followed suit. I honestly don’t feel like I need to go on this tour, but Contour is giving me some serious side-eye right now, and I feel he’s not going to drop this topic if I don’t go along with it. There’s already enough things I have to deal with when I encounter him, I do not want guilt to be one of them. 

Mr. Stone’s smile had returned, though noticeably more subdued. He almost seemed to be glaring at Contour, and honestly, I couldn’t blame him. This guy wriggles his way into all sorts of spots. 

He went back to his desk and hit a button on his intercom. “Mr. Goldbloom, could you please arrange for Mr. Janus to give our two…” He scanned the two of us over briefly. “... Guests , a guided tour of our thirty-eighth floor?” Some voices buzzed from the intercom that I couldn’t quite make out, and Mr. Stone mumbled a few agreements and such back. 

Contour nudged my arm, seemingly to tell me something. What could he be needing to talk to me about? It’s probably about this tour. It’s about time Contour’s told me something about what’s going on here. 

“Hey, John, what do you call what we’re seeing right now?”

“A man in the middle of arranging us a tour?” 

“Nope. A Girafarig on its birthday.” 

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“It does if you look hard enough.” 

I don’t think I’ll ever understand Contour.

Mr. Stone had seemingly wrapped up whatever he was busy doing, finishing his call with a couple of hushed thank yous and goodbyes before he turned back to us. 

“Mr. Janus will be awaiting you on the thirty eighth floor. There, he’ll give you a guided tour of some of our current experimental technologies. He’ll advise you on safety and such while you’re there. I hope you two have a good time.” He sounded like he wanted to add something else at the end, probably along the lines of a “and get out of my hair.” Mr. Stone is probably very done with us right now. 

Though, being honest, given Contour’s demeanor, I don’t blame him. 

“Got it boss.” Contour winked and turned to me. “Come on along, John, let’s go see this coolio corporate tour, and this time, we are taking the stairs!” Contour practically strong armed me and dragged me with him towards the exit. I managed to pipe out some semblance of thanks to Mr. Stone, but he was already looking deeply regretful about the whole thing, while Castform tittered lightly. That man looks very stressed. Can’t have but feel bad for him, despite his demeanor. There’s a reason why I’m not planning on being a corporate manager in my distant future. 

Still, headquarters tour. This should be fun, at least. Let’s get this show on the road. 

…

Wait, hang on. Mr. Stone? 

I get it now.

…

I am so going to kill Contour at the first opportunity I get.

Chapter Text

“Thank you for your patience, good sirs. We hope you are excited to witness some up and coming Devon products, especially since you’ll be the first members of the general public to experience it.” 

Me and Contour had finally made it to this fancy tour thing, which, woohoo! But as it turns out, it was a horrible idea attempting to climb down seventy something flights of stairs, and both of us were tired out of our minds. Boohoo. Contour was a bit less than I was, though granted, given his job, he probably does more workout daily than I’ve done in my entire life. Security guard does not sound like a relaxing job. 

The idea of Contour being extremely strong is not a mental image I want to have. Moving on… 

“Now, before we begin, if I could kindly ask you both to turn off any filming devices before we enter, such as phones and cameras, it would be greatly appreciated. If anything in this tour leaks, you are liable to be sued by the Devon Corporation, and we wouldn’t want that happening, now would we?”

“Nope, of course not,” replied Contour, currently leaning against the door. “But I do have one question before we enter.”

“And what would that be, sir?”

“Could I bring out my Pokemon?”

“I don’t see why not, but it depends on the species.”

Contour stood up from the door and reached for his belt. “Why don’t you let me show you, then?” He grasped two items on his belt and threw them out. I’d assume those were his… 

…Poke Balls, yep. 

Appearing from the sudden light were two Pokemon, both of them I recognized. First was a Metang. I remember seeing that one in lectures in Science and History a few times. They always had a bunch of mysteries surrounding them, which wasn’t helped, I’ve heard, by the difficulty in catching them. Contour certainly had skill in catching Pokemon to have a Metang by his side. 

And his second Pokemon was a Tangela. While it wasn’t normally native to Hoenn, I remember learning about this one back when I was younger. It was in this one picture book I loved, “Timothy Tangela.” It featured a Tangela who went on a quest to stop an evil dragon from fleeing the kingdom after it committed some crimes. Sounds dramatic for a children’s story, but hey, most of it was just teaching the lessons of not judging a book by its cover. The dragon and Timothy Tangela made up at the end of it. Ah man, this brings me back… 

Metang and Tangela hurriedly scanned their surroundings. Tangela looked at a window and winced from the light reflecting off the glass. I’m glad I’m not the only one. 

But before long, they ended up noticing me. And they didn’t just notice me. They were giving me the full death glare. Great, here we go again. 

Tangela was giving me some serious side eye. It was glancing back and forth between me and Contour, like it was checking if Contour was fine with me or not. Metang, meanwhile, was simply staring, and despite the lack of discernible emotion on its face, it looked almost… contemplative? I dunno, it’s hard enough figuring Seedot out, and Seedot at least shows actual emotions. Maybe it’s actually trying to figure out how tasty I am or something. But whatever the case, both of them were now staring me down.

This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Shoot. If both of them are concerned with me, than Contour is gonna be confused and want some further elaboration, and then I’ll have to explain the feather and-

Ok, maybe I could say I just smell bad from rolling in a mud patch yesterday? Actually, scratch that one, I don’t think either of them have a nose. Maybe…

Contour raised an eyebrow at his Pokemon before switching to a smile. I’ve only got bad feelings about this-

“Metang, Tangela, I take you both on a really cool top secret factory tour that hardly anyone’s ever going to experience, and here I catch the both of you staring at a close friend of mine like he stole your Poke Beans.” Tangela looked away in shame, and Metang merely continued staring. “Look, stop staring, both of you. It’s rude, and I assure you, he’s completely friendly.”

Metang and Tangela gave one last glance at each other before obeying. I don’t think either of them are completely trusting of me yet, but at the very least, I won’t have to deal with that on the way in. 

“Sorry about that, new people and all. I assure you that they’re very nice Pokemon… they just get a bit… how do I put this… hung up about things, sometimes.” He sideeyed the two of them, at which point Tangela decided that the ceiling was very interesting. Metang just kept staring blankly… oh, wait, hang on, I think I saw it blink. ….No, wait, that was just me blinking. Does that thing show any emotion? 

“Nah, don’t worry about it Contour, it’s fine. A lot of Pokemon just tend to get apprehensive around me, and I don’t quite know why.” It wasn’t exactly a lie , but I’m leaving out some critical pieces as to when. Worst comes to worst I fall back on the old, “family Poochyena” excuse. 

“Now it’s my turn to say don’t worry about it, I’ve got an old coworker who had the exact same problem as you.” Oh no. “You see, back when I worked in the seafood industry-”

“Pardon me, sirs, but if you two could stop prevaricating, you have a tour to attend.” Contour mouthed an ‘alright,’ and turned back to me.

 “I’ll tell you later then. Sad, it’s a really funny story.” Thank goodness, I was scared I would have to deal with that the whole tour. Once Contour starts on his “old coworker” stories, there’s no stopping him. I already had to deal with a good five of them on the way here. 

“And Mr. Contour, your Pokemon are free to come along on the tour.”

Contour gave a wide smile. “Excellente!” He brought his Pokemon into a group huddle. “Alright, you two, I want you on your best possible behavior. No attacking anyone, looking at you Metang.” Metang crossed its arms in apparent disappointment. “No fiddling with the wiring, we remember what happened last time, Tangela.” Tangela looked down at the floor in shame. “And no staring. We got that?” Both nodded, though Metang still didn’t look like it was too pleased. I’m curious to know what caused Contour to have to explicitly tell Metang not to attack people, but at the same time, I don’t think I really want to know. 

“Well, I take it you’re all ready. Let us begin the tour.” 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tour was honestly less exciting than I thought it would be. Most of it was a bit of a drag, but there were a couple of highlights, at least. So far, my personal favorite is definitely the fossil revival machine. They even demonstrated a revival in front of us, but unfortunately that just led to me learning about exactly why Metang was told not to attack people. That was… hectic, to say the least. 

And then, right now, we were testing out a device called the Pokemon Translator. I’m sure it’s very easy to deduce what it does. 

“Alright, so, how does this thing work?” Contour had a headset hooked up, with his Tangela plugged in on the other end. 

“Once Tangela speaks, you should hear a rough translation come through the headset you’re wearing.” We had learned that the name of our tour guide was that Mr. Janus guy that Mr. Stone had mentioned in his office. He was nice enough, but I think he, like most of the people we’ve met today, was growing tired of Contour’s antics very quickly. I don’t blame him after today’s “Great Metang-Armaldo Brawl.” 

“Okie dokie, cool. Tangela, speak your mind.” 

Tangela muttered a few things into its end of the mic, and Contour began chuckling a few seconds later. 

“Your first words I can understand and this is what you choose?” Contour turned to me. “Tangela says you smell funny.” 

Wow. I see how it is, Tangela. 

…

Do I really smell that bad? 

“I can tell you’ve been absolutely devastated by that comment, so I think it’s Metang’s turn.” Metang snatched the microphone from Tangela almost immediately. Given Metang’s behavior, I’m quite… scared, to see what its first words are going to be. 

“Alright Metang, speak your mind.”

Metang uttered something into the mic, and Contour’s face flared with confusion. He turned to Mr. Janus. “Is this supposed to happen? Metang’s speech came out in Morse Code.” 

“Er… yes, we have been having a few… translation issues, with certain species. There’s a reason this is still in testing. It does mean, that, unfortunately, you won’t be able to properly understand Metang-”

“Let me cut you off. I took Morse lessons back in school, so no need to worry. Metang, repeat what you said.” 

Metang repeated its sentence, and though Contour’s expression didn’t change, anyone with half a brain could tell that he was… surprised, by what he was hearing on the other end.

“So….. removing all of the… expletives….” This is gonna be good. “Metang says that it wants to “end the lives of all of the natives in this building” and, more specifically, John.” 

You know, I’d take being called smelly over being sent death threats anyday. 

Metang blankly stared straight ahead, but it felt like the thing was almost giving me side eye. After the unspeakable atrocities it tried committing on that Armaldo, I can officially say that Metang is one of the most horrifying beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with. 

“Right, so uh… sorry about that, John.” Contour had taken off the headset as he approached me. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into them. They normally aren’t this… antsy.” Looking to the two, Tangela and Metang had gotten into what could only be described as a spat. They were bickering like nothing else. Like trainer, like Pokemon, I guess. Neither can ever sit still. 

“Well… ignoring the fact that your Metang has a death wish, we can’t really show you anything else right now. You’ve gone through all of our work in progress inventions.”

“Well I gotta say, this was cool. I would definitely buy some of this stuff if I made more off of a security guard’s salary.” Contour and Janus chuckled at the joke. 

“Regardless, thank you all for coming on the tour, and we at the Devon Corporation hope you have an excellent day.” 

Contour nodded and made his move to exit. “Come on you three, let’s get going. We don’t want to waste any more of their valuable time.” 

I uttered a rushed thanks before leaving to follow Contour. Boy does this guy move fast. It’s like everything he does is on a timer. 

And before I knew it, we were out of the Devon Corp building and on the road back to campus. It felt like no time had passed at all… You know what they say, I guess. Time flies when you’re having fun. 

 Contour had withdrawn Tangela and Metang to their Poke Balls, leaving just us two on the road. It was surprisingly empty for this hour of the day. I’d like to say it was close to the time it was yesterday when I left for the forest. Nearly twenty-four hours since then… Feels surreal. 

“Sooooooo….. how did you like the tour?” Contour elbowed me with a childish smile on his face. 

“It was pretty fun, I gotta admit.”

“And you also gotta admit that me… how do I put this… “pulling a few strings,” also paid off then, didn’t it?”

“Yes, I’ll admit… But please don’t do that too often. You’re going to get yourself into trouble.”

“Trouble? Hah! Trouble is my middle name!” Contour struck a pose. “They don’t call me Skydive Contour for nothing!”

“Skydive Contour?” That’s new, I’ll say that much. “Who calls you that?”

“The same people who are very interested in hearing about the special stuff in those documents.” Contour smirked. “You want a looksie?” 

Well, this is surprising. You’d think for being a security guard, he’d have a bit more security when it came to sensitive info. Though, then again, he basically manipulated people earlier, so scratch that. Admittedly, I am kind of curious about this whole “Project Thistle” thing, so might as well hear what he has to say. 

“I guess?” I sounded very indecisive about it, but if Contour heard, he paid no attention, as he began looking about the place. I guess it was to make sure no one else was listening, but who knows with him. For all I know, he could be keeping an eye out for his good pal Craig from the laundromat who’s out for blood after Contour messed up his dry cleaning. 

Contour shuffled closer to me before beginning. “Project Thistle documents something even I wasn’t expecting. The DNA gobbledegook I mentioned to the receptionist dude? Bluffing. He probably didn’t even know the half of what was in there.” Contour was whispering, despite the whole place being empty. It feels… off-putting, to say the least. What kind of thing needs to be this secret? 

Something big, probably. What could it be?

“What was in there, then?” 

Contour chuckled and moved away from me. “I haven’t the foggiest idea.” 

…

You have got to be kidding me. All of that build up, only to just say he had NO idea of what was going on. Even Seedot’s more reliable than this, and I can’t even understand what he’s saying. 

“You’re weird, you know that Contour? You pick up something super important and tease people with it, and yet you don’t even know what’s inside it yourself.”

“Well, you know what they say John. If nobody was weird, life would be a heck of a lot more boring, wouldn’t it?” 

“Huh?” 

“But, you know, this reminds me of that time when my former coworker from Pelipper Post…” 

And there he goes again. Only Contour would say something deep and meaningful like that and then immediately move over to his friend Brayden from delivery services. Or something. I didn’t quite catch that name. 

I suppose he is right, though. I know people who think my group of friends can be oddballs sometimes… but I guess that is what makes it fun. Who knew Contour could be so philosophical? 

But that still doesn’t make any of his stories any bit less annoying. 

…

This is going to be a very long walk. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being alone with your thoughts is great for getting some good old you time, or, I guess, me time. And it’s very easy to get me time when the other person in the equation is currently rambling about his fifteenth old job. So while Mr. Right Angle over there is busy, I guess I’ve got some time to think. 

But think about what, exactly? What is there to think about? Well there’s stargazing later, that’s cool. And there’s something else I’m forgetting… something important… I’m sure it’s nothing… but… 

I’ve had a lot of time to think lately, haven’t I? It’s like my mind’s become clearer, all of a sudden. Not that I’m complaining. Far easier to just zone out and do nothing now. Just nod when Contour asks me a question, pipe in a quick “Mhm” or “Yep” here and there, and I’m good to go. Much more entertaining.  

Ok, right now, this is less thinking and more of a disorganized jumble. Not a very fun mental state to have. There’s a lot to think about, but then there’s thinking about what to think about and thinking about thinking about what to think about, and et cetera et cetera et cetera, but I can’t focus on one particular thing… 

Let’s see… oh yeah, Metang. I guess Metang proves Contour is actually competent at his job. Actually, scratch that, Contour-tent. Heh. 

…

Oh Arceus he’s rubbing off on me, abort, abort-

But why was Metang staring at me? Why did it and Tangela dislike me? Why have all Pokemon just been acting weird around me today? That Swablu earlier… August’s Pikachu… Now Contour’s Pokemon… why have they been looking at me like that? The only thing that’s changed is-

The feather. 

It melted. My ankle was fixed. I got a rash. What could it have to do with all of this? Did it have anything to do with this? What was it, really? What does this all mean-

“John, are you alright?” 

Oh yeah, right, Contour is still here. I guess I had just kind of forgotten about him. 

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Just… thinking is all.”

Contour looked me over again, before nodding. 

“Good, just checking. Mainly because we’re here.”

Turns out, he was right. We had already wound up at campus again. That was incredibly quick. 

“Anyways, that was fun John, it was lovely going out with you, but I gotta dash.”

“How come?”

“Because that man over there is moving at an uncomfortably fast pace towards you and I want no part in this.”

“I’m sorry the who now-”

“JOHN GRAVYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

Oh Arceus it was Mr. Navet at full sprint. Wait, shoot, that was what I was forgetting! I forgot Mr. Navet’s detention!

…

I am so dead.

“Wait, please, Contour, help me out here-” Aaaaaand he’s gone. How does someone even get out of here so quickly!?

…And that means… 

…

Welp, there's no escaping it now. My fate is sealed. 

Chapter Text

“So, I was just going to give you a lecture on proper sleep schedules, but now I’m afraid your… detour changes things a bit.”

Mr. Navet had practically dragged me back to his classroom. If you thought he was scary in class, boy, right now he’s another thing entirely. It was like being picked up and dragged around by a Vigoroth… actually, maybe not the greatest comparison to use. 

“I have wasted valuable time trying to figure out where you went, and I am not buying the “I forgot” excuse.” 

So yeah, now I was in his room, with no one else but me and him, alone. And needless to say, I think this is the most terrified I’ve been in my life. 

“Well, look, Mr. Navet, that was kind of what happened…” 

“I see. Then I simply wasn’t being strict enough! ” He snapped a pencil he was holding in two. I think it’s best if I clear things up before he does that to me.

“Well look, I got roped into this whole thing with that security guard, Contour, you may or may not know him, eheh…” Mr. Navet moved right in front of my face, in such a way that all I could see was his own face and the aggression in his eyes. 

“Listen to me here, John Gravy. I teach this class with the intention of making sure my students learn. And if any of my students begin neglecting what was so kindly given to them, then I will have to make sure that they begin to pay attention to it.” 

Mr. Navet finally decided to give me some breathing room as he went back to his desk.

“I’ve left some review work in front of you. Complete that and you’re free to leave.” Was that… tiredness in his voice? I wouldn’t doubt it given all the energy he’s been expending… and he does look rather old… Oh well, whatever gets him off of my back. That guy is like a raging Tauros sometimes. 

Heh. I’m gonna be old like that one day, won’t I? I’ve always liked a good run, but eventually one day, not even too far in the future, I’m going to be breaking my back trying to move. I won’t be able to feel as much as I used to.

No wonder Mr. Navet’s so grumpy all the time. I know I would be, cursed to an existence like that.

But maybe that’s not the whole reason… Hm, oh well. Though it does make me wonder…

“How old even is he?” 

Mr. Navet looked up from his desk at me. 

“What was that?”

Shoot, did I say that out loud? Oh Arceus I am so screwed-

“Uh… nothing! Nothing at all.” 

Mr. Navet hmmmed to himself before looking back to his desk. I think it’s best if I start on the work before he gets any more cross with me. 

Let’s see here. Section One: Mt. Chimney… Hang on, Section!?

Oh Arceus, this entire thing is basically a review for the whole unit. It’s basically as thick as Mr. Navet’s Swalot. I knew it sounded too easy when he said I just needed to finish the packet and I’d be free to leave. This is going to take hours, especially with all of the reading on top of the questions. If I could groan without inciting vengeance, I would right now. 

I am absolutely hating it here right now. Curse you Mr. Navet. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour of complete silence. It’s driving me insane. One hour, and I’ve barely gotten a quarter of this packet done. Just how much did he put in this thing? 

I’ve been trying to sidetrack it for a while at this point… I guess I’ve got to continue now… man. 

In the past hour, I’ve gotten to know this room more than I’d like. Despite being the sole focus of his attention, Mr. Navet looked like he could care less about me right now. And as a result, it’s given me free reign to just look around out of boredom, for better or for worse. And honestly? There’s not really much in this room, is there? No helpful posters or anything. Just blank wall. I’ve never really noticed before, though, I guess it helps explain part of why this class is so boring. 

And still somehow it was more entertaining than this packet. 

I had given Navet occasional glances. He hadn’t really done anything other than correct papers the whole time. His afternoons must be boring, I’ll say that much. Maybe that’s why he’s so grumpy all the time?

But as for right now, let’s see here. Question Seventy-Seven. What is the widely held belief about Route One Hundred and Eleven? That it used to be an ocean? I think that’s it, anyway. Happened a heck of a long time ago, but it’s technically right. If there was meant to be a more specific answer, that’s on Navet for not elaborating. 

“You asked how old I was, John?” 

Gah- what!? 

Ok, that scared me, um… wait, Mr. Navet heard that? Why did he wait so long to spring up an answer? Anyone who says that in class gets flung halfway across the room! 

“I-I did, s-sorry Mr. Navet, no offense was meant-” 

“I understand that. I’m not offended. But I wanted to make sure that was what you asked, as I wish to answer your question.” 

Mr. Navet properly turned to face me now. “John, I understand as a student, your life is very stressful.” You can say that again. “But at the same time, I can also tell that right now, your mind is preoccupied by something.” He paused. “John, I care for my students deeply, and that’s because I was a student once. I’m only twenty-seven, so I’m not exactly an “old geezer”, as you students put it, but I have to act like one, because I know from experience that the best way to force students to action is to give them a bit of tough love.”

Tough love? If you were to ask me, your love is a bit too tough right now, Mr. Navet. 

…

Wait, you’re only twenty-seven?

“I don’t understand, though. Wouldn’t you want to make life easier for your students if you understood their struggles?”

Mr. Navet scratched his chin. “You would think that. But back when I was in school, less than ten years ago now, I remember how my fellow classmates always failed their courses because they never gave anything their all. Thus, what I’ve learned is that a little tough love is necessary. You sometimes have to beat down your students a bit, force them to care so they can’t fail, no matter what.”

“But wouldn’t that bring too much stress to your students? They’ve got other classes too, y’know.” 

“It would, John, but sometimes, stress brings out what is needed in all of us.” 

A deep silence fell over the two of us. I don’t quite know how to respond to Navet. He’s not wrong… so I can’t argue, but… I can’t quite agree, if that makes sense. I understand where he’s coming from… but he’s a bit much. 

Mr. Navet broke the silence first. “Well, John, just understand that sometimes, you need to work to get to where you need to go.”

He got up for the first time this whole detention, and walked over to take a look at my packet. He flipped through what was done, and looked back to me. “Not bad. You’ve done well for this session, but you need to begin making better use of your time. I’d say you’re free to go for today.” 

Oh, that’s… actually quite nice of him. He does seem annoyed by my aimless staring, but hey, I guess that’s one less thing to worry about. 

“I don’t need to prove anything to my students, but if my methods help at least one… I’m happy.” I could’ve sworn I caught the bare minimum of a smile for a second, but… nah, I was probably just imagining it.  

“...But don’t expect your punishment to be complete until this whole packet is done. Be back here tomorrow for your next session.” He leaned in close to me. “Or else.”

Mr. Navet backed up and went back to his desk, as he began reorganizing some papers. “You’re free to go. Leave that packet on my desk and make sure you don’t forget tomorrow.” Was it just me or was that…? 

…

 I’m sure it was nothing. Let’s get out of here before he changes his mind. 

I left my packet on his desk and took my leave. I’ll deal with Mr. Navet tomorrow. I’ve had enough of that class for one day.

Still… maybe he’s right, if only for the fact that I do need to get this packet out of the way… Oh, that’s smart, actually. I hate that it’s smart. He’s tricked me!

He’s teaching me this lesson the hard way. I either finish it all in one go, or I split it up in chunks over a week. 

Ok, I hate that. A lot. 

But either way, this packet is going to be an absolute pain in my behind, and Mr. Navet’s teaching his lesson either way. I have not been winning recently, have I?

But I’m not taking this lesson, no siree. I don’t need this lesson, what I’ve been doing has worked fine, and unless something comes along to change that all of a sudden, I’m going to continue doing that. I’ll finish this packet and show Mr. Navet who’s boss!

…Somehow. 

Nevermind. For now, I gotta head to my dorm. I’ve got a big night tonight. I can deal with this packet tomorrow. I’ve got work to finish, some time to kill, and a big event to go to later. 

Today has been far too hectic for my liking. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ah, home sweet home. No more annoying security guards, no more trickster history teachers, and finally some time to relax. 

Oh yeah, and I still have to clean up that mess that Contour made. Fun. 

Looking at it, there were papers everywhere. He’s probably sifted through every paper I’ve ever received since coming to this place, which is a lot. I’m not looking forward to putting this away. 

…

Oh well, that’s a later problem. For now, it’s time to get some of this leftover work out of the way. 

Taking a look at my computer on my desk, it doesn’t seem like it was rifled through by Contour earlier. Definitely moved around, but it doesn’t seem like he actually entered it. Guess he has some respect for privacy, no matter how small. 

Did I ever mention how convenient fingerprint unlocking is for these things? I don’t even have to remember the password and I’m in. Actually, come to think of it, that was probably why Contour didn’t do anything with my computer. You can’t exactly replicate my fingerprints, and you can’t use the password if even the owner of the computer doesn’t remember it. 

Oh well, fingerprint makes it easy to access this in a jiffy. One quick hop, skip, and a jump and you’re in. May only be shaving off a few seconds, but I am all for conveniency. 

And thus, I got set off to work on my… Well, work. Rather boring, as it is, but I knew better than to try to take a brief hike in the middle of it this time. You and me both know how that went when I last tried that.  

And work this is. Boring work. Work work. It was about as annoying as that packet. Curse Mr. Navet. Made me leave work to do more work. 

I mean, technically, it wasn’t all due today…

But before I could even finish that train of thought, something crashed into my window with a massive “thunk.” What the heck was that?

I moved to the window and found the source of the noise, which was a very disoriented Swablu. It recovered surprisingly quickly, but looked very dizzy. Poor thing’s gonna have a nasty bruise on its noggin tomorrow.

It’s not the first time bird Pokemon have slammed into my window. They keep thinking there’s nothing there because somehow “window detection” was something they couldn’t quite get a handle of. Oh well, nothing to worry about, back to work. 

I moved back to my computer to continue my slog, but before I could even sit back down, the Swablu began tapping on my window. Guess the little guy must be very dizzy. It’ll go away in a bit, no biggie. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

It’s not going away. It has been tapping on my window for fifteen straight minutes. Arceus help me I am going insane. 

Well, there’s only one solution. Tap harder to assert dominance. 

I headed over to the window and tapped where the Swablu was tapping. Swablu hopped back in surprise, but soon hopped back and tapped with more furiosity than before. I flicked the window where it was, but Swablu just continued pecking. I swear, I am going to kill this thing. 

I pulled up the window, and Swablu finally stopped. But instead of doing anything, it just stared at me for a little bit. Then, Swablu began chirping some incoherent nonsense with increasing speed, none of which made a lick of sense. I’m not sure what it’s expecting, it should know I can’t understand it.

“Look, birdie, I don’t understand what you’re saying at all, can you please stop bugging me and go away?” 

Swablu cocked its head, before sulking. I can’t blame it, given it’s just wasted its time. Even if it was a very annoying waste of time. 

The Swablu flew off before I could say anything else. That was… odd. Not the weirdest thing to happen all day, but still. 

Well, time to get back to work. I can deal with annoying birds another time. Let’s just close the window and…

…

The window isn’t closing.

No matter how hard I tugged at the thing, the window simply would not budge. I know this window’s bad, but it seriously can’t be so bad that using it once is going to jam it. 

Actually, knowing this campus, I wouldn’t doubt it either way. 

Oh well, this window is stuck. Hopefully no other annoying birds come around today or I’m gonna be in for a rude awakening. 

And speaking of a rude awakening, that’s going to be me if I don’t get my work done before tomorrow. I’ve got things to be doing later.

Can the world stop being annoying for once?

Chapter Text

It’s finally time. Nine PM, stargazing time. I have waited for this day for eons now. 

Of course, granted, it’s not until ten, but hey, getting from college to Rusturf Tunnel is a pretty decently long walk. An hour spare isn’t the worst thing to have, especially when it comes to something like this. I can’t miss this for anything… even if I am a bit groggy right now. My yawns sound like Mightyena calls, but heck if I care.  

Stargazing. You gotta love staring at the sky for hours of your life. I mean, I do it by myself sometimes, but that’s like, casual stuff. Watching the sky with friends makes it way more entertaining, especially when we’re going to be looking at the stars. But when you have friends, it’s oftentimes less stars and more them when you do something like this. 

I made sure to close my computer on the way out, and while I normally just leave it on sleep, I elected to shut it off completely this time, just in case Contour comes to stop by again. It may not stop him from accessing my computer and doing who knows what with it, but it’s sure as heck going to make it more inconvenient for him. 

As I did so, I accidentally knocked over the Lombre figurine on my desk. Oops. 

Picking it up, I found that it had grown a crack on its stomach from the tumble it took. Eh, no biggie. It may be cracked, but it doesn’t seem to be falling apart right now. I’ll plop it on my desk and deal with it tomorrow if I have time.  

That’s enough lollygagging, though, I gotta get a move on if I want to make sure I’m not the last one there. Our group has a thing where the last one there gets a good licking from Callum’s Kecleon, and… well, I was last once. It’s cold. And slimy. And not very fun. 

Well, normally, given his lateness, Callum himself ends up on the receiving end of his own Kecleon, but it’s still something to worry about. Oh well, I’ll worry about that if I’m last. If I’m lucky, I should hopefully be able to make it before him or Lila do. 

It’s been a while since I’ve done a stargazing session with everyone. I don’t want my welcome back to be cold, wet and slimy. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thankfully, the path to Rusturf is much more well lit than any part of Petalburg Woods, so traveling there is the easy part. A couple of lamp posts were strewn about here and there. Of course, the lighting fluctuates a bit because the local Dustox love clinging on to those things, but unless it’s migration season, it doesn’t block the light too much. 

Tonight was a lucky night, though. No Dustox disturbing anything in sight. Which was… odd, to say the least. Come to think of it, no Lunatone or Skitty either. Not even a Nincada. Just how much noise were the others making up there? 

I eventually made my way to the meetup spot, a rocky outcropping on top of the cave, and unfortunately for me, everybody was already here. And for a while by the looks of things.

“Hey hey, Jonathan Bonathan’s here!” And there’s Callum. How was I so much later than him?

And also, dear Arceus what in salvation is that nickname.

“Took you long enough John. I estimate you’re late by about…” Geronimo took out his watch and looked back to me. “Twenty minutes.” Yeah, but who’s keeping track? 

“Look, it’s a long walk!”

“Which,” said Lila, “You told Geronimo you started on over an hour ago.”

“... It’s a very long walk!” 

“Well, rules are rules John.” Lila smirked and turned to Callum. “You know what to do.”

Callum broke into a wide grin as he called for Kecleon. I looked around, but didn’t notice its location at first. Well, not until I felt a tap on my shoulder. When I turned back, I saw Kecleon smirking on my shoulder. That sneaky little thing always gets on my nerves. Not really because it's annoying, but because it’s really only smart when it’s annoying. This specific Kecleon may be the dumbest being I’ve ever met, and yet Callum gushes over it like it’s his child. Still, it means they’re completely in sync, which means that Kecleon knew exactly what it was doing. 

Before I could react further, Kecleon extended its tongue and slobbered me with it. Like, everywhere slobbered. It’s still just as bad as last time. Cold slimy tongue all over me. One of the worst sensations I’ve ever been subjected to. I could feel it on my face, my legs, my stomach-

Wait a second, my stom- OUCH-

Yep, Kecleon licked my shirt, but the force hit my rash. That was… painful, to say the least. It still is. I think the phrase, “screaming internally,” works perfectly here. 

“John, you alright there? Looks like you got hit by a Venoshock over there.”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, Callum. Totally fine.” Callum raised his eyebrow, but shrugged. I, for one, am glad he didn’t notice, for my sake, but at the same time, I am kind of disappointed in him that he cannot notice my ceaseless agony right now. 

“Oh well, that’s enough of that anyways. I think Kecleon’s excited to see you. I’ve never seen him that lick-happy before.”

Kecleon hopped off my shoulder and ran towards Callum, but turned back to me with a cocked head. Looks clueless as ever… but… it looks confused. Clueless and confused. Could probably make a TV series out of that. I guess licking a rash would confuse someone like that, but… 

Oh no, is he having the same reaction the other Pokemon have been having to me? I guess Kecleon’s struggling to notice because his senses are naturally dull, but… 

Kecleon had already ran back to his trainer, and didn’t seem too interested otherwise… but if even Kecleon’s noticed something is off… What is going on with me?

Oh well, there’s a time and a place. It’s not like Kecleon can do anything too atrocious to me without Callum getting on its butt, so no need to worry. Callum pampers it, but not that much. So, right now, I just need to kick back and enjoy the show. 

“This is exactly the night I was hoping for!” yelled Geronimo, who was working a telescope off to the side. “Crystal clear sky, no clouds, no weather, not even any Pokemon to worry us! This will be perfect!” Good old science nut. Geronimo’s probably jotting down all sorts of stuff I won’t even understand about this right now, and then use that for a lecture down the line. 

“Geronimo, if you dare think about using this meetup as a science experiment…” 

“Uh, I… No! Not at all! I… c-certainly, wasn’t… planning anything…” Geronimo had grown visibly flustered and was trying to play it off, to horrible effect. 

“...Right…” Lila wasn’t convinced, and backed off, but unbeknownst to her, she was completely right. She couldn’t see behind Geronimo from where she was, but I could, and right now he was trying to “dispose of the evidence,” I assume in case she patted him down again. Ah, brings back memories… 

“Speaking of, Momo…” Callum called out for Geronimo with possibly the funniest nickname I’ve ever seen for a guy like him. 

“Callum, please never call me that again.” Geronimo had already dumped his note taking devices behind a nearby rock, and was ready to respond to Callum very quickly. That guy scares me sometimes with his dedication to this. 

“Where’s your Magnemite?” 

“It’s inside of its Poke Ball right now,” Geronimo motioned to his belt, where a standard Poke Ball lay. “I sent it out earlier, but it started getting nervous a few minutes before John showed up. I’m not quite sure why, honestly…” 

That’s… interesting. Geronimo’s Magnemite, even though I hardly see it, isn’t one to shy away from much. Heck, it once tried proposing to some random guy’s own Magnemite, despite the obvious issues with that. What could cause that kind of nervousness from a Pokemon like that? Maybe it’s as Geronimo always jabbers on about when it isn’t sent out, about fluctuating magnetic fields or a power imbalance or something scientific like that. That thing is picky with a capital P. 

“I’ve had something similar happen, actually,” Lila perked up this time. “My Tropius wouldn’t stay out either. Normally he’s willing to protect against anything… but he just retreated to his ball a few minutes after Magnemite did.”  

“Then what’s stopping Callum’s Kecleon from staying out?” 

We all turned to Kecleon, who was currently attempting to bite into a tree trunk. Unfortunately for him, that tree was a bit too thick to chew on. I guess for him, it’s a hard truth to swallow then, eh?

…

I really need to get away from Contour.

“Yeah… no offense Callum…” started Lila.

“...I think your Kecleon’s a bit too… dumb, to notice if anything is wrong in the air,” finished Geronimo.

“Ok, number one, I take offense to that. Number two…” Callum scooped up Kecleon, who instead began biting Callum’s arm, to about the same effect as before. “Kecleon is easily the best guard anyone could ask for! The reason he’s still out is because he knows that if anything feels wrong, he could easily destroy it by himself!” 

A silence permeated across the three non-Callum people in the area. We looked at each other and nodded. We all knew the truth, but we all elected to shut up. We all knew we weren’t getting anywhere trying to convince Callum. 

“Well, come on, it’s nearing the best time to look at them. Let’s shut up about your lizard and get to watching.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

Geronimo was right. The stars really were nice tonight. There were even more visible constellations than last time. Ursaring Major and Teddiursa Minor were bright as ever. The constellations of Tauros and Skorupi were definitely highlights as well, but we didn’t just see constellations, We saw all sorts of stars and planets that were oh so far away from us, and we even saw a few shooting stars. All in all, it was brilliant. And it was so fun hanging out with all my friends like this again. 

It was so unfortunate that I could barely stay awake. 

I was feeling so tired that it was unreal. I thought my yawning earlier was just something residual, but this was a whole different storm entirely. I didn’t do too much today, did I? I mean, I did, but not so much that I was struggling to stay awake. I’m normally up much later at night than… What time is it? Nine forty-five? It’s still that early? Something is definitely up. 

I guess it’s that rash finally doing something. I grew up in the forested Oldale, I know that you can catch some nasty stuff off of the plants in the woods. I knew I should have gone to the nurse earlier! Oh well, I probably caught some sickness off of it. This is what I get for being lazy. Again. 

I have to get back to my bed before I get knocked out from exhaustion, but that means… Come on! I’ve been looking forward to this since forever! And now I’m just forced to go to avoid passing out on top of some rock in the middle of nowhere…

At least the others get to enjoy it. If I pass out, it’s the opposite. 

Alright, let’s do this. I’m out of here. Sorry guys. 

“I think I’m gonna turn in for tonight. Sorry everyone, I’m pooped.”

I couldn’t quite make out what was going on, as I was barely grasping for consciousness, but they sounded disappointed. I expected as much, but… oh, I’m sure they’ll understand when I explain it tomorrow. I hate to do this as well, but right now, I just need to focus on getting home without taking an unfortunate nap on the way back.

Huh. Guess this is how people who stay up until three AM feel. The more you know I guess. Needless to say, I envy that lifestyle even less than before. If some version of purgatory exists, it’s sleep deprivation like this. 

Say, what’s that purple thing up ahea- OH MY GOODNE-

---------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so, I’m not sure what was worse, the Dustox ambush or when I tripped on a fire hydrant afterwards, but I was too tired to tell at this point. All I remember is the purple and the pain. 

I don’t even know when I hit my pillow. I just made it there. The trip back after I walked into a lamp post was kind of a blur. But what I did remember… was this dream, whatever it was. 

I’ve always liked the sky. I’ve always wanted to take a plane, fly to some region, maybe get a Flying type one day and take to the skies, all that stuff. But this is a bit excessive. 

The sky… it was beautiful. Only way to describe it really. It was sunset, which colored the sky a burnt orange. The clouds were big and fluffy, like massive Whimsicott, and the light reflected off of them beautifully. It was the best sky I’ve ever seen. 

And yet it began flying by with a pace I could never have expected. It was moving… quickly. Incredibly quickly. It was like I was being propelled at mach ten…. Or something. I’ve never felt anything this fast… it’s a bit more than I can handle. This is all so new… How did my mind generate this?

I guess delirium would do that to someone. 

But it kept getting faster and faster and faster and faster and- IT’S INCREASING TOO FAST-

The sky was just an orange blur at this point. Everything merged together. My senses couldn’t handle it. I looked at the rest of my body to make sure it was still in one piece, but… 

It was completely foreign to me. All I could see at such a rapid pace was a blur of… bright, crimson red, same as the feather. Seeing as I couldn’t make out whatever my body was in the dream, I looked at my hand.  It was completely different… inhuman, even. I would have recoiled if I weren’t being propelled through the sky against my will. The hand was chunky, round, with three short claws at the end of it. The “palm” as I’m calling it was rounded, white, and striped. I could see some red behind it, but it was already hard to make out the palm with the speed I was going. Looking down, my arm was incredibly thin, like a connector between the hand and the body. The hand was… completely unlike anything human, or even like anything I’ve ever seen before. 

What was going on here? Why was I even different in the dream? I never have dreams like this, I’ve never seen a Pokemon like this before… let alone any creature… and… Oh Arceus. I just realized. The hand. It was covered in-

The speed increased again. I couldn’t focus anymore. The speed kept getting higher and higher. Exponentially, never stopping. Soon, I couldn’t even make out the world around me. It was all a blur, everything was a blur, everything was a-

---------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up in my bed, face down in the pillow. I immediately looked at my arm. No red or claws in sight. Just my regular old arm. I really need to put work into that. Maybe when I’m not having strange dreams from ivy infections. 

Not to mention, when I also wasn’t having bonkers dreams like that. I can still feel the dizziness from speeds that fast. 

Still, I was way less tired than I was last night. Guess I slept well, despite the dream. And looking at the time, it was… exactly twenty minutes before class. I’m glad my cryptic dreams have a good sense of convenient timing, but I can worry about those later. For now, I have to worry about getting to class on time. And getting out of this shirt. I’ve been wearing it for like two days now. Probably smells horrible. 

But as I took my shirt off, I noticed something odd. A brief flash of red. The same color as… 

I rushed to the mirror on my door, and my worst beliefs were confirmed. My rash hadn’t just expanded. No, it had done more than that. It had… evolved, if that was the right term. It was something that was the exact opposite of what I expected. 

Anywhere the rash previously was, was now entirely red and white feathers. They covered my entire chest. And looking around, they covered a lot of my back, and were beginning to stretch to my shoulders. I don’t know if it’s going any further down than that, and honestly, right now, I am not worrying about that. Right now, I am worrying about one specific part of these feathers. 

The feathers were the same as the ones from the dream, and they were the same as only one other feather I had ever met in my life. 

And it was then I was met by a horrifying realization. 

Into what, I don’t know, but there was only one logical conclusion to derive from this. The feather from Petalburg Woods was transforming me into something else entirely.

Chapter Text

“I gotta say Seedot, that trainer of yours is one rightful dolt.” 

Swablu had returned from her trip to John Gravy’s dorm, and needless to say, she was not pleased. Having spent ages trying to notify him, she was very much dismayed with the waste of time after it turned out John couldn’t understand her in the slightest, especially given it was very close to nightfall at this point. 

“Well, what were you expecting? Humans don’t just understand bird calls overnight!” 

And Seedot was very much listening. Having returned to Ms. LeFitz’s stall since talking to Castform, he had discovered many things about the feather and what it did, and what its secrets were. And it was a horrifying thing to think about. He had to warn John.

Only that was kind of difficult when he was an acorn and Swablu was a bird. 

“Well you’re the one who said that he should be able to understand our speech patterns!”

“I said he would eventually . His brain isn’t going to restructure how speech works in less than a day.”

“Yeah? Well…. Shut up.” Swablu huffed and turned her back to Seedot, having run out of good arguments to make. Seedot chuckled. 

“Look, we’ll try again tomorrow. For now, you need to fly out of here before the old lady spots you. She’s going to think you’re trying to eat me.”

“That trainer of yours… I swear, people insinuate such crazy things these days. Yours especially. I’m a vegetarian, but nooooo, people have just got to think I’m gonna eat everything I see!”

“I mean… you kind of do that anyway.”

“Shut up.” Seedot laughed heartily. Swablu, embarrassed, took that as her cue to fly off for the night. Seedot too had similar ideas. It was getting late, and he needed to go to sleep. He was surprised that Ms. LeFitz was even still up, normally she had fallen asleep hours ago.

He walked over to check on her, but found she had fallen asleep standing up. He gave a light headbutt to startle her awake, but she didn’t budge. Seedot sighed. Oh well, she could stay out here. Can’t say he didn’t try. 

But then something caught Seedot’s eye. A slight glimmer out of the corner of his eye. What was that? 

Taking care not to alert whatever it was, Seedot hopped up some nearby crates and gave the glimmer a side eye. And from what he could make out… 

The glimmer was the reflection of the lamp posts on a camera lens. A camera lens that was attached to a camera. Someone was watching him. And frankly, he didn’t quite appreciate that. Whatever this thing was, he was gonna make sure the owner paid for violating his privacy. 

He suddenly jumped and rammed into the camera, taking whatever was controlling it off guard. He made direct contact with its lens, shattering it as Seedot plummeted to the ground. Upon landing, he found that the camera had as well. It was completely busted, and in ruins on the ground in front of him. The camera had a small propeller based system on the top of it, meaning that it could move around when it was in tip top shape. 

But if it could move… does that mean… could it have been following him? Why would it do that? He was a Seedot who worked for an old lady, the most exciting thing he did was-

Oh. Yeah. John. The feather. That happened just yesterday. 

Meaning… if this camera is a recent thing… and the feather was too…  it couldn’t be a coincidence. Someone was following the only other being to see the feather melt into John, meaning that somebody was after whatever information the feather provided. And judging by the camera, a very well funded someone… But that meant… 

They were in very hot water now. 

Chapter Text

Addressed To:
Codename: Filo

From: 

Codename: Semi

Daily Log Update #77

I’ll keep my report brief. Calamus’ status has been compromised. Some blundering oaf decided to merge with it. MERGE WITH IT. All by complete accident, at some Murkrow-forsaken hour of the day in the most specific of locations! Take the feather and grab it before anyone could find it… easier said than done, apparently. 

If it’s anything to you, Filo, we need to keep a look out for the boy. I’ll be keeping a closer eye on him. Already have since this morning, but given your earlier report, I’ve elected to double down on my previous efforts. 

For now, I’ve chosen to refer to the boy as “Epsilon” for the sake of these reports. I understand the suggestion was somewhat foreign in origin, especially given that the reasoning for it was just that it was, quote, “Very Cool Sounding,” but I myself cannot come up with anything better, and thus, I shall elect to use it in further reports for punctuality. 

But enough about names. If Epsilon’s mutation progresses correctly, he’ll become a target of our enemy, “Eden.” I will say, we definitely need a better codename. That group is anything but an “Eden.” Wait, no, I said enough about names… Forget you heard that. 

As I said, I’ll report anything directly to you, commander. If Epsilon’s transformation succeeds, we may finally have the silver bullet we need to cause Eden to topple down and collapse. 

I will also mention, neither Granite nor Poncho seem to have caught on yet, if what I've seen and been told mean anything. If both of those nuisances can stay out of our business, everything will go swimmingly, and we shall come out on top.

Still, it shall all be for naught if Epsilon fails. I shall keep you updated as I glean more information out of him. This setback may be just what we needed, commander.

Yours sincerely, 

Semi

Chapter Text

So… have I mentioned how I hate math class? 

…

Yeah, I probably have. 

So…. Rush to class was not fun. Again. Never is. Rushing through what is probably about half the campus to get here in about fifteen minutes is what I’d like to call a, “stress and anxiety causer.” Especially since it’s my first class after getting out of bed. And also because this morning has been a nightmare . Cause, you know, waking up and suddenly discovering your entire torso is covered in feathers is a great way to start the day. 

So, you know, I may have panicked a bit. Am I panicked right now? Maybe. But I’m trying my best not to show it. What good is showing panic? It’s not good at all. All it does is rile up you and everyone around you, make you all worried and concerned… not that I’m not worried or concerned, but… well, you know what they say. If I can’t see you, you can’t see me. Except in this case, I’m talking about my feathers and me, which is a sentence that sounds super surreal to say out loud, but nevermind that. 

I knew I should’ve gotten this checked out yesterday. If I had, things would have gone so much more smoothly…. Or not. I can’t tell at this point. The one thing I do know is that I sure as heck can’t go now. Imagine trying to explain that to the school nurse. “Oh yeah, I’m growing feathers, you happen to have any medicine for that?” 

Oh well, it’s not like that lady gives a single care in the world about half of this stuff anyway. I have the feeling that if I went yesterday, she’d have just given me an ice pack and told me to walk it off. 

But yeah, so, I’m turning into… something. I think. I mean, I definitely feel… different. No one seems to have noticed yet, and heck, I wouldn’t have noticed much myself, but it still feels insanely weird. I didn’t exactly have much time for a proper examination of my new feathers or anything, so I guess that’s a later problem. And you know what that calls for… Bathroom break in Art class! My favorite… Well, if it weren’t for the rumors I’ve heard floating around that Mr. Vermelhike is absent today. I guess that’s one less class for me at least if it’s true, but every other teacher is so incredibly strict with the bathroom that it means I’m just gonna have to save this for after school. Fun. 

I’m sure you’re wondering, “But John, you are literally growing feathers, isn’t it best if you go check it out before it gets worse?” 

Yeah, but teachers getting angry at you for exceeding your mandated weekly bathroom usage is far scarier. I hate the limits in this school. Mr. Vermelhike is the only chill one when it comes to this stuff. 

Where was I? Oh yeah, what all of this means for me is a guaranteed trip to the library later to see if I can figure out any Pokemon with crimson and white feathers. From there, I can work out what to do next… maybe. Hopefully. 

Well, for now, my chest feathers are easy enough to hide, at least. I just have to make sure nobody roughs me up and I’m good to go. I don’t think that’s gonna happen, so long as I avoid Contour like the plague, so I should be fine. 

“Now now, dears, class has started!” Our math teacher had begun class already, but the noisier kids in the class had delayed the start a bit. Worked out for me. Gave me more time to think to myself for a bit. Always happy to have less class.  

“Now, I understand that yesterday’s class was something of a success for all of you, and given that tomorrow will be a day off, I’ve decided to repeat the same assignment again.” I could hear a few muted cheers in the back. I don’t blame them. This class is boring with a capital B. Yesterday was the most fun this class has been in weeks.“I’ll hand out the papers shortly. Once again, you’re free to work with any people or Pokemon around you. Have fun!” 

Well, this certainly allows me to shed another class easily. Whatever carries me to the end of the day, the better. The sooner I’m out of here, the sooner I can work out this feather problem, and just as importantly, relax a bit. 

I reclined back in my chair while I was waiting for my paper. Made the mistake of crossing my arms on my chest earlier. It felt weird feeling fluff under my shirt. Well, anyway, that’s neither here nor there, let’s get this over wit-

“Hey! Mousetrap!” 

Oh great. I forgot about her. Here we go again.

Turning around, it was none other than August and her Pikachu, not like it was too difficult to figure out just from hearing her. I forgot she was in this class. Somehow. This is gonna make everything so much more tiresome. 

“Oh, hey August.”

“Come on, ready to get schooled when it comes to math again?” She giggled and set about working on her paper immediately, with Pikachu hopping right next to her. If it was possible for Pikachu to have something worse than a death glare, then that was what it had right now. Almost like it was threatening retribution for something I hadn’t done yet. 

I’m not quite sure how I knew that, but I did. Needless to say, guess this is a game of not ticking off Pikachu or else I’m getting an Iron Tail to the face. That Pikachu scares me more than my whole feather predicament, somehow. 

“Hey, Mousetrap, you alright? You don’t look too good.” I don’t? Well, good to know, I guess. Glad to see she’s paying attention to my wellbeing, but please, not right now, August. I’d rather not deal with people prodding me on this. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” 

“You’re not alright and you know it.” 

“Since when did you get so attentive?” 

“I’ve learnt a thing or two from the best.” She winked. I’m not sure if I trust that line of judgment, and normally I’d argue who this “best” person is, but right now, I’m tired from waking up twenty minutes ago, and I really don’t want to deal with this. 

“Well, look, I’m fine. Let’s just get some math problems done, alright?” August sighed.

“Well, since you’re in the mood to bicker, I guess you’re close enough to fine. Come on then, let’s get this done as quick as we can. Question one…”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Aaaaaaand now we have question thirty… John, are you even paying attention?”

“H-huh? Oh, yeah, don’t worry.” 

If it wasn’t obvious, I wasn’t. But hey, I wasn’t in a caring mood right now. I could care less about math and August right now. Pikachu has been keeping a safe distance from me, at least, so that’s a plus. 

“John, I can tell you aren’t.” I kept silent as I worked on the math problem by myself. “Look, I know I tease you a lot, but if you suddenly go kablooey on me, then who else am I meant to tease?”

“I dunno, literally any of the other people you hang out with?” 

“All of my other friends are too nice to tease.”

“And I’m not?” 

“You can actually take what I throw at you, figuratively…” August suddenly pulled a surprise paper airplane out of nowhere and threw it at me. Somehow, I caught it without even batting an eye. I didn’t actually expect that, like, at all, so I’m not sure how I did that, but with everything going on, I’m not going to question it. 

“..And literally. Wow. I wasn’t actually expecting you to catch that.” 

“What were you expecting then?”

“Well, look, it’s not very fun when one of your friends is under the weather and not responding to anything I do, alright?”

She considers me a friend? Already? I’ve only known her for barely a day! 

“So if you need help, let me know, alright?” She actually sounded genuinely concerned, which was a first from her. She’s probably genuine, then. Keyword probably. I guess, maybe….

“Fine, but please keep your rat away from me.” Pikachu angrily growled at me, but August just laughed. 

“It’s a mouse, but alright.” 

“Eh, close enough.” August sighed. 

“Well, at least you’ve perked up a bit.” Huh, I guess I have. I mean, I know it’s better to share your problems with people you know, so could that be it? No, I haven’t even mentioned anything feather related yet… maybe she’d hear me out if…?

…No, not yet. I think that’d probably be a bad idea. Not to mention awkward to set up. “Hey August, can you come check out the feathers on my chest in a room by yourself real quick? Thanks.” No, I think the more I avoid that kind of stilted discussion, the better. Well, we’ll see how things pan out, I guess. 

“Anywho, class is ending. You better be in good shape by tomorrow or I’m gonna have Mr. Mouse over here wack you sideways.” Pikachu looked extremely excited when he heard that. Another reason to be concerned about that thing. 

“Well, we’ll see about that Ms. September,” I tried my best to smirk, and it seemed to work. Guess August is a positive influence after all. 

“Call me a month other than my name again and I’ll be making sure to slam your head deep into a calendar. One that’s preferably mounted to a brick wall.” 

“Keep calling me Mousetrap and I’ll make sure I’m true to my namesake. I think it’d be funny if I laid a few of them out in front of your room.” 

“And get in trouble with that security guard you like so much? Fat chance.”

“Are you trying to insinuate something? Besides, I think the calendar thing would get you in more trouble anyways.” 

“I can justify it as self defense.”

“How would I even be attacking you?”

“Libel.”

“Libel doesn’t justify beating someone’s head into a wall.”

“Libel doesn’t justify your plans either, ‘Mr. Ursaring Traps Outside my Dorm Room.”

August had broken into a laughing fit after that one, and I couldn’t help but grin myself. Who knew bickering with someone could be so fun? 

Though I have to make sure I don’t do this when Contour is near. That guy would probably send me to the head of the college if he heard half of this conversation, and boy is that gonna be hard to explain.

I mean, not as hard to explain as feathers growing on my chest, but y’know. 

The bell rang for the end of class. I hadn’t properly packed up yet, which is just my luck. Next class is remarkably easy to get to, so it’s not a big deal, but still annoying. I really need to keep an eye on the time next time I get into a discussion with August. 

“Welp, I’ve gotta dash, and so do you. Remember Mousetrap, I got my eyes on you.”

I chuckled a bit. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m often told I have Rowlet eyes.” She curled her fingers around her eyes like a pair of binoculars to send the message across. “I’ll be watching you. If you feel down in any way, I am going to dive in there like a Braviary to try to help.” 

I’ve heard of Braviary charging people, and boy, do I not want to be on the receiving end of whatever she has planned. August swooping down on me is probably scarier than any Brave Bird. I’ll have to be having eyes on the back of my head to keep an eye on her. 

Though, granted, given the feathers, I might actually be growing eyes on the back of my head. Who knows at this point? I really need to figure out what the heck these feathers even belong to. Mainly so I can mentally prepare myself for anything that happens to me in the future.

…Though, I hope it doesn’t involve the eye thing. That just sounds uncomfortable. 

“Well, whatever you say, July.” She rolled her eyes and ran out the door to her next class. Glad our friendship’s improving. 

Anyways, I need to get a move-on. I do not want to tick off Mr. Navet even more than I already have.

Chapter Text

Battle Studies was, for someone without a Pokemon, remarkably boring. I understand that I say that about a lot of things, but it’s especially noticeable here. It’s kind of expected to have a Pokemon in this class, so needless to say, it makes things a bit more boring for me. 

I cannot wait till I can drop this class for something else next year. 

But yeah, all that happens with me is that I get a piece of paper, and I just watch other Pokemon do their thing, then jot stuff down. It’s simple and easy, but not very exciting. Most of the time, anyway. The other Pokemon aren’t even doing any proper battling, with all the big explosions and whatnot. It’s just battle practice… man. 

Battle Studies. What can I say? We just learn about proper battling techniques and all that. Most people already know the gist of it, myself included, but it’s school mandated for your first few years, so, y’know. Kind of stuck here. 

Battling itself was pretty basic. Although it’s basically just for trainers, battling is a key thing to have for the self defense of your Pokemon, at least according to the instructors. Pokemon who battle throw attacks at each other until one of them can’t continue. Pokemon can really only beat each other to the point of fainting in most battles, so there’s no real threat other than your Pokemon getting a small bruise here or there. A lot of things in the world end up being decided by having Pokemon duke it out. Sometimes it’s a bit unnecessary. I remember one time two guys got into an argument over who should eat the last cookie they were selling at lunch, and… oh well, anyways. 

Right now, our instructor was giving us an overview of more unorthodox techniques you can do with your Pokemon. In Pokemon battles, terrain can be used to your advantage. I’ve never really cared for battling, but it’s always been interesting seeing some of the tricks Pokemon can perform. I saw a match on TV once, when I was really bored. It was between a Butterfree and a Beedrill. Butterfree attempted to put Beedrill to sleep with a Sleep Powder attack, but Beedrill twirled through the air and defeated Butterfree with a Fell Stinger attack. The spinning dispersed the spore cloud, making it so Beedrill couldn’t fall asleep. Very spur of the moment, yet very creative. 

Heh. I could never be a battler. I can’t think that fast to save my life. 

At this point, our instructor had stopped explaining some example techniques, and encouraged us to try them out. The students dispersed, and he came over and handed me a paper to jot down notes on. Here we go again. At least I’ve got a strategy for this, now.  

I’ve gotten to know which Pokemon and their trainers are most exciting at this point. Watching so many battles with the same people does that to you. Remember how I said most of these battles weren’t exciting? Well, there was one exception.  

I headed over to survey the match between two trainers. The first was Hazel and her Golbat, and the other was Cinnamon and his Hariyama. You’d expect Hariyama to have a disadvantageous matchup against Golbat, but the two are surprisingly evenly matched. Cinnamon uses a bunch of techniques to outplay Golbat, while Hazel adapts to Cinnamon’s strategies in kind. They constantly change their game plans around to counteract each other. There’s a reason I like these two so much. These battles can’t get repetitive. 

Cinnamon saw me coming and waved, and Hazel turned and did the same after noticing Cinnamon do it. Hariyama and Golbat also waved, though seemed a bit apprehensive. At this point, I don’t really blame them, given my… condition. At least they’re less nervous than the other Pokemon I’ve been around. I would be extremely concerned if Hariyama began running towards me to punt me like a dump truck. 

I’ve watched Hazel and Cinnamon enough that they’ve grown to recognize me when they see me. Not to say we’re close, but we’re acquaintances. I assume those two are as well, maybe a bit more than that, but hey, they probably won’t settle any of that until one decides they’re weaker than the other, and I doubt that’s ever going to happen. 

“Alright Hariyama, show ‘er who’s boss!” Hariyama let out an intimidating cry, as Golbat shrieked to counter it. 

“C’mon Golbat, let’s slice and dice ‘em apart!” Golbat let out an ear splitting shriek, while Hariyama roared back. Hazel smirked as she called the first move. 

“Golbat, Confuse Ray!” 

Before Golbat could even move, Cinnamon had already called a counterattack. “Not a chance. Hariyama, Fake Out!” 

Hariyama blitzed towards Golbat and slapped it with both of his hands, sending Golbat reeling back. 

“Now’s your opportunity! Zen Headbutt!” Hariyama’s head encased itself in Psychic energy as it rammed straight into Golbat. 

That energy… it felt… 

“Golbat, we’ve got them right where we want them! Poison Fang!” Golbat’s teeth became covered in Poison as it flew over to Hariyama and sunk its teeth right into it. Hariyama reeled back in pain. Small poisonous bubbles began emanating from Hariyama, indicating that it was Poisoned. Very badly. 

“Hariyama, you alright?” Hariyama shook its head and let loose a roar, though much quieter than last time. It was still ready for battle. “Sounds good. Let’s show ‘em our secret weapon! Hariyama, Facade!” Hariyama became encased in a strange vibrant energy as it rushed towards Golbat. 

“Clever. But you can’t get away with something clever when I’m in the room. Golbat, Brave Bird!” Golbat encased itself in a vast glow of energy, with the silhouette of a bird surrounding it. Both Pokemon prepared to ram into the other. 

“Now! Charge!” 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

And that was Battle Studies over and done with. And thankfully enough for me, it means early lunch. 

Oh wait, it means early lunch. Drat. Explaining last night to the others is going to be like walking on Toxic Spikes. Oh well, they snooze, they lose. I may have been the one snoozing, but hey, a guy can have a sudden complication emerge every once in a while and have no one question it, right?

“Hey hey hey, what’s poppin’ my favorite student?” 

Oh crud. Aren’t you meant to be surveying the Art wing right now?

“It’s great to see you in one piece. How was the man beast yesterday?”

“Surprisingly chill, honestly.” Sort of half telling the truth there, but hey. 

“Really? And here I was hoping I could be one of your pallbearers.” 

“Ha, you’re going to be waiting a long time for that, Contour.” Though I don’t think I get much say in what pallbearers are at my funeral…

…

Actually, do I? I should take a look at that… preferably when that’s actually relevant to me… I’m getting off track. 

“Well, I just figured, since we go way back…”

“It hasn’t been that long, Contour.”

It still feels like yesterday when Contour first talked to me. It was an… interesting conversation, to say the least. I was kind of hesitant at first, but after he lectured me a bit about how “I should always hear people out, even in the darkest of times,” I warmed up a bit. He’s surprisingly good at convincing people, I’ll say that much.

Even if he over exaggerates a little. 

“Well, I’ll be off. I’m rather busy, and you have lunch. Take care!” He put his hand out to shake, and I took it. 

“And next time, Contour, don’t run off when I need a vouch against an angry teacher.”

Contour let go of the handshake immediately. “Huh, what was that? Oh! It seems I’m needed elsewhere to…. Secure stuff. Yeah. Catch you later!” 

And just like that, Contour was gone. That guy is very good at disappearing in a cloud of smoke. 

Which, speaking of, gets everywhere. I got some dust in my eyes. Ow. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite Contour being as annoying as ever, I still made it to lunch. No strawberry shortcake today, which was just my luck, but no biggie. Still, Contour must have delayed me a little, as everyone was already at our usual spots, even the latest among us. I took my seat, and Lila immediately began to drill me.

“John! What in the name of sanity do you mean by saying that ‘you were pooped?’ Who even says that in this day and age?”

“I do.”

“Shut up Callum.” 

“Well,” I began, “I was tired, alright? It felt adequate as a descriptor.”

“Well don’t just go running off, alright? It makes us worried sick, y’know.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Oh, I absolutely know what I’m going to do later. 

“Well, anyways, glad you’re feeling better. You better not ditch us tomorrow… well, not without fair warning first.”

“Don’t worry about it, I should be fine.” 

Lila sighed in relief, and soon enough, we were back to our regular routine. That honestly went way better than expected. 

“I have to say though, Lila, the date for this is extremely inconvenient,” said Geronimo. 

“In what way?”

“Well,” began Callum, “It feels like everything is happening on that day.”

“Precisely, for instance…” Geronimo adjusted his glasses, but very suddenly sprung a poster on us out of complete nowhere. “The Champion is appearing in town tomorrow, and I won’t be able to watch!” 

Huh, didn’t know Geronimo was a big fan of that guy. 

Lila took a bite of her sandwich. “Well at least you’re not ditching us, I have to respect that.” 

“I still can’t help but be disappointed. I’m never able to catch any of his promotional appearances… I want to see what Pokemon raised to the max can do in battle.” 

“Well, maybe one day, Geronimo.” 

I can’t necessarily blame him. The Champion, Brendan, can be described only as one of our region’s biggest celebrities. He beat the previous Champion when he was only twelve years old, becoming the youngest in Hoenn’s history. Of course, that was many years ago now, but no one was able to defeat him in that time. Even someone like me, with no interest in battles, can’t help but be impressed. 

Must make going to the store for groceries a nightmare, though. 

“What exactly were you hoping to accomplish tomorrow, Callum?”

“Well… in truth…” Callum suddenly pulled out a poster of his own out of complete nowhere. “The newest Brycen-Man movie is coming out tomorrow! I’ve been looking forward to the next movie for months now! Seriously, after the twist at the end of Brycen-Man’s Last Stand -”

“Aaaaand I’m gonna cut you off right there. Watching the Champion in action is much more exciting than any silly old movie.”

“Silly old movie? You’re the guy who actually watches the documentaries in class!”

“Only because I’m the only one who cares about my education. Just as I care about viewing proper battling technique in action.”

“Brycen-Man is much cooler!”

“No, Brendan is!”

“Brycen-Man!”

“Brendan!”

“Brycen-Man!”

“Brendan!”

The two reached across the table until they were in each other’s faces, both waving their respective posters at each other with extreme agitation. I looked at Lila briefly, and I could see in her eyes that she was thinking the exact same thing I was. We both sighed in disappointment as we went back to eating our food, with the other two still bickering on and on about their idols. 

At least they don’t have to deal with feathers.

Chapter Text

I’ve done it. I just said “I’m pooped” and dipped when lunch ended. Lila looked like she wanted to kill me, but that doesn’t matter. That was one of the most glorious moments of my life. 

Unfortunately, History class is less than glorious. 

I just need to wrap this class up and I’m done, so honestly, all in all, it’s been a remarkably quick day. But that still doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying. The sooner I’m out of here, the sooner I can figure out this feather problem. 

Today, thankfully, I was on time. During the interim while we waited for the bell, Navet gave me a look from the other side of the room. I can tell just from a glance that it’s the look of “If you forget tonight I’m having your head on a platter,” from all the way over here. At least he’s going out of his way to remind me, I guess? 

Class soon kicked off into high gear as Navet began his lecture for today. I swear, that’s all this guy does, lectures upon lectures upon lectures. Has he heard about diversifying the curriculum just a little?

“Good morning class. I appreciate the lack of tardiness today. I’m very pleased.” Is he looking at me right now? “Now then, we are done learning about the myths of the Sealed Chamber for our course on the Legends of Hoenn, so give yourselves a pat on the back.” The class briefly mumbled amongst themselves for a bit. It was easy to tell the most common feeling among them was relief. “But don’t get complacent, because we have our next subject of discussion to get to today!”

Oh great. Here we go. What are we learning about this time? Another rock formation? Maybe a spooky specter in some far off wood? I dunno, last unit was immensely boring, despite focusing on Pokemon said to have been made from the Earth itself. I doubt this one is going to come halfway close to entertaining. 

“For today’s topic, we’ll be covering the Legendary Pokemon of Hoenn further.” Hearing his tone of voice, it sounds like he’s about to ramp up the dramatic flair. He always does this when we learn something new. And I hate it every time. “This time, class, we’ll be touching on a specific pair of Pokemon who have been sighted throughout the world!” 

Ah great, this one’s spanning the whole world. That means a heck ton of stuff we have to memorize for the quiz. And if it’s anything like those Klinklang Log golems we’ve been talking about, it’s going to be nothing exciting. Again. May as well take a moment to relax a bit…

The image on Mr. Navet’s slideshow changed to depict two Pokemon. The first thing I could say at a glance was that they were very eye-catching. They were a duo of Pokemon that vaguely resembled a mix of dragon and bird. They looked sort of like fighter jets, if that were possible, which was definitely unique. Judging by the wings and lack of legs, they probably were sky-based Pokemon. Very uniquely, they resembled each other greatly. Like two halves to a whole, almost. The blue one on the right was bigger and primarily blue, while the one on the left was smaller and primarily… 

Wait a sec…. That color scheme… It can’t be-

“These Pokemon are called Latias and Latios. They are referred to as the Eon Pokemon. They’re almost always found in pairs of one Latias and one Latios, though they often form herds as well. Despite this behavior, they have low numbers, and as a result are incredibly rare.” 

Incredibly rare, eh? That’s-

They’re famed for their powerful strength and speed, being able to outmaneuver the fastest jet planes humanity can muster. Their powerful attacks can break apart the strongest of metals with ease. And that’s just a brief overview! We’ll be going more in-depth on these species as class progresses…” 

I kind of zoned out after that, mainly because he just started going over unit goals and the like… but the red one… was that one Latias or Latios? Curse whoever gave them similar names. 

But the patterns on its chest… they’re entirely identical to the feather pattern on my body. That can’t be a coincidence… Can it?

And then they seem to be sky-based Pokemon. They move fast and live all over the world from what Navet said… that would explain my cryptic dream the other night! Moving fast in the sky… that’s identical to what I saw! Did they always move that fast? No wonder they’re so rare, they probably die of the sheer amount of vomiting the nausea would induce. 

But if I’m starting to change into one… or something resembling one… those are Legendary Pokemon! How is that even possible? Do their feathers just naturally do that? If they did, that would certainly make their species numbers much higher than they are right now… Which means that more likely than not, the feather I encountered in Petalburg Woods wasn’t natural in the slightest. Somebody changed that… they must have…. But who would do that?

Ok, maybe stop focusing on the confusing bits for now John, and focus on the facts here. You’re probably turning into one of… whatever these things are. Focus on trying to figure that part out first.

Mr. Navet had resumed his lecture at this point. I know I don’t normally pay attention to these… but this time, I feel it’s kind of a necessity. 

“We’ll start with some basic facts about the species. The duo are extremely similar to each other… both share the same typing, being a mix of the Dragon type and Psychic type. It makes their capabilities almost unparalleled to other Pokemon. Their down is still the subject of much study. The feathers are so small that the fact that they are feathers is almost imperceptible to the naked eye, and they have several other remarkable traits! Studies have shown that they are waterproof, and highly reflective of light around them. Latias and Latios can manipulate the light hitting them to project illusions and change their external appearance! Their Psychic abilities are unparalleled! They can project thoughts into the mind of others, utilize telepathy, and psychically lift weights exceeding several tons, and that’s not to mention…”

Ok, is this seriously what I’ve been zoning out of this whole time? Because I certainly do not remember him being this excited about anything before. I really need to start paying attention to this class more often. 

Ok, I’m getting off track. Navet, for the love of Arceus, slow down for FIVE MINUTES. For my sake. Please. 

“...They are highly emotional creatures. They’re said to be able to read the hearts and souls of any person just by looking at them, so if one befriends any of you one day, consider yourself a truly lucky trainer.” 

The slideshow changed off of the image of Latias and Latios and swapped to the agenda for the day. 

“I’ll be giving you all a night’s reading on the subject,” The class groaned. “Stop your whining! It’s not even that long! I swear, kids these days…” Mr. Navet grumbled before getting back on track. “But what was I saying… ah, yes. I’ll be handing out this assignment shortly. Expect a small reading check quiz on this two days from now to check for understanding.” The class wailed in despair. Mr. Navet sighed and went to collect the papers without saying another word. 

But… a reading assignment! That could be a great source of information! If this connection is what I think it is… I might not even need to go to the library later! 

Mr. Navet unceremoniously plopped the reading on my desk. I grabbed it almost immediately, maybe a little too quickly, because Navet glanced back and gave me a weird look before moving on. Oh well, not my problem right now. 

Let’s see here… wow, this thing is chunky . This is definitely not what I’d call small, but given yesterday’s detention work, it’s fair to say that it’s a decent comparison. 

Taking a look inside… alright, let’s give it a read-through.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is not helpful in the slightest. It’s literally just restating everything Mr. Navet said but without the pizazz.

I mean, there are a few interesting tidbits in here. For instance, it went into excruciating detail about how Eons fly, but that is not very helpful to me right now. It went in depth on illusions, which I found interesting, but it was mostly surplus information. 

Being honest, I’m not sure what I was expecting to find. Maybe something like “Latias and Latios feathers can cause biological transformations,” but that would be too easy, I guess. Still, I must be right, then. The feather isn’t a natural thing, or it would have been reported already…

Or maybe this is something new. Something that’s never been seen before… or perhaps… maybe it’s not even those two ideas at all. Maybe what I’m changing into is something else that looks very similar but is very different. Like Zigzagoon and its regional counterpart, sorta. 

Or maybe it’s none of those ideas at all…. I still know absolutely nothing about this. Guess I am doing that trip to the library after class after all. 

“Now, class!” Mr. Navet called out to all of us. “I’m afraid our time together is nearing its end, so let me just keep it brief. Given this unit will be relatively short, only about one to two days of class time, you can expect your quiz on it in three days' time.” The class sounded like someone just killed a family member. “I’ll also be throwing in some questions from other parts of the unit, so make sure you’ve studied up on everything.” 

Of course . Thanks for that, Mr. Navet. It’s so very helpful. 

And with that, the bell rang, and I was free. Of course, I had only one location on my mind. The library. Once I was there, I could finally solve my problems.

Hopefully. Maybe…. Probably. 

We’ll see. 

Chapter Text

It’s my first time here in… well, ever. I never thought I’d actually be using the library, but I suppose here we are. 

The library was a massive place. It took up its own building on campus, and contained books on quite literally anything and everything. All you could see for what felt like miles were books upon books. For me, it was… visually impressive, I suppose, but I didn’t really care much otherwise. At least, not under usual circumstances. 

Still, there were books on literally anything. The library actually has a database accessible on any computer, come to think of it. There was one time when me and Callum played a game where we had a box of cookies, and we’d eat a cookie every time we searched an obscure term into it and we got a bunch of results. 

Our stomachs weren’t doing too good the next day. 

Speaking of that database, while I wasn’t able to look it up beforehand, that session taught me that this library contained books on things like cheese making and the sleeping habits of Slowpoke. There’s gonna be a ton on Latias and Latios. I’m sure of it. 

Of course, I need to access the library computers first. Then I can enter this into the database and find what I’m looking for. It’s a shame Mrs. Ecklevee isn’t here. I really wish I could come and surprise her with the fact I’m actually here for once. 

Back to the computers, though. They were pretty decently close to the entrance, which definitely makes my life all the more convenient. The less time I spend on this, the better. I’m already yawning. Guess staying up so late last night was not such a good idea after all. 

A quick search of “Latias and Latios” into the computer actually yielded pretty solid results. Loads of books in the library, like, several pages worth. If there’s this much for a subject like this, then I really should be using this place for studying more often.

Or not, books are a bit boring. I’ve heard there’s some crazy people who just read casually for entertainment. If it were up to me, I could never. I’d be asleep before I was halfway done with the thing. At least give me an audiobook, man. 

Well, anyways, this should be a quick search. Only tedious part’s going to be the walking. This place being so big is going to absolutely slaughter my legs. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I swear to Arceus almighty, how in the actual heck is this book also gone as well? 

Look, I get full well that Mr. Navet was going to scare students into studying for this, but I didn’t think it’d be this bad. Literally every single book in the registry has been taken out by someone. Even the really bad looking ones. There’s only a few more on my list I haven’t checked, and if I had to hazard a guess, those ones are gone too. 

Ok, out of all that was left in the registry, there was one other book I thought was kind of ok looking that I could try. Granted, it’s up a lot of stairs. I swear, the world’s out to get me today. I did enough of that with Contour the other day. 

Oh well. Guess I have to. Alright legs, don’t cave on me now. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I had made it upstairs to a more secluded spot of the library. This one was very far away from the other books on the Eons, so hopefully, if I was lucky, I could nail this one before somebody else snagged it.

And just by surveying the area a little bit, it seems I’ve hit the jackpot. Not a single soul is around. It’s dead silent. Perfect. 

Well, unless they already got the book and left. If that happens, I swear I am going to break something. 

Now, let’s see… should be this bookcase here, and… 

It’s not here!? You’ve gotta be…

“Looking for this?” 

…joking. No. 

I turned around, only to find none other than August. What the heck was she doing here? They say comedy comes in threes, but August surprising me for the third time in the past week really isn’t all that funny. 

August held in her hand the exact book I was looking for. Y’know, in person, this looks a lot more beat up than I thought it was… Whatever. This is my best shot for fixing my problems, and August is currently in the way of that. 

“Yes, I was looking for that, actually. Could I-” 

“Nuh uh uh. You gotta earn it.” I’ve got to what now? 

“Earn it?”

“Yep. I assume you need this book for studying in Mr. Navet’s class?”

“How would you know I’m in his class?”

“Because I’m also in his class. Different block, granted, but boy, does Mr. Navet snitching someone out spread like wildfire as a rumor.” 

Drat, I forgot about that. Curse rumors.

But, actually, this is better than my previous assumption. I thought for a moment she figured out the feathers deal. This can actually work. Maybe. 

“...But…” I don’t like where this is going. “...I need this for studying as well. I’m also in his class, remember. So as I said, you have to earn this book from me.”

A brief silence passed over us. Do I take her offer? This book could be a complete red herring, after all. May not get a single lick of information out of it. No… there’s an easier way around this. 

“Surely, I could just borrow it when you’re done? It doesn’t look like too long of a read.”

August smirked. “It’s not. Buuuuttttt, I’m very busy today. And tomorrow, you know what’s up.” Of course. The big cabin thing. But that would mean- “By the time you get this book, the test would be upon us.” 

Shoot ok. Ok, what course of action can I take here… um… Oh yeah!  I could just wait until after the test, just say it’s for personal research… wait. By then, given how quick my feathers have grown… I don’t know what would happen by then. I can’t wait three days. I need this now. 

“Fine, August. What do I have to do?” I swear, I better not be sent on another wild goose chase. I’ve had enough of those for a lifetime. 

“Simple. You gotta talk to me.” 

Luck truly is never on my side, is it?

“About what?” 

“You. Something’s up with you, and I know I was respecting your boundaries earlier, but that was because we were in public. No one’s here to hear us bicker right now, meaning I can say what I want.”

Ok, connotations aside…

“Why do you care?”

“Because I want to make sure tomorrow goes alright. It’s my first time being invited with you guys by Lila, and I do not want this heading south.” 

“Well, what do you think is wrong with me then?” 

“Weeeellllllll… to start with, I think it’s something that’s affecting you physically. A sickness, of some sorts.” 

A sickness? Well, I guess, technically, I am sort of having something. Even if it is a bit more… feathery, than your average case. 

“What makes you think that?” Let’s just play this off. If I can just pass it off as something mundane, I can get through this. I just need her to buy that. 

“Yesterday. Math class. You were scratching your stomach like nothing else. I know from the best that itching of that sort is more likely than not some kind of rash.” 

Shoot, she’s right on the money with that. Who the heck has she been talking to that’s good with this kind of stuff? They must be teaching her some crazy stuff if she was able to figure that out just from looking.

…

Actually, scratch that. In hindsight it was kind of obvious. Even Contour noticed it.  

“So? I ran through a rough patch of poison ivy. No biggie.” 

I can still work with this. 

“You didn’t check with the nurse.”

“And how the heck are you supposed to know that?”

“I have my ways,” That’s not terrifying in the slightest. “But anyway, I have medical experience. I can assess the severity of your rash and see what can patch it up best before tomorrow.” 

Shoot. If she wants to see… Well, that’s an entire can of Orthworm in and of itself. 

“Well, my rash is mostly gone, y’know?” 

“Show me the rash, Gravy. Some rashes leave and come back, I have to make absolute certain.” 

This is not good. If I show her my… “rash,” she’ll see the truth of my feathers. I don’t know August nearly well enough to figure out how she’d react. But then, if I don’t, she won’t give me the book that may be my one saving grace. 

So, it’s either I reveal my secret, which will give me a fifty-fifty shot at getting me what I need, or I don’t reveal it and I don’t get the book that may or may not even have the info I want. Everything’s coming down to pure chance. I hate it when it does that. There’s no right way to go about things. 

…

I suppose, if there’s one thing my mom always told me… it’s that I should always take the plunge. Welp, allons-y. 

“Um, August, before I do that…”

“Don’t try to wriggle your way out of this, John.”

“I’m not! I just wanted to ask… when you mention this “best” person you learned from, how crazy was “crazy” when it came to medical stuff?” 

“Well, it’s purely subjective. I suppose it’d have to be some of the grosser stuff, but unless you ripped your stomach open yesterday without me knowing, you’re in the realm of normal.”

“About that…”

“Please for the love of Arceus tell me you didn’t rip your stomach open.”

“I didn’t! But, um… can you keep a secret?”

“If it’s a serious health problem, I can’t keep a secret.”

“It’s just that… look, just see for yourself. You’ll understand what I mean.”

Moment of truth, brace yourself John. 

I lifted up my shirt to reveal my feathers underneath. I couldn’t quite see August’s reaction thanks to the shirt in my face… but I didn’t quite hear her either. What that means is that this is either going to go very well or very poorly. 

We stood there for what felt like an eternity before August finally spoke again. Her breath sounded shaky. 

“J-John, what the actual-” 

“Yeah, this is kind of what I meant.” 

I pulled my shirt down and finally got a good look at August. She looked like she had just witnessed someone die right in front of her. She was horrified. I didn’t think anything could break her composure like that. 

August, shook her head and recovered incredibly quickly. She stormed up to me with an intensity that caught me off guard. 

“John Jeremiah Gravy, why the heck did you NOT SEE THE NURSE FOR THIS !?” 

…

Help. 

“Well… I… uh… I never really liked the nurse.”

August got up close in my face. “Why? Not?” 

“She… uh… never really seemed to be c-caring too much about my problems when I went there. Like, she didn’t l-look like she cared at all.” 

August continued staring at me with an unamused expression. If anything, she looked even more ticked off than before. 

“Of course she cared John! You just kept coming in with injuries so minor that there was no reason to!” 

“And how do you know that!?”

“Because she’s my Mom!” 

…

Y’know, maybe now would be a good time to hit up Contour about that pallbearer thing. 

August’s intensity increased tenfold as I shrunk back. And here I thought Mr. Navet had an intimidating aura. This was like ten times worse.

However, August backed off, much to my surprise. She looked like she tired out her anger, if that was possible. She backed up to a nearby chair and sat down looking… done. I don’t blame her, honestly. That was sort of my reaction as well. 

“So,” August broke the silence she had started. “Ignoring your thoughts on my mother…” Yeah, she’s not forgetting that one anytime soon. “I literally have no idea what the heck you did to cause this,” She paused, before she began muttering to herself. “ Feathers… feathers… how? ” 

I figure that now would be the best time to bring up the book before she goes down any more mental rabbit holes. “So… uh… yeah. That’s kind of why I need that book. You recognize the feathers, right? It’s just like…”

“Latias, I know.” She looked at the book she had withheld from me earlier. “So that’s why you needed this…” 

“Exactly. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on and why I’m growing feathers that would normally belong to some Legendary Pokemon.” 

August went silent for a moment, looking deep in thought, but soon, she began smirking again. That was the mischievous smirk. Oh Arceus, what has she thought of? 

“So, you’re sort of… turning into one, would you say?” 

“I think so, yeah.” Where is she going with this? 

“Oh, I am so going to make fun of that aspect of Latias once I get the chance.” 

What aspect was she referring to? Was it the size difference? Oh, thinking about it now, that is going to be so weird. If this goes through like I think it will, I’m gonna be smaller than everyone. I was always decently tall as well…

Ok, nope, stop right there John. Work out if you can stop it before thinking about the after effects. 

“Oh well, no need to worry about that, John.  I assume you want some medical help?” 

“If you know anything, I’d appreciate it.” 

“Yeah, sorry, I got nothing,” Wow, she didn’t even need to think for that one. “This is completely unprecedented in any medical field. I’d know, my mom’s the nurse here and my dad’s a surgeon.”

That’s… not good. And I guess that means that the book ain’t going to be too helpful either. If someone with a bunch of medical expertise doesn’t know anything… 

But it does confirm one thing for me… whatever this is, it’s not natural in the slightest. What have I gotten myself into?

“August,” I said, as sternly as possible. “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

“I’m not going to. If anyone caught wind of this, you’d be sent to some testing facility and never seen again.” 

Oh yeah, fair point, actually. 

But if it progresses fully… What's gonna happen then?

“John.” August looked at me with a look of determination. “I will help you any way I can. We may not know each other well, but it’s as I said. Any friend of Lila’s is a friend of mine, and admittedly, you’re not too bad a guy yourself.” 

“I-” 

“No need to speak, John. If anything else comes up, let me know. I’ll try my best to help, but right now, I got nothing.” 

I nodded. There wasn’t really much more to say on my end, I’ve said and done everything I could. August isn’t going full betrayal mode on me though, so that’s a plus. 

“You can take the book. For now, best of luck John,” August took her leave, departing almost immediately after she said that. I hope I didn’t shock her too much. 

Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I did. Well, she’ll feel better after she stops thinking about it a bit. It’s been working for me so far. 

Honestly though, the book didn’t really matter too much anymore. I know full well that this thing isn’t going to help my problems one bit. Though… I guess too much knowledge never hurt anyone. I’ll give it a quick overview later. 

I think right now, I need to work out what I’m doing, and how I’m going to handle this. I’ve just been procrastinating so far, I need some form of advice on what to do… That’s it!

I think I know just who to talk to.

Chapter Text

There was always one person I knew I could go to for advice… but I haven’t really gone to her before. There were always different reasons for it. Most of the time, they were things I could ask my friends for advice for. Other times, there was a more qualified person to go to for help. Heck, one time, the problem I was having solved itself on the way there. 

I headed to the science building. If I’ve got my classes right…. There shouldn’t be anyone there. That means it’s the perfect time for me to talk about what I need to. 

Now… let’s see here… there we go. Bingo, she’s here. Finally, something works out for once. 

“Ah, John, great to see you here. What can I help you with?”

Good old Science teacher. She always seems to be available, which means I can basically come in for guidance at any time, and ironically has a better schedule than my actual guidance counselor. Still, most of the time, I just come for science help when I need it. She’s always been on the cards when it comes to actual advice, but as mentioned, I’ve never really had the need for it until now. 

I also seem to have lucked out. No students in her class at all. So long as Mr. Navet isn’t hiding in a corner to surprise me like August was, I should be good to go. 

“Er, Ms. Oblique, I was wondering if I could ask you for some… advice.” 

“Advice? You know I’m always happy to help, John. What’s got your head in a mess?” 

“Well…” Of course, I’m telling her my problem, but I’m not going to actually tell her my problem. August, she’s a student, semi-sane. Much safer to entrust a secret to. Ms. Oblique? Associated with the school. I’d be reported in a heartbeat, nice teacher or not. And needless to say, this is a doozy to explain.  

I’ve chosen my wording carefully at least. “I’ve been thinking… What if you had a problem? One you couldn’t fix in any way, and had no time to try to prevent?” Worded very… oddly, but it should work. 

Ms. Oblique looked surprised, but after a moment of silence, began her answer. “Well, I know kids your age go through all kinds of problems…” Please don’t go on generic teacher tangent number eighteen. I want some kind of actual advice, please and thank you. “But whatever the case, if it were up to me in that situation… I’ll say that I’d probably just roll with it.”

“Just… roll with it?” 

“Yep. Just like we learned in Science, it’s not just Pokemon that evolve. People do as well. If you find that something big is changing that, and you can’t do anything about it, you’ve just got to adapt. If you can’t fix the problem, try to work with it instead.”

Just… work with it instead? I’m not really sure how I’d roll with being a dragon, but… I kind of see what she means? Sort of? I can’t seem to find a way to stop it right now, but… 

Well, I’ll see if August can get any more info for me before I commit one way or another. I don’t quite want to accept changing species if it can’t be helped. 

“I see. Well, that’s all I came to ask. Thank you, have a good day!”

“John, is that all you came to ask?”

“Yep. I’d talk more, but Mr. Navet needs me right now, and you know how he is…”

“Oh my! Well don’t let me keep you waiting. Good luck.” Those weren’t some kind of parting words from her. That was just a statement. I would need the luck. Guess that says a lot about Navet as a whole if even the other teachers are scared of him. 

I said my final parting words as I ran off to Mr. Navet’s class. I could afford the library thing and this brief checkup thanks to the fact he still had classes going on. But at this rate, classes are probably nearly done, and Mr. Navet is gonna grill me like there’s no tomorrow if I’m late. Best be on my way before the halls get crowded and I have to push through that small tidal wave of college students to get there. 

Never fun, that.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ah, John Gravy, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Not sure why he’s asking me that, he literally forced me to be here. 

“Detention.”

“Ah, good, you remembered the agreement we had.” I would call it more of an obligation, but whatever. “Now, John, your packet is in that chair right over there. Take a seat and get as much as you can done.” 

Right, this is going to be a snooze fest. Let’s get this over with. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

When I said it was going to be a snooze fest, I didn’t quite mean it literally. 

I am barely holding myself awake right now. I’m not as tired as last night, which I can tell only because I’m still cognizant, but I’m still not doing too great. Trying to focus on the questions is sending me to the realm of sleep, and boy, do I not feel like going night night right now. 

Though… it is… very… tempting… 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so, guess I’m back in the sky again. Hello sky. Great to see you. Please don’t send me hurtling through you again. I’m really not feeling it after all that’s happened today. Oh, and your big vomit fest yesterday, that too. 

Oh yeah, and I guess that means I’m asleep right now as well, aren’t I? Yep, I am. Navet is going to kill me when I wake up. Or rather, when he wakes me up. Guess I have to deal with this until then. 

The sky was still a bright orangey tint like last time, but this time it seemed more subdued… brighter… almost like it was morning. Very early morning, granted, but early morning. 

However, what was unique was that the clouds weren’t moving at all. The sky was stagnant. Everything was frozen. Seeing as I couldn’t move my dream body, I assume I’m frozen too. I guess my dreams weren’t expecting me this early? Or maybe I’m just not having anything going on when it comes to my brain right now. 

I dunno, they didn’t exactly give me a “cryptic dream handbook” when I touched that feather, so I’m really guessing at this point. I dunno, brain, if you could, could you give me a sign? 

A brush of feeling passed me to my right. Firstly, thank you brain, secondly, what even is that? 

Looking in the general area, what felt like a small disturbance of some kind was just floating there. Nothing visibly changed… but I just had a sense that something was there. Like something was… breaking in, almost. Trying to send a signal. 

It was basically knocking on my door to ask if it could join. My dreams really are getting funky if I’m starting to get visitors. 

However, I didn’t have the choice to respond or not, as five seconds later, I found myself being jolted awake by an angry History teacher.

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“Wake up Gravy! This is no time for a nap!” 

Navet basically Wake-Up Slapped me awake. Not literally of course, because by Arceus would that hurt, but boy, the Wring Out he gave me to get me up probably jumbled my internal organs up. 

Actually, they were probably doing that anyway. Do Eons even have different organs? I’m not feeling anything different in that department… 

Shut up John, you’re getting off track again. 

I groggily got up, but instead of finding Navet reprimanding me, he seemed… concerned. He put his hand to my forehead, but quickly retracted it.

“Geez John, you’re practically a Magcargo with the temperature you’re running! You’ve got the mother of all fevers right now.” 

I’m running a fever? Good to know, I guess. Not that I’m surprised at this point, given my luck. But I was fine earlier, when could I have possibly…

Oh, yeah, right. Feather. Probably causing this as well. Just like how it’s causing every other problem in my life right now. Thank you very much you stuck up piece of Latias. 

“I’m sending you back to your dorm to rest, and that’s an order. There’s a difference between working hard and foolhardiness.”

Mr. Navet took my packet and returned to his desk. Seeing as I had no reason to be there, and that he was releasing me early, I left almost as soon as he did that. I was too tired to care, anyways. My impromptu knock-out may have assuaged some of my tiredness, but boy was I still yearning for a proper nap. 

The journey back to my room was a slow one, but nothing really much of note happened. Didn’t see anyone I knew, nothing exciting happened, there was just nothing going on. 

I mean, I wasn’t complaining, given everything going on, but still. 

Eventually, I made it to my room. My window was still jammed open from yesterday, and my papers were still scattered all over the floor, but boy, I was not dealing with that today. Right now, what I needed was a nap. I plopped onto my bed, and it was lights out from there.

Chapter Text

Boy did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Literally. I think I rolled onto something I shouldn’t have. My back is not feeling it today. And that’s not to mention that I just feel… out of it. I think my brain is out of it too. This is the first night since the night I touched that thing where I didn’t have some sort of crazy dream. 

Also, scratch what I said just now. I’m really really out of it. I feel like a Spinda after a college party, hoo boy. If I was tired last night, then it somehow got worse today. Navet said I had a fever, didn’t he? Yeah, that’d explain a lot. 

What’s the time right now, anyways?

…

Nine forty-five!? What is it with me and waking up at just the wrong times… 

Ok, I can still make this work… let’s see, I really should have done this last night… 

Yep! Ok, bag’s already packed. Computer, check. Ticket, check. Excellent, now let’s just…

Actually, is it just me, or is my hand looking ever so slightly different? It looks… rounder than I remember. Like, it’s not a circle or anything, but it was sort of curved around the sides. 

Ok, so I guess it’s not just feathers that’s growing when it comes to me then. I suppose I’ll do a quick overview before I head out. If my hands are becoming rounder and all that jazz, I’d best do a thorough check. If I suddenly grow a tail or something, that is gonna be awkward with a capital A. 

Looking over my torso… it’s still covered in feathers, about the same as yesterday. Though it may just be my imagination playing tricks on me, they seem less messy than they were yesterday. My torso also looked much more… curved, if that’s an appropriate description. I remember the image of that thing had a sort of circular body, so I’d assume that’s what’s happening. Sure hope that isn’t impacting any of my organs. 

The feathers, back to them, had begun growing up to my neck. Just around the bottom of it. That’s going to be annoying to deal with. I can probably cover that up with a scarf. The weather’s getting chilly, I’m sure it isn’t too bad of an excuse, even if I’ll be sweating like there’s no tomorrow. 

Hm… my neck feels weird though. It feels… thinner? Somehow? I hope it hasn’t been growing out like a Girafarig, or else that’s going to look super weird. I’d look like a living cartoon more than I would an actual human being. 

Rest of my body looked fine enough, at least. Oddly, no feathers that I could visibly see on my legs. What did the legs of those things even look like, anyway? I don’t think the image Navet gave was very clear on that. 

Actually, in hindsight, they were really poorly cropped images. Wow. Never trust Navet when it comes to making a slideshow presentation. 

Still, if I really am turning into one of those things… ah well, hopefully it looks cool at least. I may be a freak of nature right now, but this whole deal better at least give me that when this is all said and done.

Well, if it’s all said and done. Gotta remain optimistic about all of this… yeah. 

Anyways, scarf. I should have one in this bag over here that I left hanging on the top bunk… Is it just me, or is this bag higher up than it used to be? 

Eh, no biggie. I can still reach it just fine for now. Scarf’s inside, stuff is packed, let’s rock and roll before I become the last one there again. I didn’t like Kecleon’s tongue yesterday, and I still don’t like it now. 

----------------------------------------------------------

The trek there was about the same as yesterday. Granted, more people out and about, both because of the day off and because it was an actual respectable time of the day, but basically the same outside of that. At least I’m not bumping into Ms. LeFitz or Contour right now, and, heck, Mr. Navet couldn’t force me to come today fever or not. So I guess that’s one thing different. Much more chill.

Well, except for the fever bit. I feel extremely out of it right now. I wouldn’t doubt if I was becoming a Snorlax at this point with how tiring the past few days have been. I’m a bit more conscious than two nights ago… but boy, I cannot keep this up forever. 

At least there’s no Dustox to start swarming me. If I see those guys again I am making sure that they taste the sweet scent of Super Repel. 

…I packed that, right?

This cabin was a ways out from Rusturf Tunnel though. It was far closer to Meteor Falls than it was Rusturf. Meteor Falls… I do not have fond memories of that place. 

The cabin was very close to the beach and a decently solid hiking trail, so I can already imagine what’s going to go down when I get there. I figure a long hike, but I don’t think my legs are going to manage it at this point. They almost feel like they’re going to give way by the time I get there. 

Oh well, only a bit more, and I’m there. And then I can rest. 

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Soon enough, the cabin came clearly into view. Just looking from afar, it was actually pretty sizable. It was more like an inn than a cabin, at least compared to the way Lila described it. 

And thank goodness for that. Inn meant bed, and right now, I need bed. 

And even more thankfully, I didn’t seem to be too late either, for right at the entrance was none other than the gang themselves. Lila, Geronimo, Callum, and August were all already there. I’ve stopped worrying about Kecleon at this point. I’m too tired to care. Hopefully Callum decides to keep that thing in the ball. I really do not feel like getting licked right this second. 

“Hey, John! You made it, sleepyhead!” 

“Say, you aren’t looking too fresh right now, something up?”

Well, I have a fever and am tired out of my mind, so there’s that. Oh, and I also may or may not be changing species. I dunno, I’m not exactly having the best day right now.

“Not much, I’m just tired, is all.” 

A complete lie, of course. Everyone else seems to be buying it, but I can tell August knows that I’m lying. Judging by how she’s staring at me, she knows something’s up. 

“Well, whatever you say,” replied Lila, who was holding a map. It was a very big map, come to think of it. 

“Alright, everybody, as we’re all here, gather round.” Geronimo took the map from Lila. “We’ll be taking a hike in the nearby woods to start the day. We’ll start at the trailhead here, and then go up until about here before looping back. All in all, this should take us a couple of hours.” 

“If it’s alright with you, Geronimo, I think I’ll stay back here until you all get back. I am not prepared for a hike in the slightest,” replied August. 

August then turned and gave me a look that was like a dagger disintegrating my soul. Basically, it was a look that said “Do the same thing as me or else.”

“Er, yeah, I think I’ll sit this out as well. I’m tired enough that my legs would probably disappear by the time we were halfway done with it.”

I wasn’t exactly lying, at least. In fact… I could probably go for a very good nap right around now. The nap to end all naps, if you will. I could hibernate right now if I wanted to. 

“Hm…. Well, alright you two. We’ll be back in a few hours once we’re done with the hike,” replied Geronimo. Lila and Callum nodded.

The three waved goodbye as me and August entered the cabin. I could hear them break into discussion almost immediately. 

“Oh, we could do Go Fish when we’re back!” 

“Callum, we are not doing Go Fish after last time.” 

“Last time was a one time thing, I promise you.”

“Flipping the table over in a rage over Go Fish is not just a one time thing.” 

“What about Charades?” 

“Never again.” 

Ah. Never change, you three. Never change. 

As I turned around, I found August nowhere in sight. Seems she already made a break for her room. May as well do the same.

---------------------------------------------------------

The cabin itself was very cozy on the inside. The floor I was on had a fireplace and living room sort of setup, with a comfy couch and all that jazz. Actually, a very comfy couch… You think it could work as a pillow? 

To my left was a receptionist’s desk featuring, lo and behold, a receptionist. I flashed the ticket I had in my bag, and I was let through without another word. A man of very few words, it seems. Eh, if he doesn’t care too much, I won’t either. I’m too tired to care about everything going on, even if I wanted to.  

Before I left completely, the receptionist called for me and pointed to a key on the wall. By the looks of it, it was a room key. I thanked him and carried on upstairs. Room three hundred and eighty was my room, at least according to the key. Not sure why the numbers for these rooms were all in the three hundreds when there weren't even more than a dozen rooms in total here, but whatever. 

Three hundred and eighty was around the end of the hallway. I entered the room using the key, and found the inside of it to be quite nice. It was a decently sized room, around the same size, if not slightly larger, than my dorm back on campus. There was a bookshelf to one wall, containing a bunch of books I didn’t care to see the contents of right now. There was also a  fancy little desk off to my right, and to the center was my savior and a literal sign from above: An absolutely massive bed that looks extremely well made. And even more importantly, soft. It looks big, and fluffy, and, well…

I was out like a light immediately.

Chapter Text

Falling.

 I was falling. 

All I could feel was falling… the sensation of it. I was going downwards, and downwards, and downwards and downwards and downwards-

Until the sensation stopped. I sighed in relief.

Then I was thrown to my left. 

I was going faster than I could even conceive of. I was being thrown left and right, this way and that, like a marble being tossed around a washing machine. There was no sense of where everything was going, only the motion stayed constant. Up, down, up, right, left, right, left, down, left, up, up, up down….

The beautiful clear skies were gone. There was no sunset, no early morning. All that was left were the colors. There was red and blue mixed and matched, sploshed together and fused into one all at once. The colors flopped about like a Magikarp on land, trying their hardest to stabilize but constantly making the fusion between themselves worse. The colors were trying to have order, but unfortunately, none existed. 

The kaleidoscope of color had broken. It couldn’t hold. My dream was trying to break apart, reshuffle, and then fold in on itself and expand outwards again. Nothing was right. It was all twisting and turning, over and over and over again.

It was falling apart at the seams. Expanding, compressing, and then undoing both of those processes over and over again. I didn’t know what was going on. Nothing was stable for more than a fraction of a second. 

But then it all ceased to be. 

--------------------------------------------------

That was certainly my worst nap in a long time… urf. Everything feels… off. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s the motion sickness from whatever the heck that was meant to be? I feel… different. Not good different or bad different… just… different. It’s weird. 

I righted myself on the bed. I looked around for a clock to see how long my impromptu nap had taken. Surprisingly, I had only been asleep for less than an hour. Strange, given that I felt more well rested from that than I had been in days. Especially so given how jarring that dream was. Just had one of the worst naps of my life, yet I felt so good that it’s almost like I never permanently scarred my sleep schedule in the first place. This is what I get for sleeping on my stomach. 

My head’s throbbing a little bit… and I mean, I still feel iffy, but I suppose it can’t be helped given that I went to sleep out of the blue.  

I put my hand to my head to ease the pain a little bit, but I was met with an unfamiliar sensation. My head felt way different than I remember. So did my hand. They felt completely off. My head felt… soft, if that’s the right way to put it. Not like, pillow soft, but more like putting your hand on a fuzzy carpet kind of soft. My hand… I couldn’t figure it out exactly, but it felt rounder than before. Even rounder than this morning. 

I pulled my hand away from my head to analyze it… and what the actual- 

The change to my hand had completed while I was asleep. It was completely round now, sort of like an oval. It had a white, sort of striped underside and a red feathery top. My fingers were gone, and I only had three short claws now. I looked to my other hand, and found it had also undergone the same changes. 

Ok, so I guess my hands decided to finish becoming all dragon-y while I was asleep. Alright, that’s annoying. How the heck was I supposed to hide this? Completely different hand structure now, my fingers aren’t even there anymore. I doubt they’re going to buy the “I got very bad swelling” excuse any time soon. Hm…

May as well check the rest of me. If my hands changed in one power nap, something else must have, as well. Let’s get up, and… wow, my legs are really asleep today. I can’t feel them at all. Wasn’t expecting that, but… 

Hang on. My pants… they don’t have anything in them. How is that…?

I pulled myself out from my now empty pants, and there’s really only one thing I could say about the sight that greeted me.

Where in Arceus’ name are my legs?

--------------------------------------------------

Ok, so, I blame Navet almost entirely for this. 

Who knew Latias didn’t have legs? I mean, I suppose practically everyone who did any semblance of studying for this, but guess what, I completely forgot to do research. I hate fevers. Always strike at the most inopportune times.

All I have are these weird little rudder things that look and feel extremely off-putting. It’s like controlling little leg stubs more than an actual leg, and they do not look strong enough to support my weight. 

It also makes movement absolute agony to deal with. I basically had to drag myself around to even get anywhere, and unfortunately I kind of forgot about the fact that I had to get on my stomach to move like that. That tumble is going to give one nasty bruise later.

And now I’m dragging myself across the floor. Mr. Navet, if you could have higher quality images on your slideshows from now on, that’d be greatly appreciated. Seriously, I feel like I’m dragging a whole other weight on my back right now. 

Still, I believe there was a mirror over on the door here… bingo! Now I can see if it decided to change anything else about me. Because, personally, I really don’t fancy having other parts of my body become completely different all of a sudden. 

I got to the mirror, but what I saw shocked me to no end. The face in the mirror that stared back at me was not my own. That was the face of an Eon. 

I recoiled back in surprise, and the reflection did too. I put my hands to my face to feel it around, and the reflection responded back in kind. It wasn’t just my arms and legs that changed completely. My entire body had as well.

…And dear Arceus was that a massive neck. That puts that one girl in my Science class to shame. You could probably label this the Leaning Tower of John Gravy and it’d be a fairly accurate descriptor. 

Another thing, while I’m here: Good gosh are my eyes MASSIVE. They’re like a solid fifth of my head. Aren’t Latias and Latios skyfaring Pokemon? That seems really counterintuitive. You’re going to be getting so much stuff ramming into your eyes that you’re probably flying blind. No wonder so few of this species exist, they probably crash land every ten minutes from being bombarded by the wind in their eyes. 

And that just made me realize that… I’m a Pokemon now. Like, flesh and blood. Feathers and everything. If you took the clothes off of me I’d be indistinguishable from the genuine article. 

This is certainly going to make the next family reunion awkward. 

Okay, focus John, what can you do? I could probably contact August, for starters. Maybe she and I could work out a game plan going forward… yeah, that’s likely my best bet. 

But before I do that, there’s one thing I need to work out. How exactly do I move around? I can’t keep dragging myself everywhere, for obvious reasons. I’ve been kind of ignoring the two massive wings jutting out of my back until now, but I mean, seriously, how am I meant to use those? I get that Latias and Latios fly and all, but how exactly do I fly? There isn’t really a manual for this. 

Um, ok, let’s try it this way. Let’s try putting force into the wings and then sort of… telling myself to go up? Actually, no. How would I even do that anyways? 

Eh, at this point, I have no other ideas, let’s give it a shot. 

I began trying to get into the air, and to my surprise, it wasn’t actually too hard to get off the ground… somehow. I’m not sure how I did it, but I managed to get airborne. Barely even had to move the wings as well. I would’ve called this convenient, but unfortunately, I had no clue how to control the lift I was gaining, which meant I had a very unfortunate date with the ceiling. If the tumble earlier wasn’t going to give me a bruise, that was.

Especially so when I hit the floor afterwards. I am not having a good time right now.  

It took me a few more tries, but I finally managed to get airborne without crashing into the ceiling. I was hovering in place, and boy was that a weird sensation. It was helped by the fact I didn’t have legs anymore, which was a sentence I never thought I’d say, but here we are. 

Ok, now that I’m flying, here comes the hard part. Moving forward. 

The first few attempts did not end well. Most involved me falling flat on the floor again, which required me to get into hovering position again, which involved a lot more falling on the floor. Someone’s going to think my head’s being bashed against the floor right now. 

One try sent me zooming into the wall directly in front of me. My condolences to that portrait, by the way. I hope Lila can cover for that. After that, I decided it might be best to try hovering for a bit to get a better hang of it. 

Which, by the way, this is really making me realize something. I’m a Pokemon now.  Like, properly. I can’t exactly hide this anymore. I know I already said all of the flesh and blood stuff earlier, but like, there’s no part of me left. I know I was basically the definition of the most standard person ever, but that was me. I was standard. And needless to say, being turned into a Legendary Pokemon is anything but standard. 

I seriously hope that thing didn’t do anything else wonky to me. I better not wake up tomorrow and find I’m like ten feet tall or something-

Was that a knock at the door? I hope that it’s not the receptionist or else this is going to be very awkward. But if it’s August… 

Ok, let’s see if I can move forward without ramming into anything. Maybe if I try going slowly…?

I inched forward bit by bit to the door, taking care not to speed up too much. I’m not quite sure how exactly I’m getting a hang of this so quickly, but I really am not complaining right now. 

“John, I can hear you throwing yourself around in there, open up!” 

If only she knew how literal that was. Well, at least I know that’s August now.

And unfortunately, I’m getting distracted again which means I’m FALLING AGAI-

“John, seriously what are you doing in there? And… What exactly are those noises I’m hearing? You didn’t kidnap a Wailmer or something in there, did you?” 

It’s the sound of repeated failure, August. I’m working on it. 

--------------------------------------------------

Eventually, and painstakingly, I managed to reach the door. Turning the door handle with three stubby little claws was annoying, but not impossible. 

In the intervening ten minutes that it had taken me to get to the door, I had found out a few things. Firstly, slow and steady is the best way to go for now. My steering and finer movements are a bit rough right now, but I’m getting better with movement slowly but surely. Granted, very slowly, but it’s working, sort of. 

I’ve also come to the realization that I’m pretty sure August doesn’t understand me anymore. I’ve repeatedly called out to her, and she’s only replied with confusion every time. She’s told me she has no idea what sounds are being made every time I try talking, so my bets are that I’m speaking Pokemon right now, which, implications aside, is going to be extremely annoying. I have no real idea what this Pokemon sounds like, so who knows what I’m unleashing upon August’s ears. 

But anyway, the door was open now, and right in front of me was August. A very shocked August actually.

…

You know, I’m just now realizing the fact that I kind of answered the door as a Legendary Pokemon. Y’know, flying, feathers, all that stuff. This is going to be a doozy to explain.

Well, if I could actually talk, but you know. 

We stood there staring at each other for a few moments, before August managed to recover from the shock. 

“Sooooooo…..” She looked at me bottom to top. “You’re a Pokemon now. I dig the look.”  I’m sure I looked very unimpressed, because August just continued on. “Let’s discuss inside.” I nodded and turned around, accidentally clipping my wing on a nearby wall in the process before completing the full turn. I’m sure August was raising an eyebrow right now, but she’s never had to deal with not having legs anymore, so who’s she to judge?

“Alright, John.” I turned my head back to August. “So you’re definitely not hiding… that anytime soon.” 

“Well I don’t see you having any ideas, February.” 

“I didn’t understand a single lick of what you just said, and yet I can still detect the sass in your voice.” 

I knew the sounds I was making sounded a bit different and all, but, well, it’s official I guess. I am speaking Pokemon and no one can understand me now. That’s great, just great. 

“Well, um, John, do you have any ideas on what to do? Because I’m all out at this point.” 

Look, August, I didn’t even know I was turning into a Pokemon until yesterday, do you think I have a full twenty step plan laid out for this? Like, unless we knew someone who had experience with these two, who preferably wasn’t Mr. Navet, we’re kind of stuck.

Actually… someone with a Latias… That’s it! It’s kinda iffy, but it’s the best shot I have right now. 

I motioned over towards my bag, which was lying on my bed, for August to see. I needed to access my computer, but I do not trust my flying enough to be able to grab that without injuring myself more. 

“Your bag? What about your bag?” 

I tried miming out opening the bag, but that just seemed to confuse August more. 

“I really don’t get what you’re trying to say. What does a Hippowdon have to do with any of this?”

Where did you even- Ok, note to self, never invite August to charades. 

“August, please, just go to the bag and open it.” I know she can’t understand me right now, but I really need her to figure this out. 

“John, I’m really not sure what you’re babbling on about, but I’ll look in your bag if you’re being so persistent about it.” 

Thank Arceus. Ok, hopefully, she gets the right thing from there. 

“Let’s see… you packed basically nothing in here, wow… I assume you want the computer?” I nodded, and she pulled it out. I motioned towards the desk that lay against the wall, and she placed it down there. 

Slowly and carefully, I made my way to the laptop. I realized midway that I didn’t know how to descend, so I accidentally slammed into the ground on the way there, but no biggie. 

I lifted the computer cover, and powered it on. However, as I placed my finger on the fingerprint sensor to log in, I soon realized a teensy tiny problem. I didn’t exactly have fingers, let alone fingerprints, anymore. Which means I can’t log in. 

“John, you alright over there?” 

Ok… ok. I’ve got a plan. There is still one more way to log in. I can use my password to sign in! Let’s see… which one was I using for this again?

Um… banana2733? Nope. Ok, uh… Banana2733? Nope. Darn, thought the capital would help there.  Banana2733%%? Come on, that had to have been it? Ok, so it wasn’t one of the banana password variations. 

Let me think… maybe it was…. Pomegranate2733? What do you mean that wasn’t it? I swear to- 

“John, you forgot your password, didn’t you?” 

I turned back to August and sadly nodded. 

“If you want to use a computer, just use mine for now.” She pulled a computer out of her bag. “Just don’t destroy the keyboard with your claws.”

I nodded and took the computer, placing it on the table next to mine. As it was conveniently already logged in, I typed into the search bar what I wanted to show August. Typing with only three fingers… claws… whatever, was certainly a weird feeling, but right now I am not worrying about this. This is what I like to call a later problem.

 I motioned for August to come closer, and showed her what I had thought of. 

“Oh yeah, Brendan’s in Rustboro today. But what does that have to do with anything?”

I clicked on the images section containing his team, and pointed at one member in particular. 

“Oh, I see what you’re getting at. So you want to get help from Brendan’s Latias?” I nodded. “Brendan’s a busy guy though, and it’s going to be especially hard to get an audience with his Latias. You sure?” 

I typed into the search bar in order to communicate my one sentiment on the matter with August.

“ It’s the best shot we’ve got. ” I typed into the bar. I looked to August, and she nodded.

“I suppose you’re right. Well, we’d best get moving quickly. The others are bound to be back in a few hours and I don’t think either of us is going to fancy explaining your… condition.” 

I nodded again. Knowing how they inflate things sometimes, I feel explaining it to those three is going to be an incredible hassle. 

“Well, come on, John. Let’s get going.” 

Chapter Text

“Come on, what are you so worried about?”

A lot of things, August. Right now, being spotted is one of the bigger ones. 

Making it down the stairs was a painful experience, to say the least. My first attempt to go down was met with me rotating upside down in midair, because I dunno, I guess that’s how flying works now. While trying to fix that, I accidentally stopped hovering and got sent tumbling down the stairs like a Bramblin after eating too many Vitamins. August had a good laugh at that one. 

I had gotten airborne again, but now I faced my biggest problem yet: The receptionist. He was certainly going to question where a Legendary Pokemon came from, not to mention the fact that he’ll probably assume that the large mass tumbling down the stairs earlier was that very Pokemon. Being a Pokemon’s one thing, but another thing is the mark on my dignity that would leave me with. 

Of course, randomly thinking to myself wasn’t forwarding the situation with August, so I indicated the receptionist was my problem again by pointing at him. August still wouldn’t budge. 

“Look, trust me on this one thing, alright? Just follow me and act casual.” 

I wanted to debate with August more, but we were on a strict time limit to get to the visiting Champion before the others got back. So I guess I’ll just have to follow August on this one, even if my personal pride may or may not recover from this. 

I nodded to indicate my cooperation, and August began walking towards reception, with me floating just behind her. I’m not really sure what her plan here is, but this better work. 

The receptionist looked up at us, mumbled something about being back here before five o’clock, and promptly went back to whatever he was doing on his computer. 

Seriously? That was the only reaction he had to… this? Like, I’m glad I don’t have to worry about my pride being shattered, but like, I’m a Legendary Pokemon. Wearing an ever so slightly torn apart hoodie. That’s an image you don’t see every day.

This has to be the most apathetic guy I have ever met. 

August, on the other hand, had possibly the smuggest look on her face.

“See? Told you it wouldn’t be a problem.”

I was going to argue how she’d know that would work, but I remembered that I wasn’t quite able to speak English anymore, so I kept my mouth shut. You win today, August.

“Now, come on John, let’s get your winged butt over to Rustboro so we can sort something out.”

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The walk… er, fly, back to Rustboro was admittedly much smoother than the initial trip there. I attribute that both to not being tired anymore and also being able to float over all the uneven terrain. Who knew not having legs could be so much fun?

I didn’t get as much free reign as I wanted though, as I had to fly in the side of the path so no one would notice me. Y’know, all those foresty bits. August had suggested using a Poke Ball of some sorts on me so the trip would be easier, but I was heavily against that. Just the idea of going in one of those things… ugh. Gives me the heebie jeebies, for a number of reasons.  

Pushing through the forested side paths was difficult. It gave me some good flying practice, but boy, was it difficult trying to actually move through the mess of plants. I repeatedly lost balance and had to start hovering again, and I accidentally bumped into a few wild Pokemon, though they seemed to be trying to ignore me, for some reason. They had the same kind of glares as the Pokemon from before my transformation, but they seemed to be more… scared? I dunno, my eyes are so massive that I doubt I could be intimidating. 

Even though I lost track of August a few times, we eventually managed to make it to Rustboro. And here came the hard part of keeping out of sight. Because, you know, being a bright red legless Legendary Pokemon is only ever so slightly noticeable. 

I ended up having to hide in the shadows of buildings to get around. Although Rustboro is more homely, and thus less populous and cluttered, it still has some pretty darn tall buildings, making hiding in shadows not too hard to do. Everybody was also preoccupied with something else, either their own matters or with heading to Brendan’s presentation, so nobody was really looking in the dark parts of the city I was hiding in. Thank you Brendan, you are helping me like no one else right now.

August hung about a good couple paces from me. She was taking the main road, which was lucky for her. It’s way chillier in the shade than I remember. I’ve never disliked the cold as much as I have today. My sweatshirt may have two suspiciously wing shaped holes in the back of it, but it’s the only thing keeping me from becoming an Eon shaped icicle right now. Do Latias and Latios not like the cold? I hope not. I was looking forward to that ski trip this winter. 

The two of us eventually reached where Brendan’s event was happening. He was doing a sort of meet and greet, answering questions, showing off his Pokemon, you know, general celebrity pizazz. He was one popular guy, and rightfully so. It’s not every day a kid takes down the regional Champion and saves the region from Pokemon said to have birthed the land and sea themselves.

Of course, it’s been a long time since then, and he’s not a kid anymore, but I still don’t think anyone’s beaten him yet. He’s an inspiration to a lot of people. 

Which meant it was going to be awkward as all heck to try to get the help I needed. 

August moved over to where I was. We were hiding in the shadows a decent distance from the stage Brendan was on, so no one was going to be paying us attention any time soon, at least, because if there was one thing Brendan was right now, he was a great distraction from the bright red dragon twenty feet away. 

“John, I feel like we’re going to need to wait a little bit for Brendan to wrap up his main performance. We’re not going to get anywhere when he’s onstage making a whole big deal.”

Wait a bit!? I’m freezing my feathered butt off over here, August! I don’t think I can wait a bit without dying of hypothermia.

“Don’t give me that look.” She gave me a long stare. “Hmmm…. You’re shivering. If you’re cold, I can go get a jacket or something from a nearby shop.” 

I nodded. I’m glad she figured that out. Any warmth is a sign from above at this point. 

“Well, I’ll go get something for you. Stay right there, don’t do anything reckless.” 

August, who do you take me for? I don’t get into sticky situations at all!

…

Forget I said that. 

August had walked off to find a jacket, leaving me alone. As Brendan was going to be there for a while and there wasn’t much to do other than watch Brendan’s thing, I may as well watch.

Brendan had seemingly just finished some form of speech, with the crowd breaking into uproarious applause. And ouch does that hurt. More than usual. Guess my ears are sensitive. Another fun change to add to the pile. 

“Thank you all again for coming to watch, ladies and gentlemen.” Brendan posed with dramatic flair. “Now, I suppose I should get to the main draw of this appearance. Who wants to see my Pokemon?” 

Another burst of cheering from the audience. Maybe I should back up a bit more before my eardrums get ruptured. 

“Well, here they are!”

Brendan grabbed six Poke Balls from his belt, and as they flew into the air, they burst out of them with a flash of light. 

I recognized all of his Pokemon by name. I’m not exactly his biggest fan or anything, but if his team isn’t well known, then I’m head of the Devon Corp. This group of Pokemon was easily the team in Hoenn following the previous Champion’s defeat. 

He had six Pokemon. First in the lineup was Sceptile, his main Pokemon and an absolute powerhouse in the field. It can apparently Mega Evolve, which if I remember correctly was something where a Pokemon changes form to get stronger mid battle. I’ve never seen one in person before, come to think of it. Eh, maybe one day. 

His other Pokemon consisted of Manectric, Mightyena, Volbeat, and Gardevoir. But there was one Pokemon who stuck out like a sore thumb. 

The Pokemon I had come searching for, Latias. This is my best opportunity to talk with any Latias or Latios and ask for help, because she is quite literally the only known captured Latias in the region. It’s made her quite the spectacle in comparison to the rest of the team, and also probably my one potential saving grace. 

The team of six released intimidating cries to the audience, causing an even louder surge of cheering. Perhaps I should have asked August to get earmuffs as well. 

Still, when the team had finished showing off, Brendan continued his presentation. 

“I’ll now be hosting a question and answer session. So, raise your hands and I’ll answer as many as I can. Let’s start with you in the front!” 

Oh dear Arceus, we are going to be here for a long time, aren’t we?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Me and August have sat here for a good hour now. Normally, this kind of show would be very entertaining, but right now, I am suffering. I need help, I’m freezing my butt off, and I literally couldn’t do anything about it right now. At least I have this jacket. It’s very comfy. August certainly has good taste in jackets. 

Still, it’s been very surreal this whole time. I’ve been staring at Latias to see when she isn’t occupied, but it also feels like she’s been staring me down as well. Not directly, of course, she’s always been facing in other directions, but it sort of feels like I’m under constant supervision, in a way. It’s hard to describe, but boy is it freaky. 

Still, after about another half hour, the QNA seemed to be nearly done, thank heavens. I’ve already got the plan on how this will go in my head. Once the crowd’s dispersed, August will ask Brendan for help, maybe explain the situation, and we’ll work from there. If he declines to help or something else happens… Well, we’ll go from there. 

“And unfortunately, that’s all the time I have for questions. Thank you all for supporting me and my battles. It means so much to me. Until next time!”

And that seemed to be the end of it. And thank goodness too. My ears felt like they were going to capsize at this rate.

…

Where were my ears, come to think of it?

The crowd had begun to disperse, forcing me down into a nearby back alley so no one would spot me. August had promised me that she’d try to get to Brendan if possible, so I just had to sit tight and wait it out. 

I’ve already done enough of this to the point where it was starting to get tiring. It’s been helping me practice staying airborne at least, so hopefully I won’t need to worry about that in the future. Especially given that this is looking kind of permanent… hang on. 

Something’s up. Not sure what it is… but something in the air is… different. Way different. It’s like someone’s… 

“Who’s there?” 

Not sure what I’m expecting by saying that, but I swear on my life that it’s like someone’s right next to me… even though I can’t see anyone around here… 

“You’re good for being a freak of nature, I’ll give you that.” 

Huh, who said-

“Me. I said that.”

How did they-

“I’m a she, and it’s called mind reading. You sensed the psychic presence that I gave off, so you’re not half bad, but the fact you didn’t even try blocking me off shows you’re inexperienced.” 

“Who are you?” 

“I… am Latias. I believe you were looking for me?” 

Latias suddenly appeared right in front of me. I was taken aback and moved back a few paces. However, it destabilized my hover and caused me to do a full spin before I could recover and get back to normal. Latias simply giggled at my slip up. 

“You are very inexperienced. And yet, you’re too old to be an infant…” Latias came up close and sniffed me. “And you don’t smell natural. You smell like those science people that Brendan bumps into sometimes.” She backed away from me. “What are you?”

“I’d think Ms. Mind Reader would understand what my problem is.” 

Latias scoffed. “I haven’t been reading you all day. I have better uses of my time.” 

Alright, I wasn’t expecting to get jumped by Latias outright, and I wasn’t expecting to explain this myself, but here goes nothing, I suppose. Ok… where do I start with this?

“Sooooo…. Um… I used to be a human.”

“You what!?”

“Yeah, um, there was this one time with a feather…”

“Ok, I’m not even going to ask, I’m just going to say that you are an affront to everything natural right now.” 

“Geez, don’t need to do a number on self esteem, I just got turned into a legless bird and I’m really not needing this right n-”

Latias grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall. 

“First off, don’t call me a legless bird, sunshine. Second, give me two reasons why I shouldn’t just… fix this irregularity in the natural world.”

“Ummmm….” Ok, gotta think fast on this one. “Firstly, I didn’t exactly want to be turned into a Pokemon, it just kind of… happened.” 

“And your second reason?”

“Why do I need two?”

“Do you want to argue while I have a claw to your throat?”

“Fair point. Ummmm….” Come on, John. Think, think! “I’m scared, have no clue what the heck I’m doing, and kind of need all the help I can get at this point. I don’t mean any harm, I just want to figure out what the heck I’m doing with everything that’s happened right now.” 

Latias gave me a scrutinizing look before releasing me. I fell to the ground, and boy has it never felt so good to do that. My thin neck made it so hard to breathe when her claw was at my throat. 

“Welp, alright Johnny boy, I can help you out!” 

That was a sudden change. She just went from attempted murderer to a ray of sunshine in five seconds flat. 

“Oh, that? That was all an act, John. I just needed to make sure you were being sincere.” 

Drat. Keep forgetting the mind reading thing. 

“Come on! Up and at ‘em sunshine! If you want to learn things from me, then you better get off the ground. It’s super chilly, I’d know.” 

I managed to get off the ground, with a bit of struggle, but it was better than my suffering earlier. I turned to face Latias, but unfortunately, I lost control of my turning and turned slightly too far… 

Which led to me ramming headfirst into the wall behind me. 

“Yeah, we’re going to need to cover a lot , aren’t we?”

Chapter Text

“Come on John, work those feathers!” 

So… as it turns out, there’s a lot you need to learn about when you completely change your species. Who coulda guessed, right?

After pinning me to a wall, threatening to kill me, and then doing a complete u-turn from both of those things, Latias decided the best way to try to teach me about my new species was to lecture me on species basics. And if there’s one thing anybody knows about me, it’s that I absolutely am not good at paying attention during lectures.

After about fifteen minutes, Latias realized that I was not listening to basically all of what she was saying. I mean, hey, can you blame me? That much info coming in at once is like throwing a dump truck at my head and expecting me to learn how to drive. 

But she got pretty irritated, you know, as she is, and decided to instead perform a trial by fire and have me learn from experience. And thus, here I am, practicing how to turn invisible. 

“Come on, hustle!”

Yeah, yeah, I get it Latias. Stop breathing down my spine. Anywho, as it turns out, refracting light using feathers is a decently complex topic. I sort of recall a bit of reference to it from Latias’ word soup earlier, as well as from bits of Navet’s class, but I didn’t really get what it was until now. 

On paper, it doesn’t sound too bad. Simply mentally tell your feathers what light to refract and what light shouldn’t be refracted, and the feathers do as you command. Took me a few tries to nail it the first time, but I did manage to turn completely invisible with my feathers. Well, for a good five seconds, anyway. 

But because of that initial success, I was being subjected to the equivalent of a torture I’d never known: Working out. Pretty sure what I’m doing here counts as working out, anyways, even if I am using, y’know, feathers. 

Latias has been making me practice turning invisible for longer and longer periods of time. It started off pretty easy at first. I was first told to hold it for more than just five seconds. Then I had to hold it for ten. Then twenty. And then that escalated to the point where I’m now having to hold it for minutes at a time. 

You may be thinking, “What’s so hard about just telling your feathers to make you turn invisible? That sounds easy!” And sure, you’d think that. But the thing with my feathers is that I have to constantly tell them to stay invisible. If I stop for even a second, the light refraction stops, and I have to tell my feathers to turn invisible again. I basically have to tell about a third of my brain to be constantly occupied doing one thing, without any breaks. 

And the thing is, Latias told me turning invisible is just for practice and getting out of tight spots. She said that Latias as a species can adopt a human illusion with clever light refraction, which is very handy for someone like me, but is very complicated to do without practice. If turning invisible is meant to be easy with this much mental focus dedicated to it, I can only imagine how annoying it’s going to be trying to project something as complex as a human shape.

“It’s really not that bad, John.”

Huh? What was she responding to-

“I can read your mind, remember?”

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about that.

“I know you do, sunshine, and that’s why I’m having so much fun with it!”

Look at me. Here I am, working my butt off to learn how to live my life as a completely different species, and Latias over here is making fun of me for forgetting that she can intrude on personal privacy. Thanks Latias. 

“You realize I’m still reading your mind, right?”

Darnit. 

“And secondly, I think we can move on to the next part of my lessons!” 

“Huh, how come?” I don’t think I did anything too crazy. Why are we moving on?

“Well… look at yourself!” 

Look at myself? I don’t think anything’s too out of the ordinary… 

Oh, I see what she means now. I’m still invisible. 

Of course as I said that, I became visible, because you know that’s just how the world works, I guess, but if I was holding it that long, that would mean… 

“You managed to stay invisible while having a conversation! You may not be a master, but you can practice that in your free time! For right now, you’ve exceeded my expectations!” 

Wow, okay, that’s… good? I guess? But if we’re moving on, that would mean…

“...Yep! Human illusions! You’re a quick learner and quick on the uptake! I like your style.”

A quick learner? That’s ironic. I was always a slow learner for like… everything. For instance, it took me till I was sixteen to learn how to ride a bike, fourteen to learn how to swim, and just recently to learn which way East and West were. I mean, I guess those first two don’t really matter anymore given my distinct lack of legs, but regardless, maybe I’ve hit some sort of stride here… 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, mister. Right now, you’re only off the training wheels. You, my friend, need to learn how to ride a bike, or to put it bluntly… you gotta master far more complex light refraction.”

I internally groaned, and Latias giggled at my despair. I really wish she wasn’t treating this so casually. 

“I’m not treating this casually, mister. This is very serious. But neither of us are gonna get anywhere if we’re both staring at each other with depressed looks on our faces, are we?” 

Fair enough, I suppose, but-

“Great! Let’s get started then!”

I hate this mind reading thing she can do. It’s like having a nosy neighbor who won’t stop spying on what you’re doing. I also hate how I can’t have my internal monologue without her knowing every single word I say and oh gosh she is still listening right now isn’t she-

“Yep. You really need to learn mental barriers sometime, but hey, not my problem right now.” 

“How are you even doing this mind reading thing anyway, Latias?” 

“Oh, this? Psychic abilities. You haven’t learned them yet, but they aren’t really too necessary right now, soooooo…” 

“Why wouldn’t they be necessary?” I’m just confused. Wouldn’t it be better to have Psychic abilities just in case? Like, I have no clue where I’m going or what I’m doing after all this tutoring is said and done. I could be fleeing off to the boonies or living the rest of my life on the run. Seriously, I feel it’d be-

“Woah, mister, you’re getting ahead of yourself again. You aren’t going to be on the run anytime soon.” 

“Why not?”

“Because…” She did a small loop-de-loop in the air before turning invisible. “I’ve been teaching you all of the skills related to stealth for a reason.” Latias suddenly reappeared right in front of me, yelling a sound similar in nature to “Boo” and then giggled at my surprise. It really feels like she’s never taking this seriously. 

But what was that about stealth?

“I’m teaching you all the sneaky stuff… invisibility, illusions, and hopefully telepathy. Reason being…” Latias lightly bonked me on the head before flying back around in front of me. “I read that silly little noggin of yours while you were trying to stay invisible and formulated a game plan. You’d prefer to stay among your human buddies, right?”

I nodded. It would certainly be preferable, but how would that be-

Oh. I see what she’s doing, she’s-

“...Making it so you can pretend you’re a human and hide among your peers, yes.” She lightly giggled to herself. “I figured it’d be better than letting you sort yourself out in the wilderness. Seeing as you nearly got mauled by a Cascoon of all things yesterday, I don’t trust you for five minutes out there.”

Wait, how did she know about… Oh yeah, mind reading. I really shouldn’t be this slow on the uptake at this point. 

“So like, what do you do to mind read?” Latias gave me a disapproving look. “I’m not trying to sidetrack, I’m just trying to sort of get a general picture.” Latias sighed and turned around.

“If it’ll get you to stop bugging me about it later, then I’ll show you. Watch this.” All of the objects in the alleyway began floating, surrounded by a pinkish-purple glowing hue. Not a single object was spared. There were trash cans, piles of garbage, and one very terrified Skitty, all suspended in mid air, among other things. 

“As you can see, this energy I’m using for mind reading can be used for a bunch of things. Levitation, attacks, mind reading, you get the gist.” Latias placed down all of the objects to their previous positions, and the Skitty darted off, probably scared for its life. 

That energy… it felt… familiar… haven’t I felt something like this before? Let’s see… it was… yesterday, I think? Let’s see… it wasn’t during the Brycen-Man and Brendan debate,  it wasn’t when Contour bumped into me… before that… wait, that’s it! 

Battle Studies… with Hariyama and Golbat. Hariyama had attacked Golbat using that same kind of energy, didn’t it? Maybe if I were to try something similar, I could replicate it? I dunno, I’m just spitballing here, but that might be worth a shot. 

I turned toward a nearby trash can as Latias looked on in confusion. I thought back to Hariyama yesterday and thought about the feeling I felt. The energy that gathered around its head… overflowing with power, yet harnessed to one spot… and then charged and unleashed-

And as soon as that thought entered my mind, I suddenly found myself right where the trash can used to be. I quickly scanned the area and found the trash can a good distance away from me, now with a very large dent in its front. I turned back to Latias, who was in shock. 

“That was… Zen Headbutt… how did you do that? I didn’t even teach you anything!” 

“I just sorta remembered a Hariyama use it the other day and just… thought about it.”

“...You… just… thought about it ?” 

Was I doing something wrong? “...Yeah?” 

Latias turned around and mumbled something to herself briefly before turning back around with a smile. 

“Nope! Nothing at all! Come on, we’ve gotten off track. Congrats on learning Zen Headbutt, but chop chop, we need to start practicing mastering that human illusion!” One of Latias’ little tufts of feathers on her head twitched, and she turned to look towards the entrance of the alleyway. “And what would you know, perfect timing.” 

I looked towards the entrance and saw two silhouettes from afar, and upon closer inspection… 

“Oi, John!”

Yep, that was August. And I assume the other guy with her is none other than Brendan. Guess she succeeded in convincing him. What took them so long though?

“So this is where you were, Latias! I was wondering where you flew off to!”

Latias flew over to the now approaching Brendan and greeted him happily, with Brendan rubbing her head to reciprocate. Latias cooed happily as August stormed up to me.  

“John, I swear, how much trouble can you get into?”

I tried verbalizing a response, but I remembered that, oh yeah, I couldn’t quite talk anymore. Thus, I opted to instead shake my head from side to side, hoping that it would come across as me saying I wasn’t getting into trouble. August simply snorted and laughed. It wasn’t that unclear, was it?

“I gotta say Latias,” said Brendan, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here already.” 

“You should know me well enough at this point to realize that I’m speedy when it comes to things other than flying, you know.” 

Oh, hey, that’s telepathy. I can really only tell because Brendan actually visibly responded to that… didn’t Latias say she was teaching me telepathy earlier? 

Though, actually, if I can understand Pokemon and Humans at the same time… boy, that’s going to make conversations awkward. Imagine I’m just talking with Callum or something and I get to hear the fully detailed audio of that braindead Kecleon of his trying to eat a desk… yeah, I’m going to be hearing a lot more than I used to, for better or worse. 

Brendan stepped back and looked between both me and Latias, scratching his head in confusion. 

“You know, I understand what's going on and all, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you two were twins.”

Latias frowned. “If this guy is my twin, then I demand a refund.”

Come on, I’m not that bad. 

“You aren’t, but it’s fun to tease you.” 

Can you stop reading my mind? It’s extremely rude. 

“Why stop when it’s so fun? Your thoughts are interesting.”

Weren’t you the one who told me earlier that you had better things to do than prod around my brain?

…

Hello? Latias?

…

I count this as victory, I hope you know that. 

“Brendan, your Latias can talk?” August looked at Latias with confusion.

Latias who was silently pouting from losing our mental debate, immediately jumped at the chance to respond before Brendan could. 

“Yep! Well, it’s not really talking. I’m using this thing called telepathy. Really fancy stuff, won’t get into the details. But let’s just say that if I were actually talking, you’d just be hearing some garbled Pokemon talk that you guys wouldn’t be able to understand.” 

Hopefully we can get to learning telepathy soon, because man I’d really appreciate being able to actually communicate with people again. 

“One thing at a time, sunshine. We can cover telepathy later once we touch on your illusions.” She looked over at August and Brendan. “We’ll need to practice more complex light refraction, and I have a feeling that Brendan and August will be very helpful for this.”

“Wait, how do you know my name?” asked August, confused.

“I can read minds. Did I not mention that earlier?”

“Seriously?” August thought to herself for a moment. “What am I thinking about right now?”  

“Well let’s see…” Latias looked at August. “Just from the forethoughts of your mind, I can see some images of doughnuts, trains, and myself and John.” August looked at Latias with astonishment, meaning she probably got August’s thoughts correct. However, Latias closed her eyes. “But prying deeper… I can see thoughts of your inner self.” Latias paused for a moment before continuing. “You’re headstrong and confident. Calm in situations of intense panic, such as right now, and are quite an amicable person if I do say so myself.”

“Oh, uh, thank you, but you don’t need to look that far-”

“But I see deeper things. You fear failure. You resent your current status and strive to achieve goals greater than yourself. And yet you feel restricted because you cannot commit to that very idea. And that loops back around to your fear of failure, which-”

“I think that’s enough , Latias.” 

August both looked and sounded very frustrated. I can’t blame her, per se, but… she seemed more worried than normal. Her voice sounded slightly shaky. Was what Latias said really true? Were those August’s inner thoughts?

“You sure? I could go even deeper if you want-”

“If I wanted the inner workings of my mind read, I’d go to a fortune teller.” 

“Um, well, moving on…” Brendan was clearly trying to stray the conversation away from August.  “...If you’re on a time limit, we should hop right to the rest of your training.”

“Oh, yeah!” Latias turned to me. “Alright, so let’s get back to your feathers. Given how you learned Zen Headbutt, perhaps it would help you if I gave a visual demonstration?”

Yeah, sure, I suppose we could give that a shot-

“Great!” I hate mind readers. Not sure if I’ve said that already. “Alright John, watch and learn.” 

Latias turned to August, and within a few seconds, had already managed to become a perfect copy of her. August looked surprised, while Latias turned back to me.

“So, did that help you?” 

“Not really.” 

Latias thought to herself for a moment. She looked at Brendan, and then looked at me. 

“Ok, trial by fire then. Try mimicking Brendan over there.” 

“Why wouldn’t I mimic myself?”

“Imagine using your illusions like painting a picture. It’s easier to do when you have a visual reference in front of you, right sunshine?” 

“I suppose.”

“Good, then let’s hop to it.” Latias dropped her illusion and turned to me. “Alright, look at Brendan. Now, you know how your feathers work as a collective, right? I said this got easier with practice, and the invisibility stuff should have been enough for you to get familiar with it.” She paused for a moment. “Just sort of… imagine the image you want to convey. Will your feathers to refract light in a specific image, rather than will specific colors individually.” 

That is extremely unclear… somehow more so than it was earlier. Oh well. Not like I can try anything else. If I could do the invisibility thing earlier, I can do this. 

I tried to follow Latias’ directions as best I could. They were very unclear, so hey, she can’t exactly fault me for being wrong. Though she probably can and will, knowing her, even if she’s only jesting. 

I closed my eyes and imagined Brendan from just a moment ago. I willed my feathers to try adopting the appearance of him, just as I had earlier when adopting invisibility. I pictured the details, the expression, everything. Of course, I have no clue if this will work or not, given the closed eyes and all, but whatever. I need all the focus I can get right now. 

My intense focus was soon disrupted by Brendan. “Woah! That’s pretty much perfect!” He sounded pretty happy, yet also a bit… surprised?

I opened my eyes to see what was up, and after a second of looking around at some surprised faces, I looked down to find the reason for their shock. By the looks of it, I had successfully mimicked Brendan. I guess this means I’ve successfully crafted an illusion. Woohoo!

And as soon as I thought that, the illusion dissipated. Right. Steady and continued mental connection and all that. This is going to be a pain if I have to constantly cast something like this. 

“Wow.” Latias approached me. She was trying to look unimpressed, but she was failing to hide it. “That was honestly impressive for your first time trying this.”

“But I didn’t even hold that illusion for more than a second. I wouldn’t call that impressive.”

“You didn’t get it to stick around for long, but you held an illusion, period. That’s…” Latias narrowed her eyes before erupting into a grin. “You’re doing well, that’s all I need to say. Now, why don’t you and your girlfriend over here go and do some practice?” 

Latias sort of half pushed me a little bit further down the alleyway. August attempted to retort Latias’ teasing, but Latias used the distraction to pick August up and drop her next to me. Latias cheekily grinned while August simply frowned. 

“Now, I gotta talk to Brendan for a bit, so why don’t you practice your illusions with August?” 

I mean, I guess? But wouldn’t it be more efficient to practice with the same guy, or…?

…

…And she’s already gone to go talk to him. Yep. Welp, alright, I guess this is what I’m doing now. 

August turned to face me. “John, you better get a perfect illusion of me, or I’m going to knock your feathered backside into next week.”

Oh, so no pressure, then. Well, guess what, August, I’m going to show you an illusion so good that even your mirror’s gonna be jealous. Just watch me. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Latias observed from afar, watching John practice his illusions. He was a quick learner, she’d give him that. It had been five minutes and he’d already nearly perfected August’s illusion. 

Key word being nearly. A few minor details were off. For instance, her hair was slightly messed up towards the back, and smaller details on her clothes weren’t replicated, but those were the same problems he had with Brendan when he briefly adopted his appearance. Obviously any first timer was going to have issues, but he was doing significantly better than any Eon she had ever seen. Granted, she really only had experience with her sibling and a random herd she bumped into once, but everyone she had known, herself included, took weeks at minimum to master illusions. John, who’s closest equivalent in the Eon life cycle was an overgrown hatchling, was mastering it in less than a day. 

Then, there was that Zen Headbutt move. He had performed an attack already, and according to him, just from memory of a faint trace of energy. Even she couldn’t do that. She knew he’d have advantages when it came to learning attacks over infants due to his fully grown Latias body, but this was pushing it in her book. There was something up with John… something she couldn’t quite pin down… 

“You sensed it as well, didn’t you, Brendan?” 

Brendan watched contemplatively from a distance. It may have been years since his journey across Hoenn, but he still had a knack for noticing things others wouldn’t. Those many long hours of searching for Pokemon in Hoenn’s nooks and crannies gave him great observational skills. 

“Of course I did. You as well, I take it?”

Thus, it was no surprise he had picked up on it. He detected the small little differences that made John so different from his own Latias. He clearly was struggling with flight. He wasn’t a newborn, but his motions were much more calculated than they were natural. Like he was trying to figure out how best to move rather than just moving like it was a second thought. Things like that, among other little details, anyway. But there was just one thing that stood out to him. 

“You felt that sort of… smell he had, right?”

Brendan’s nose wasn’t as well trained as a Pokemon, but even he had to admit something felt… off, about John. Just from a glance, there was just a feeling that came over him that signaled that John wasn’t meant to exist. He was an anomaly. 

“Can’t say I did, but I know what you’re talking about. You have better observation skills than me, what have you noticed?”

Latias was very concerned, to say the least. She knew of his whole feather debacle, which in her opinion perfectly illustrated why it was a good thing John of all people had touched it. If anyone halfway capable had touched that feather… well, she shivered at the thought. 

She had read his emotions, and she had seen his true soul. She knew he wasn’t a threat, nor did he want to be one. And yet, she was silently relieved that he hadn’t yet figured out any of the more… intricate, psychic abilities yet. She was trying to keep him away from those. If push came to shove, well… 

People made that feather. It was artificial by nature. She could feel it in John. He had a synthetic, unnatural smell to him that any Pokemon with half a nose could detect. If those people found John and forced him to do something… well, she was concerned, to say the least.

Especially since John was learning inhumanely quickly. No Pokemon should be able to learn this much after not knowing anything at all, very much so if said Pokemon was a human not even a few hours ago. 

“He’s learning. Too quickly. It’s unnatural, and I’m sure you’ve recognized that.” Brendan solemnly nodded. “Not to mention… a lot about his story. I have a hunch about what’s going on here.” 

“A hunch? What are you thinking?”

Latias stared at John, now being chased around by August due to casting his illusion to depict a trash bag on top of her body instead of her head. Too fast, he was learning. Too fast.

“I’m going to sound like a crazy Pokemon, but… there’s more at play here than we could ever have dreamt of. And I have a feeling I know who’s behind it all.” 

Chapter Text

“Well, John, you’ve certainly mastered the basics.” 

Latias had finally decided that I had the hang of the full body illusions we’d been practicing. I had tried disguising myself as both Brendan and August for what had felt like ages at this point, and that allowed me enough practice to finally move on to disguising as myself. After a few tries, August had verified that it was accurate, or at least accurate enough to pass by without issue, and so Latias had given me the all clear. Which, I mean, hey, at least I don’t have to worry about my new look being an issue, but man is this gonna be a pain to deal with. I’ve never had to focus so intently on one thing in my life. 

“Alright, a few things to mention, first off: You’re going to have to change the illusion on the fly if it looks like you got dirty or wet to other people, second, if you get too wet, your illusion will cancel out completely, thirdly, changes in lighting can cause your illusion to shimmer briefly, fourth, don’t get overly distracted, five-”

“Alright, alright, I get the picture Latias, can we just move onto the next thing you need to teach me?”

“Right, right, sorry, sorry. Okay, so you want to learn telepathy…” Latias thought to herself. “Okay, I’ve got it.” She moved towards me, adjusted my head, and motioned for me to stay still. “In a second, you’ll feel a small tingle in your brain. Don’t panic, that’s just me invading your inner thoughts.”

That’s just you doing what -

“And bingo!” Oh, yep, I definitely feel that… that is weird . Though kind of familiar… “Alright John, lower your relatively weak mental barriers and we can begin.”

So, what would that mean? Do I just-

“Relax yourself? Yes. Make it so your brain isn’t on the defense.”

Well alright then. I’ll try my best to just chill… and…

--------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hiya!”

Where in Arceus’ name am I-

“So this is what the inside of your head looks like.” 

I looked around, and as it turns out, I wasn’t in that back alley anymore. I was in a mental replica of Oldale Town, back from the days of my childhood. But how am I here? Is this an illusion? Mental projection? Did she knock me out and put me in my dreams or something? 

“Gotta say, nice spot, and, by the way, you let me in, you really shouldn’t be questioning how I got in here.”

I mean, fair enough, but-

“Ooooo, let’s see what we’ve got in here… Wow, geez you monologue a lot -”

Latias, do you have a reason for doing all of this, or are you just here to annoy me?

“Wow, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I think I’m going to have my feelings irreparably damaged after all of this-” 

I can still hear the sarcasm in your voice, you know.

“Finnnneeeeeee… look, the reason we’re in your headspace right now is because we need to work out your mental connections.”

My mental what now?

Latias shook her head. “With us Psychic Pokemon, we use mental connections and such to accomplish various bits and bobs. You did something vaguely similar with Zen Headbutt earlier, but this is more thought based than physical.” 

Ok, but how do these mental connections work, exactly?

Latias sighed. “Okay, I’ll explain it like I’d explain it to a child. You know what a power outlet is, right?”

I’m not that mentally incompetent Latias.

“Just making sure.” She giggled. I hate her sometimes. “Rude. Anyways, the outlet isn’t doing anything by itself, but when you use various cords and plugs, it transmits power to them. That, in short, is what these connections are.” 

Ok, I think I sort of get it now, but why do you need to be in my head for this?

“I need to figure out the best way to make you establish a connection using what’s in here. Once you have a connection you can work with, you can start learning telepathy, but I need to figure out how to activate that connection first.” 

So what do you need me to do?

“Absolutely nothing. You’re just here because I unfortunately can’t kick you out of your own brain. Only Pokemon I know who can do that are Manaphy and big pops upstairs.” 

Big pops upstairs?

“Arceus.” 

Wait, that guy’s actually real?

“Yeah, I met him at a party once, things got pretty chaotic and- Ah! There we are. Okay, John, you’re about to experience a lot of things all at once. Try not to get knocked out, otherwise things are going to be very awkward, alright?

Uh, sure, I’ll try, but what are you-

“Brace yourself!” 

What’s going on-

--------------------------------------------------------------------

A sudden bright light overtook my vision. The sight of Oldale Town was gone, and I was thrown into what can only be considered a downwards spiral. I remember this… sort of. Big bright spiraling thing filled with red and blue. It reminds me of that dream I had once- and we’re speeding up again-

The spiral accelerated, and I was sent falling into a bright hole. The speed at which I was moving continued to increase as I fell further and further, until soon, the light gave way, and soon I was surrounded by clouds. This time, however, I wasn’t flying, I was in freefall. I tried to control myself, but my mind-body didn’t exactly have a body to control.

I fell into a cloud, and suddenly the scene changed. I was back in Oldale Town, and while I had stopped falling, my surroundings were instead the ones accelerating this time. I looked around, but to my surprise, what surrounded me were things I recognized. A happy woman and man staring down at me, those same two working together to attempt repairs on a house, me, walking, with those two staring down… 

These were my memories. They were all blitzing past me, but I could make out a few of them. Elementary School in Petalburg, failing the baseball game with Poochyena, watching that one documentary on aquatic Pokemon that scarred me for life, suffering from allergies when I was nine… 

More recent stuff started to come back this time. Ms. LeFitz calling me over, finding the feather in Petalburg Woods, meeting August in Math, the Dustox ambush, Mr. Navet’s detention, Contour’s detour, the changes… 

And suddenly, it stopped. For a moment, it was calm. And then, like a slingshot being tugged, I was thrown backwards through it all. My consciousness was beginning to slip, black spots were in my vision, the speed was getting to me again, it was-

--------------------------------------------------------------------

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”

Where…? 

I opened my eyes, and found Latias staring down at me. Light concern was on her face, but it faded almost as soon as she saw me awake. 

“Ah, thank goodness. Thought I fried your brain for a moment and boy, I do not want to deal with those allegations in court. Trust me, going through your brain for that was like putting the whole thing through a washing machine.” She paused. “Can you fly?”

Getting up off my back, I tried my best to get airborne, but given my current lack of practice, it took me a few tries to achieve liftoff. Latias was unusually silent the whole time. 

“Okay, try to think like you’re telling me something.”

Latias, what in heck’s name is that supposed to mean?

“Perfect! Your mental connection’s been established!”

Wait, it has?

“Yep. I can hear it too.” said August. 

Latias smiled. “While I was rooting around in there, I managed to figure out a way to jump start your ability to forge mental connections without too much effort. You can thank me later.” 

Wait, so just like that?

“Yep, just like that, with barely a feather ruffled. You should be able to figure out how to use telepathy now. When you want to communicate with someone, just think of something with the intent of others hearing it. That’s probably the simplest way to explain it.” She motioned towards August and Brendan. “Here, try it out with these two.” 

Um, alright… Can you guys hear this?

“Receiving you loud and clear,” said Brendan. August nodded in agreement. 

Are you receiving this?  

Both nodded in agreement. 

Hm, alright, so I’ll just think to myself right now. Not about anything, let’s see if this gets picked up… 

…Okay, judging by the lack of reaction, I’m going to assume they can’t hear this. Nice. I can still talk to myself without needing to worry about it being said out loud. 

“Here, try it out with an illusion for a sec.” 

I did as Latias asked and put on the illusion I’d been practicing. I was a bit better with that than flying, but not by much. 

Can you hear this?

The others nodded while Latias simply stared on. “Man, your illusion’s even automatically moving its mouth when you say stuff.” Latias frowned. Why is she sad? Isn’t that a good thing? 

“So, Latias… would you say John here could go back without needing to worry?” 

Latias thought to herself for a moment. “Yes, I think he should be fine. He needs more practice involving his flying, but that can be done whenever. For now, you’re good to go.” 

So… that’s it? That felt very… how do I put it… 

“I believe anticlimactic is the word you’re looking for, John,” said August, smug as ever. 

“Yeah, well, at least it’s worked out. Now, you two.” A strange force suddenly came over me and August. Judging from earlier, I’m fairly certain that Latias was using her psychic abilities to move us around. I really do not like being carried around. “You two need to skedaddle and get on with your lives, me and Brendan have some adult stuff we need to deal with, y’know, not for little kiddos like you.” 

Latias moved us towards the edge of the alleyway before letting us go of her hold. “John, by the way, take off that big coat. It won’t interfere with your illusion, but it’s gonna look super weird. Take it from me, you’re just going to have to live with the fact that it’s freezing for the time being.” 

Well alright, I’ll just take this off and-

…

This is really stuck on my wings isn’t it? Come on, get off-

…

This is going to be taking a little longer than expected, isn’t it? 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, there they go.” Brendan turned to Latias, who was staring solemnly off in the distance. August and John had both left, after a very… unimpressive display of getting one’s wings stuck. Latias was going to be laughing about that for a long time to come. “You sure it was wise to let them leave?”

Latias paused for a moment. “Yes. It’s best if we work behind the scenes, if you catch my drift.” 

Brendan nodded, and the two went silent once more. As both stared into the distance, contemplating what to do next, a thought struck Brendan’s mind. 

“Say, shouldn’t you have told him about that part of his species biology?”

A look of surprise came over Latias’ face. “Oh. That part?” She shrugged. “Eh, he can figure that out by himself.” Latias smiled for a moment, but soon began to frown.

“You didn’t just establish that mental connection, did you, Latias?”

Latias stared vacantly. “No. I did give him the push he needed, but that level of sudden growth… I didn’t even need to instruct him on how to use telepathy. This is worrying. How did those guys even construct something like this?”

Brendan chuckled. “Knowing them? Probably cheated somehow.”

“You mean stole from some Legendary Pokemon or force of nature or something.” 

“Pretty much.”

The two heartily laughed as Latias made her move to leave. “Oh well, come on, we’ve got things to do, places to be. All that jazz.”

Latias blitzed off, flying past Brendan, throwing him off balance from the speed. Brendan laughed and gave chase, going after the now out of sight Eon. 

However, a stray sunray hit one particular spot in the alleyway that everyone had missed, reflecting off of what was there in a bright flash of light. Considering its job done, the object extended a propeller-like device from the top of itself and flew off, soon completely out of sight. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

That was an experience, to say the least. I really hope I don’t have to take lessons from Latias again. Don’t get me wrong, she’s nice and all, but man, it’s like dealing with August’s snark multiplied by eleven for hours on end. It’s fun bickering with August, not so much with a dragon who can read my mind who’s apparently buddy buddy with the creator of everything who won’t stop going down detours while teaching me. Like, at least Navet is brutally honest with anything he does. Latias goes about things in such a roundabout sort of way that it just gets grating. 

Still, I have to admit, the way she teaches isn’t exactly bad . I mean, I know how to do all this stuff now. I can look like myself, I can sound like myself, and honestly, I’m glad I turned into something like Latias and not something like, I dunno, a Wurmple or something. I think I’d be dead within an hour if it was something like that. 

The walk back hasn’t been too bad so far. I’ve been trying to practice my telepathy with August while maintaining my illusion, and boy , my head hurts. This is one way to get a migraine. I have no idea how Latias does it. I guess that’s just due to having a human brain. 

Come to think of it, I don’t think human brains can do this kind of stuff. Commanding feathers I can buy, but doing telepathy and using psychic powers? I doubt I could’ve done that before. Did that feather alter my brain? It definitely explains my fever dreams, but man, that brings up a lot of questions I am not ready to answer yet. What exactly did it change? Brain functions? Instincts? I really hope not, because what I have to do to keep up a human appearance is hard enough as is. If I start pulling out random behaviors out of nowhere, even I’m not going to be able to explain that . 

“Hey, John? You aren’t running your mouth or anything. It’s very unlike you. Is everything alright?”

Well I just turned into a Pokemon, August, everything isn’t exactly “alright.” Like, have you ever had to change species and then give yourself a migraine? It’s not exactly a pleasant experience. 

“You really need to work on this telepathy business, because I heard all of that.” Ah shoot. “Look, John, if it’s any consolation, if things don’t work out, I’d be happy to take you in.” 

Glad to see you’re feeling confident about my odds, August. Very reassuring.

“You also said that out loud.”

Darnit.

August sighed. “See, this is what practice is for. Here, try it out with me, let’s just have a casual walk and talk.” 

You do not know how much my head hurts when I cast an illusion and use telepathy at the same time, August. 

“No pain, no gain, buster. Come on, let’s talk it out. You’ve had a long day.” 

I could only sigh. This day is only going to get longer. 

“Okay, firstly, your illusion flickered there, you need to work on that. Secondly, let’s talk about the positives.” 

What positives are there to this, exactly?

“Well, for starters, you’re a DRAGON, with psychic powers . Like, come on, that’s just cool.” 

Cool without any practical value, unfortunately. 

“...I mean, if you learn psychic powers properly, just imagine how convenient it’d be to just levitate everything everywhere.”

Yeah, but Latias never taught me any of that stuff, how am I meant to learn- 

“And you can fly . Like, geez, that is cool. You see those clouds over there?” She pointed to some point in the sky. I nodded. “You could fly right over to those and say hi to whatever Pokemon are living there. Heck, with the speed of Latias, you could probably take a vacation to Kalos or Alola or something any time you wanted, without needing to pay airfares. Like, I’m kind of jealous, you’ll never have to pay for airplane tickets again!”

Okay, I have to admit, that is honestly pretty sweet.

“...And that means you gotta take me on a flight sometime.” 

And there’s the kicker. I can barely fly, August. I don’t think I’d be able to support you on my back or something without doing a full one eighty and collapsing. 

August snickered to herself as I pulled away from the conversation. My head hurts. I’m gonna have to basically become mute if I wanna pull this off without having my head explode. 

“Come on, John! Do I see you bowing out? You need practice!” 

If I end up with a nightmarish migraine tomorrow morning, August, you’d better expect to be paying for those painkillers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven’t exactly been paying attention to the time, but they should not have been back so early. I’d like to say we’ve only been gone for like… maybe three or four hours? The trail map said at least five for a hike, didn’t it?

…Or not. Granted, I didn’t exactly read that thing too well, and it’s kind of faded from my memory given, well, everything. Ah, whatever, timing aside, those three are already back at the cabin, this illusion better hold up. I know Latias said my skills get better with time, but this headache is killing me. I am one hundred percent taking another nap at the first opportunity. You know those conversations where you really want to leave but can’t because the person is very passionate about what they’re talking about, and now you’re kind of locked into the conversation? Yeah, that was basically August. She was very adamant on me learning the hard way, I’ll say that much. That walk back has been nightmarish for my headaches.

But where was I? Oh yeah, these guys. I really hope they haven’t been outside the cabin long, because man, if they see us both arriving together after being gone for ages, we’re going to have to explain something. And I am not in an explaining sort of mental state right now. 

“Ah, there you both are,” said Geronimo, readjusting his glasses. “I was wondering where you both scampered off to.”

“Where were you guys? I figured you would have been at the cabin the whole time.” 

Right, where to begin on this? Hm… well I can’t exactly just bolt out the truth, but I’m not sure what I’d say otherwise. Allergic reaction, maybe? No, that wouldn’t work, Geronimo knows what I react to, and I sure don’t see any Jumpluff fluff around here… maybe I could say it was in the pillows? No, knowing him he’s probably already memorized their chemical makeup or something-

“Well… if you want to know…” August turned to me. What is she planning? “ This idiot accidentally dumped his jacket into the trash bin before he napped, and guess what time trash pickup happened to be?”

Hang on, but I still have my… Wait, where did my jacket from before go? Coulda sworn it was underneath the bulkier one I gave to August…. But she doesn’t have it… 

Did I seriously forget that in the city? I must have. Or maybe I lost it on the way… whatever, that doesn’t matter. Right now, I see what August’s doing, this might work. 

I pretended to look offended and simply shrugged. Look, you can’t blame me, I was tired out of my mind. I really hope my voice didn’t sound too weird there. I’m still getting used to this telepathy thing. 

“And thus, I had to go with this guy to go get a new jacket for himself. The nerve of it all.” 

Yeah, I’m not playing the complete fool here, even if we are fooling other people. You were the one who volunteered to come with me, August.

August turned away in surprise when she heard that. “Y-yeah, I figured you’d get lost like the idiot you are.”

I’m not an idiot, I just get lost easily-

“Settle down, you two. You can bicker back home.” Lila shrugged, and it seems to me like she hasn’t noticed anything about my speech yet. That’s good, means my telepathy doesn’t sound too weird. August said it sounded fine earlier, but I still sincerely doubt that. “We’re heading back to campus because the weather forecast suddenly changed. Look at the clouds.” 

Looking up, I found that the sky had begun gathering deep, dark, storm clouds. Not sure if it was just something about my new biology or not, but just looking at it filled me with a deep dread I had never known before. 

Geronimo was staring at the screen of his device. “The forecast, according to my PokeNav Plus, seems to be heavy downpours within the hour.” 

Lila frowned. “I was really hoping we’d get to do a bit more on our day off, but I guess we’ll have to head back early. It’s a really big shame.” 

Oh well, that’s sad, but I guess I at least don’t have to worry about compromising myself doing stuff today. That’s at least one win for me. 

“Did you say something, John?”

Shoot, did I say that out loud, uh-

Oh, uh, n-no.

Geronimo gave me a skeptic look before simply shrugging. “Forget it. Probably hearing things.”

“But why can’t we stay in the cabin?” asked August, confused. I have to admit, it is a bit weird how we rented this whole thing out, and yet we’re just going back already.

“Well…” Lila sighed. She sounded like she was stressed. “In truth, Callum ended up accidentally throwing Kecleon into the receptionist. He’s technically the only one banned from this place, but given how we’re all one group, it doesn’t feel right to leave him outside.” 

Wow. Somehow I’m both surprised and not surprised at the same time. Never change, Callum. Never change. 

“Look, let’s just grab our stuff and head back to campus before we get drenched under the rain,” said Lila, clearly wanting to move on from the topic. 

Both me and August nodded. Hopefully the return trip won’t take too long. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I managed to make it back to campus relatively soon after leaving. I managed to split off from the others after they chose to stop at a bakery on the way back. I could tell August wanted to say something about that, but hey, that’s an argument for math class tomorrow. Right now, I just want to sleep. 

Also, I’m not sure what it is, but darn, I feel so much faster. I guess it’s the new Latias body and all, I’ve heard that these things move fast, but there’s just this itch in my brain. I want to move faster. I can feel the wind in my feathers, which for some reason feels both extremely weird and extremely comforting at the same time. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it makes me feel like I just want to run about and fly till I reach the horizon. I want to fly and feel the wind pushing at my feathers, but unfortunately for my brain, I have a headache. Which makes this a tomorrow thing. I do need to work these wings out, right? Best way to do it sounds like a trial by fire, to me. It’s worked out so far, hasn’t it?

The night… It sure is nice right now. It’s not quite sunset yet, but it will be soon, and the temperature is fantastic as well. It’s honestly pretty nice out. Well, barring the storm clouds, but those were a ways off before they became a problem. Those things still make me anxious. Not sure what it is. But aside from that, and my pressing problems, I’d almost say this is a perfect day-

“Hey hey hey, what is poppin my favorite student?”

Oh great. The exact opposite of what I want to deal with right now.

Contour sauntered into view, with Metang and Tangela right behind him. Pretty odd, honestly. He never has his Pokemon out of their balls, to the point where I didn’t even know those two existed until yesterday. There must be something going on if they’re out and about. 

Hey, Contour. What’s up?

Contour’s smile faded as he heard me speak, a mild concern rushing over his face. “John, is something wrong with your voice? Allergies or something? It’s sounding… odd.”

Of course out of all people, Contour is the one to pick up on something like that. August said it sounded fine! It’s very easy for people to miss it! So how come out of everyone here…?

 Ah, whatever, my head is throbbing as is. I am not wasting my mental energy on complaining about Contour’s observational skills. 

It’s nothing, Contour. Had a fever the past few days, the voice is just leftovers.

That should keep him off of my back for a little bit. I know Contour likes to dig into this kind of stuff, so I just have to give him a reason not to, and I’ll be fine. The problem arises when it’s well past when a “fever” would have lost all of its symptoms. 

Contour raised an eyebrow, but soon began laughing. “I figured you looked a bit under the weather the past few days! That explains a lot. Glad you’re feeling better. If you need any medication or whatnot, you can head to the nurse’s office and-” 

...And get some, yep. I’ll be on my way now, Contour. I gotta get going, assignment I forgot about till just now, you know how it is, I’ll be seeing yo-

And just as I was about to make my getaway, I found myself blocked off by Metang. Metang stared its unblinking eyes into my own. 

“ABOMINATION. YOU DARE THINK YOU CAN TRICK OUR TRAINER?” 

Oh, right, I can understand Pokemon now. Dangit.

Metang’s voice rang out in a deep, calculating manner. Like some robots I had seen in an old Sci-Fi show I watched with Geronimo that one time. The voice was silly in those things, but needless to say, it was quite intimidating hearing it up close and personal, especially when it was Metang we were talking about.

I mean, I guess it’s cool that I can understand Metang, but I can’t exactly respond to it without ticking Contour off to the fact that something was up, so I’m just going to have to pretend like I didn’t hear anything. 

Excuse me, Metang, could you please move? I understand you want to kill people, but I’m pretty sure I’m on the “Do Not Attack This Person” list your trainer set up. 

“YOU ARE AN AFFRONT TO NATURE, YOU AND YOUR MUTATION. YOU ATTEMPT TO DISGUISE AND DECEIVE, AND YET YOU ARE STILL A FRAUD.”

“Metang, please move out of the way.” 

I turned to find Contour moving towards Metang, but Metang put an arm out to block Contour from moving any further. 

“I LAY NO FINGER ON YOU FOR NOW, ABOMINATION. I HAVE EXPLICIT ORDERS TO NOT ATTACK, BUT THOSE TERMS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU DO.” Metang’s eyes bore into my soul. “ONE WRONG STEP, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Ok, I understand that’s a death threat, but come on, really? You think you can taunt me you oversized hunk of magnet-

“Metang. Stand down. That’s an order.” 

Metang glanced at its trainer, before turning back to me. “I AM WATCHING YOU, ABOMINATION. LOOKING UPON YOU DISGUSTS ME. REMEMBER WHAT I HAVE SAID WELL, AND TAKE IT AS A WARNING. YOU WILL GET NO SECOND CHANCE.”

Metang backed off and allowed Contour to approach. Tangela, who was standing far away, mumbled an apology under its breath before backing off when Metang approached. 

“Sorry about Metang, John, you know how this old fella is sometimes.” Contour lightly rubbed Metang’s head as he turned away. “Apologies for keeping you for so long, good luck on the assignment. Remember, just talk to me if you need help with anything. I’m always great at pulling strings.” He flashed a big smile and waved as he walked off, with Metang and Tangela following behind him. Tangela tripped over itself as it turned back around to me, causing Metang to shake its head in disapproval. Metang gave one last glare before it was out of sight. 

Fun. Guess that’s another thing I have to look forward to in the next few days. Contour should keep Metang under control, at least, so I won’t have to worry about that so long as Contour continues being responsible. Still, that name Metang called me… abomination, I believe it was something like that. Honestly very rude, but… didn’t Latias call me something similar? I hope not every Pokemon is going to recognize me as some freak of nature, because boy is that going to make class awkward as all heck. I have a lot to enjoy with this transformation, don’t I? 

Man, I am so not dealing with this. Metang sending me personalized death threats can wait for tomorrow, right now, I’ve got a nap to catch with my name on it. 

Chapter Text

Addressed To:

Codename: REDACTED

From:

Codename: Fractal

Urgent Message Concerning Recent Developments

I have news that I find you’d be interested in hearing. Epsilon has completely replaced the boy. I discovered this during general recon in Rustboro City, being trained by that Latias Brendan owns. I understand this isn’t exactly within the realm of our jurisdiction, but we must do something about this. I can only imagine the disastrous consequences that would ensue if we just let this thing roam free. 

Your soft spot for the boy should be reason enough to compel you to go through with this. For the sake of not only him, but everyone around him, we need to capture Epsilon. Of course, you are my superior, so I cannot suggest what you should or shouldn’t do, but please do keep the idea in mind. Tell me if you do anything, I may be able to help you.

In other news, those bumbling idiots are still attempting to get their transformation engine, or whatever they’re calling it these days, working again. That Project of theirs is never going to get off the ground without the sample that is Epsilon. 

Regardless of whatever they do, we should be fine to proceed with whatever you decide. However, my suggestion is to try to do something about Epsilon, whatever that may be. Leaving it to do whatever it pleases will simply be bad news for us long term. If they get their hands on Epsilon, the results could be devastating for all of us.

Yours Sincerely, 

Fractal

P.S: Is there a reason I couldn’t use my old codename? I liked it so much better than Fractal. And don’t you give me any of that “It’d give you away if anyone intercepted our transmissions,” spiel, you literally have your actual name as your codename. Our superiors had to redact that for you, you lazy bum.

Chapter Text

Ah man… finally, a good night’s sleep. No crazy nightmares or cryptic messages, no waking up to sudden mutations, no nothing. That’s rare, nowadays. And that would be all well and good, but, oh yeah, I’m still a Latias. And I still miss my legs. These little butt feather things do not make up for it in the slightest.

Come to think of it, where even is my butt? All I have is this pointy thing between my feathery extensions where I’d like to say my butt would be, but I don’t think that has anything to do with it. 

…Eh, I’ll figure it out later. Trial by fire and all that jazz. What time is it? 

I turned to look for my alarm clock, and as it turns out, I was about an hour ahead of when I needed to get up for school. Guess this is the benefit to sleeping early. May as well take the extra time to prepare for today, because boy, is it gonna be a doozy. 

I rose into the air with a little bit of difficulty. I’m starting to get the hang of taking off, but I still faltered a bit as I rose. Flying through sheer force of will isn’t as easy as it looks, as it turns out. As my eyes wandered about, wondering where to start first, they landed on the mirror in the corner of my room. I kinda forgot I had that there, but now would be a good opportunity to check out my new looks without being distracted, or being partially covered up by anything, or whatever else happened after I changed. 

Getting a clearer look at my new body, I could immediately notice a few things. Firstly, I am really scruffy. I’ve got some feathers out of place and some leaves and stuff stuck in other places. I don’t think that it’ll impact my illusion, given how small those bits and bobs are, but I’m going to need to clean that later. Whoever’s monitoring the wireless connections here is going to be very confused by why I’m searching up how to clean feathers, but such is life. 

Next things I can notice are some very distinct differences from Latias. Given I had to spend several hours in close proximity to her, I can safely say that there are definitely some things that are not the same between us. For one thing, I looked way rounder than she did. Not like, pure circle, but more in the sense that, for instance, my head was just… I dunno how to put it, curvier? I don’t really know why. Maybe it’s an age thing? She definitely seemed older than me. How old was she anyway? 

The other major thing, and the more noticeably striking one, was the triangle on my chest. The feathers had fully formed on it, but instead of being that shade of blue Latias had, my chest triangle was pure gray. I hadn’t noticed it at the time, but I’m pretty sure that’s not a species norm, given Navet’s picture in his slideshow also had a Latias with a blue triangle. It’s probably not a big deal, given that Latias said nothing about it, and it certainly helps to stand out in a crowd. Not that I’m ever going to meet a whole herd of these things, but still. 

That aside, there wasn’t really much to say outside of what I’ve already noticed. My eyes are still a massive weak point, literally and figuratively. Seriously, these eyes make me look like some cartoon more than an actual real living Pokemon. If I saw one with eyes this massive on the side of the road, I’d have called it “cute,” which is really not the image I want to have. If I ever have to flee for my life, I’d prefer to be at least somewhat intimidating, thank you very much. 

…And I’ve still got these weird little butt feather wing things. Not sure what to call them. I guess they’re kind of spiky, so… yeah, I’ll just roll with that. Spikies. Never been good with names, but it helps as a shorthand. But what do these spikies even do? I literally see no purpose for these other than the fact they’re aesthetically pleasing. Like, I can barely control them. I can wiggle them a bit, but that’s about it. These better have an actual use I don’t know about, or else I’m really going to feel ripped off. I miss my legs, man. 

Moving away from the mirror, I turned back to the rest of my room. The whole thing was still, in fact, a mess. Who would've guessed? It’s not like I’ve done nothing at all to fix that since Contour came and messed it all up…. Y’know, maybe I should get started on cleaning it right now, just to get the hang of flying a little bit.

…

Ah, who am I kidding, I do not feel like dealing with this anytime soon, Latias or not. Everything’s fine and working right now despite the mess. Like, heck, even though Lombre’s got a crack down his side, he’s still functioning! By that logic, everything else here is fine as is for now. No need to worry, and no need to clean. I’ll deal with it later when it’s an issue. 

Lemme think. Um… what else is there to do? I don’t exactly need to worry about clothes given what Latias said about my illusions before. That still feels weird to me, but I suppose there’s not much I can do about it. I don’t exactly need to get some surprise assignment done, as my work’s all caught up, and everything else I can think of is already prepared… I could just power nap till school starts. Or not. I’ve been napping a lot lately, and I’m not even that tired right now. 

Eh, I’ll just play some games or something to pass the time. Being a different species isn’t going to stop me from enjoying myself. So let’s just open up my computer and… 

Oh yeah, right, I don’t have fingerprints anymore. Um… okay, which banana password was I using for this again? 

----------------------------------------------------------- 

I may be a legless floating dragon, but I still have to go to school. Sucks to be me, but hey, this is what keeping up a facade is going to force me to do. 

I quickly discovered a flaw with my illusion on the way out, though. It doesn’t account for my wingspan. I figured this out after flying out the door and getting my wings stuck on the sides like a Growlithe trying to cross a bridge with a very big stick. That’s definitely gonna be bruised later. 

Of course, the door thing was a minor issue in comparison to a bigger problem: getting through the hallways. My wingspan is big enough to the point where I could bump into people with my wings. I can only slam into so many people before they realize something was up. 

So, on such short notice, I came up with a plan. Turn invisible, fly over the people to my class, and pray that no one decides to jump or throw anything. Once I was outside, I could wait for people to clear and adopt my illusion. Should work out for now, right? It’s my best shot, anyway. 

So I did just that. Ran into an issue with one dude throwing paper airplanes on the way there, but ultimately it was no big deal. That was the first part done. I waited a little while outside of math, and eventually, when very few people were around, I adopted my illusion and entered the room. 

In hindsight, I probably should’ve checked my illusion in the mirror, but eh, I doubt anyone’s going to notice, and if they do, they’ll just write it off. Well, so long as the illusion’s accurate anyways. Hopefully I didn’t make a big oopsie in my haste to get here. Regardless, hardly anyone in these classes knows me personally anyways. Only person who will in Math is August. If I turn up with a detail here or there off, I should hopefully be fine. Hopefully being the keyword there.  

I sat down at my usual spot, well, sort of, anyway. Couldn’t really sit the normal way without it being super uncomfortable, and trust me, I tested this out earlier on my desk chair, it’s not fun. So, instead, I chose to hover slightly above my seat. My illusion should be fine when I do this, so I’m not too concerned. Well, I hope so, anyway. It’s gonna be bad if I’m busted for levitating an inch above the seat. 

I glanced around and managed to find August in her usual spot in the back. She was watching me, but upon noticing me looking back at her, she signaled with her hand to turn around. Not wanting to attract attention, I obliged. I guess it’s good she’s helping me out, but that’s only just a teeny bit freaky. I can feel her staring. New Latias senses are weird and annoying. 

“Alright class, pleasure to have you all back here again today.” Our teacher paced around. “I’ll be having you continue the partner work from yesterday. You can continue with the same partner, or with a new one. I don’t mind. Have fun everyone!” 

So that means I get to work with August again. Fun, but more importantly, practical. If she’s noticed anything off about my illusion, we can discuss it around now. My illusion’s still up, right? …Yep, okay, that’s one good thing. I’m holding it better than I was before, but I need to keep being careful. If I let it slip for even a second… Ah whatever, I shouldn’t focus on that. Worrying is gonna get me nowhere. 

August soon arrived, and with her came that Pikachu of hers.That thing still hates my guts, though at least now I know it’s not entirely alone in that department. Metang is giving this thing a run for its money. 

“So, what’s the status, August?”

“John, remember, telepathy. I can’t understand what you’re saying.” 

Oh, yeah, right. Forgot I didn’t speak human anymore. 

Sorry, sorry. This sound alright?

“Sounds good. Your illusion’s been holding up as well. If you can keep doing that, you’re golden.” 

Well that’s good. She knows me more than most people in this class. If she hasn’t noticed anything wrong, then I don’t need to worry about this too much. Just have to keep focusing. 

“Alright, well, I suppose we should actually do work in class. You remembered to bring your bag, right?” 

Of course I did, I’m not that idiotic-

…

I may be that idiotic. 

“You forgot your bag, didn’t you?” I nodded. August sighed. “Look, just go back and grab it really quickly. It shouldn’t be too much of a detour.”

Won’t the bag interfere with my illusions?

“I don’t think it should. It’s only a bag. If it worries you that much, you can just carry it around for now, and then test it with your illusion when you’re back.” 

Sounds like a plan then. I’ll be back soon. Please keep your rat under control. 

“No promises, Mousetrap.” August winked. I really hate her sometimes. 

I flew away from my seat, though trying to control my speed was admittedly much harder than it looked. This body feels like controlling one of those wind-up toys, though a bit less wind-up, and more in the sense of, “It keeps moving at the same speed, no matter what.” I always felt like I wanted to move fast, regardless of what I wanted. This wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that dashing towards a teacher at top speed looks incredibly odd, to put it lightly. 

Still, I got down there, hopefully looking normal enough, asked if I could grab my bag, got the go ahead, and left. All relatively quick. That’s good. I want to get this over and done with quickly so I can go back to studying some math. Firstly because I hate this class and I actually want to understand the material, and secondly because I really want to talk to August about, well, everything. She’s kind of the only person I can talk to regarding this. Everyone else I know, Callum, Lila, Geronimo, heck, even Contour, don’t have a clue about this. She’s the one person who’s able to help me right now. 

Though it’s got me thinking… imagine if any of them knew. Contour would probably be calling up fifty of his acquaintances to find a way to reverse it while cracking jokes, Geronimo would be background indexing and analyzing everything, Lila would be comforting yet dependable, and Callum would uh… I’m not sure what he’d do, honestly. 

Well, whatever, now's not the time to be thinking about that stuff. I’m sure they’d be trusting, but… I dunno. A part of me says I should keep this secret for now. What if Lila or Callum freaked and caused a scene? What if Geronimo or Contour thought I was lying and called the cops or something? Yeah, I’m definitely better off not telling them. No point risking the position I’m in right now. 

I was already in the courtyard with that fountain. I had dashed through the halls with relative ease, far faster than I could manage when I was human. Uncontrollable speed is both a blessing and a curse. Let’s me get things done faster, but sometimes a bit too quickly. 

While I should have gone straight to my dorm and left, the fountain caught my eye. I turned to stare at, hoping to find what caught my attention, but found nothing. It was probably the light reflecting off of it, honestly. Nothing more, nothing less. Even so… 

“Oh, John, fancy meeting you here!” 

I swear my skeleton nearly jumped out of my skin. That voice caught me so off guard, even though the voice was that of… hang on, Ms. Oblique? What’s she doing here?

Oh, hey Ms. Oblique. Is my illusion still holding? …Yep, okay, somehow we’re still good. Lost my composure for a second. Oh well, if she did see anything and didn’t acknowledge it, I’m not going to acknowledge it either. 

“I was actually planning to ask you something later, so this is rather fortunate timing if you ask me.”

Very fortunate for you, very unfortunate for me, Ms. Oblique. I’d really appreciate not having more social interactions than I have to, you do not understand the migraines I had yesterday evening. 

Oh, what did you want to ask me?

I will say that her asking me a question out of the blue is very new. I don’t talk to her enough or do more than necessary in her class to warrant outside discussion. What could she possibly have to ask me?

“It’s about a few days back. You asked me a very important question, and well, I figured it was less of a thought provoking question and more of an “asking for a friend” kind of question, you get what I mean?” 

Ah, that. I forgot I asked her that. In hindsight, that compromises my status a bit, but I can play this off.

Oh, that? Ah, don’t worry. What I was asking about isn’t really too relevant anymore, it’s sorted itself out.

I’m technically not lying. It did sort itself out… in a way. That should get her off my back-

“Are you sure? You’re looking rather nervous.”

Am I? My illusion shouldn’t be showing something like that off unless I tell it to… unless my illusion’s just that good. I don’t know, I haven’t seen enough of it to tell. 

Nah, I’m fine. Just on a time limit right now, gotta grab something I forgot, you know how it is, gotta dash! 

I took that opportunity to leave before Ms. Oblique could ask me anything else. Being frank, she’s a nice teacher, but as I’ve said before, the less I use telepathy, the better. 

It was a short trip back to my dorm from there, though given my speed by this point, I was really unhappy with how slow the elevator was. It honestly would have been faster to take the stairs. I really should just do that by default, given everything that’s happened at this point. 

Still, grabbing my bag was very quick, as it was just lying on the ground where I left it yesterday. I didn’t exactly care for tidiness at that time, I just really wanted to sleep. So I just went inside, grabbed the bag and left, remembering to take the stairs down. Note to self, I need to control my descent on the stairs to avoid crashing into them again. I’m glad I don’t have a nose anymore, because that would’ve been painful if it still existed. Though come to think of it, where was my nose? 

…

Nevermind that. The walk, er, fly, back to Math was relatively quick. I wasn’t stopped by Ms. Oblique, nor did anything else of substance really occur. And, excluding the elevator trip, I was back before I knew it. Taking care to manage my speed on the way to August, I took my seat and brought out my pencil. 

“You were quick.”

I’m the living equivalent of a jet plane now, what did you expect?

“A bit less snark. Plop your backpack on your back and let’s see how it looks.”

Right here? What if it messes up?

“Do you really want to carry it around everywhere?”

I mean, not particularly, but-

“Then put it on right now.”

I saw no reason to keep arguing, so I did as she said and slung it on. It was a bit annoying to do, given that I had to move it so it wasn’t impacting my wings, but I think I did a good job.Even so, it’s still really uncomfortable. It’s like moving with a rock up your butt. I might just keep carrying with my hands for the sake of comfort, honestly. 

“Your illusion’s holding. You should be fine keeping this up.”

Yeah, no, I’m not too sure, August. This is not a pleasant experience. 

“This is incredibly stupid.” 

I haven’t heard that voice before, who could that-

…Oh, of course. It’s you. 

The source, as it turned out, was none other than August’s complaining little cheese eater, Pikachu. I missed it on the way in because it was so much quieter than usual, but I definitely didn’t miss having to deal with Pikachu. The thing was as grouchy as ever, just from looking at it, but it was even worse now that I could understand it. Great.

What about it is stupid, Pikachu?

Pikachu jumped back in shock, but regained his composure as he landed. His fur began to crackle with electricity in self-defense. 

“So, you can understand me, you freak of nature?” I really wish people would stop calling me that. “Stop being a coward and come out of hiding! I’ll destroy you myself you-” Pikachu was interrupted mid-sentence by August picking him up and stroking his head. Glad she defused the situation and all, but I still don’t get how that calms the thing down.. 

You’re going to do what to me?

Pikachu, now in August’s arms, huffed with indignance. “You mention any of this to another Pokemon, and I will personally see to your execution.”

I sincerely doubt you’ll be given the right to lead an execution if I tell some of the other Pokemon about this. 

I don’t really know much about Pikachu, but I’m going to assume from the fact that he cares so much about his reputation, alongside his earlier aggression, that he’s one of those “tough guys.” And if I know anything about people like that, it’s that they hate being teased. 

Pikachu grumbled to himself. “Fine, what will it take for you to not tell anyone?” 

Wait, he thinks I’m serious? Um… well, okay then. I’m certainly not letting this opportunity go to waste. 

Fine, stop trying to attack me, and I’ll make sure not to tell everyone about the fact that your trainer pampers you like a newborn Eevee. 

“Don’t you dare compare me to an infant you-”

Nuh uh uh. What did I say about trying to attack me? 

Pikachu growled to himself. “I hate you a lot, you know that?”

Oh, I know. Do we have a deal? 

Pikachu paused for a while, letting himself get petted by August, before coming to a conclusion. “Fine, I’ll agree to your terms, so long as you agree to mine.”

Deal. Shake on it?

“Fine, let’s shake on it.”

I put my hand out for Pikachu to shake, and Pikachu, albeit reluctantly, wormed its way out of August’s grasp to do the same. His hand was around the size of one of my new claws, so it was needless to say very awkward figuring that out, especially given the fact that my illusion displayed five no longer present fingers. After missing the initial shake a few times, I finally managed to connect one of my claws with Pikachu’s hand, but as soon as one of my claws connected with him, I received a shock, literally. 

Hey! What was that for!?

“Just because I said I wasn’t going to attack you doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.” 

You little-

August finally saw it fit to break the tension between the two of us. “Pikachu, stop disturbing John. John, stop arguing with a mouse.” 

Oh, yeah, right. I have kind of been arguing with a Pokemon in the middle of Math class. Oh well. 

“What were you two even arguing about?”

I’ll explain later.  

I say that both due to the fact that I’m worried people will overhear the fact that I actually talked to the thing and it wasn’t just me interpreting its body language, and secondly because I feel Pikachu is gonna zap me again. I know we made the deal, but I doubt he’s going to completely hold his end of the bargain. 

August shrugged. “Whatever, we have to start doing math before the teach notices. You know how sad she gets when we’re off task?” 

I know the feeling.

“I hate being psychologically manipulated, and yet I fall for it every time.” 

Same. 

“Well, anyways, this one’s asking about…” 

Oh, hey, I actually know how to do this one. Let me just write it out, and… 

…

August?

“Yeah?”

I’ve just realized I don’t have fingers anymore.

“You’re only just realizing now? Why’s that relevant to math?”

I may or may not be unable to write properly. 

---------------------------------------------------

So as it turns out, the rest of that class became less about math and more about relearning how to write. August got out some spare paper, and continued under the pretense of doing work. I’m sure the teacher saw through our deception, but why she didn’t step in, I haven’t the faintest idea. Not like I’m complaining, anyway. My handwriting’s extremely awful now, and I desperately need to work on improving that. 

Class had drawn to a close, and August was understandably very exasperated. Both from having to teach me to write, and also to keep Pikachu from intentionally distracting me. The little rat may be holding to not attacking me, but he certainly is not being very helpful otherwise. 

“Well, John, your handwriting is appalling, but for once, I can’t really blame you.” 

How would you rate it right now?

“4/10.” Yowch. “I don’t think your claws are ever going to be good at writing, but with practice you may get somewhere.” 

I see-

“I will say though… your skills with everything else is improving tremendously. You barely flickered at all compared to when you tested it out for the first time yesterday, and your telepathy is sounding clearer than ever. At this rate, you may not even need my help anymore.” 

I suppose so-

As I began to speak, the bell rang, and August said goodbye and ran off. I elected to stay back in class for a little bit, under the pretense of packing up, so I could move through clearer halls… but it also gave me some time to think.

What August said sounds accurate, which is good. I’m getting pretty good at this, aren’t I? That makes me pretty happy. First day in an alien body and I’m rocking it. But at the same time, I’m thinking about August herself. When she said that I may not need her help anymore… Was it just me, or did she sound… sad? She smiled, yes, and she sounded happy… but I dunno, the vibe she was giving off was completely different. Why would she be sad? Wouldn’t she be happy to be rid of me and my complications?

…

Eh, I’m probably imagining things. My head’s messy enough as it is, and right now, I need to get to class.

Chapter Text

So small problem I’ve just discovered: Carrying a backpack around while invisible in a hallway is only ever so slightly a weird sight. All you’re seeing is a levitating backpack, and I got a few bewildered looks before I eventually realized what the issue was. I ended up having to hide my bag behind a support beam near math class. That was going to be annoying to go and get later, but I think I can afford not bringing my bag to class with me for one day until I can figure things out. I’ll need to work out a system for that, but hey, that’s a later problem. 

Oh well, at least my next class didn’t need my bag. While I do get work in Battle Studies, the work is so nondescript that I could complete it whenever I feel like it. Actually getting proper handwriting is a different story, though. I feel bad for the poor teacher who’s going to have to grade that later. It’s gonna be like deciphering a new language. Still, at least I don’t have to work in class itself. The easier it is for me, the better. 

I unfortunately arrived later than normal because of my bag issues, and apparently after the bell, because our teacher was already going over today’s gameplan. Well, it’s not like I needed to listen to it, anyway, but darn is this awkward. Everyone stares at you when you walk in late. The judgment of people’s eyes is scarier than anything. 

I double checked my illusion, just to be safe, and thankfully, it was holding. That was good. I’m not really buddy buddy with anyone here, so I don’t think I’ll need to worry about talking to anyone. So no need to worry about telepathy for now. Getting to minimize my headache is always a good thing. 

As I joined up with the others, I caught the tail end of the teacher’s instructions. From what I could gather, it seems today is just a standard practice day. Seems I have nothing to worry about for once. Thank goodness. 

As soon as the teacher finished, everyone went to their battle courts, going with their usual partners. As per usual, I went and followed Hazel and Cinnamon. They were the pair I knew best, and I really didn’t feel like changing anything today. 

The teacher yelled out to the students, letting them know they could send out their Pokemon. My classmates threw their Poke Balls, and everyone’s Pokemon were out almost immediately. Hazel and Cinnamon had sent out their Golbat and Hariyama, who briefly glanced around at their surroundings before landing on me. The two stopped and stared. 

I was really confused, until I realized that it was probably my “condition” causing them to stare. I really wish Pokemon would mind their own business sometimes. Can’t a guy just be a dragon in peace? 

But hey, they ignored me yesterday, so maybe they’ll just leave me be again today? I hope so, because I do not want to deal with Golbat and Hariyama on my case. I’ve seen them battle a lot, and they’re good. Not like, Champion level caliber, but they’re at least several skill levels above me. If either one of them decided to attack me, I’d be dead meat. 

“Hey, Harry, that weirdo’s back again.” The voice came from Golbat, who was glancing between me and Hariyama. 

Hariyama roared at Golbat. “I told you not to use that nickname! It’s very degrading.” 

“I can use it all I want, fatso!” 

“Fatso!?” Hariyama dived at Golbat with his fist. Golbat flew up quickly to avoid it. “I am no fatso you cave rodent!”

Golbat snarled. “You’re still slow as ever, Harry. Especially so with your insults. I’ve heard that one a good fifteen times in the past week. You really need to come up with new material.” 

Hariyama prepared a Zen Headbutt, but Cinnamon took the opportunity to step in. “Hariyama, our battle hasn’t started yet. Wait a minute, alright?” 

Hariyama stopped charging its attack, but glared at Golbat. Golbat snickered in amusement. 

“Well, regardless, Golbat, what was our initial source of discussion?”

Golbat paused for a moment. “Oh yeah! That weirdo!” Golbat turned towards me again, this time fully. “Say, kid, your disguise is really shoddy. Humans sure won’t notice, but we will. If you’re going to try hiding, at least do a better job.” 

“I think the better thing to tell them, Golbat, is a question.” Hariyama turned to me. “What have you done with that trainer who comes to watch our matches?” 

Oh, shoot, they’re talking to me. I can’t exactly respond when their trainers are right there, but I can’t leave Hariyama hanging or he’ll punt me like a dump truck, so-

“Your intellect really hasn’t increased at all since I met you, has it?” 

“What does that have to do with anything, Golbat?”

“The weirdo kid’s hiding for a reason. If he responded, you’d blow his cover.” 

“You’re just going to believe he’s innocent?” 

“I’m not saying he’s innocent, I’m just saying your methods of getting him to talk are ineffective, just like your battling skills.” Golbat turned away from Hariyama, now grumbling off to the side, and back towards me again. “Kid, I like to fly around after school, late at night, typically around the observatory.” Oh yeah, we have one of those. I forget about that sometimes. “...Tell me what’s going on there, alright?” 

I gave a quick nod, though I tried to look a bit confused so their trainers wouldn’t think I was actually having a conversation with them, but who knows if that worked. For all I know, this illusion is giving a completely different expression. 

“Glad to hear it, because if you don’t show up, I’m going to be slicing you into a couple billion pieces tomorrow, alright?” 

And with that, Golbat moved back to the battlefield with Hariyama. Seems like he’s agreeing to Golbat’s plan. That’s a relief, at least. I’m not getting punted today, but…. The observatory, huh? I’ve never been there, but I guess I do need to test these new wings out a bit more. I’ll merge that with clearing my innocence then. Two birds with one stone. Should be easy explaining the situation to Golbat… well, hopefully, anyways.  

“Never seen them do that before. You alright mate? They looked way more standoffish than usual.” 

Cinnamon looked a bit concerned, though that was mostly from confusion more than anything. I nodded, and moved one of my claws so my illusion could give a thumbs up. Having three claws instead of five fingers makes that a bit more difficult, so I really hope that came across alright.

Thankfully, he responded with a big smile and went back to his battle. My illusion must have conveyed the right message, thank goodness. Still getting used to all of this. Still, what about Hazel? She’s been awfully silent. 

I looked at Hazel, though she was glancing behind me. I turned around to find basically the entire class of Pokemon staring at our group. They either got drawn in by the noise of our argument, or they’re all wary of me as well. Really hope it’s the first one. 

“Seems like you’re certainly attracting a lot of attention, little buddy. Sorry about that.” Hazel flashed me a quick grin and thumbs up before switching right into battle mode. The teacher called out to the students to begin their practice, and Hazel and Cinnamon were at it immediately. 

“Hariyama! Let’s go hit em with Thunder Punch!”

“Golbat! Air Cutter, keep Hariyama away!” 

I glanced back at the other Pokemon. They had returned to battle, and stayed mostly focused on it outside of the odd glance. I’m going to have to hope they’re sticking to doing that, for my sake. Really don’t want to have to deal with an angry mob later. 

Hey, who knows? Maybe my conversation with Golbat later will clear everything up. For now, I’m going to just sit, watch, and hope no one tries to kill me, because I have a headache and it’s really annoying. Given that it’s small, it should hopefully be fine by lunchtime. 

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It was not fine by lunchtime. In fact, it was worse. Much worse. I have no idea why it’s so much louder than I remember it being in here. Not sure if that’s just an “I have new ears” thing or not, but regardless, I am not having a good time right now. I’d plug my ears, but I have no idea where those are, so I’m just going to have to suffer, I suppose.

On the plus side, there were strawberry shortcakes at lunch. Two school days in a row, I am lucking out. My luck tends to frown on me, but hey, if becoming a Latias was an exchange for getting strawberry shortcakes, I’m not one to complain. 

Still, I got here early today. A bit too early, actually, no one was here when I arrived. I’m getting better with being on time at least. 

It took all of my willpower to not dig into this shortcake immediately. Well, that and social awkwardness. Arriving early to a lunchroom really gives you second thoughts of “Shoot, did I get here during the right period?” I really didn’t want to pig out only to discover my next class started ten minutes ago. 

The lunchroom eventually filled up, slowly but surely, and the assault on my non locatable eardrums began. I double and triple checked my illusion, just in case. Checking my illusion’s almost become a habit at this point, and it’s only been a day. I’m seriously worried it’s just going to randomly drop at some point in the near future. My worry is probably accounting for the vast majority of my headache, but not much I can do about that until I can keep my illusion up without thinking about it.…I can do that, right? I hope so. I really don’t envy suffering from migraines until the end of time. 

The first of my friends to arrive was Geronimo. He was looking rather perplexed, or at least more so than usual. 

Something up man?

Geronimo shrugged as he sat down. “Nothing is up bar the ceiling, my friend. The only thing confusing me is the fact that you’re here early.”

Is it wrong for a guy to be early?

“No, but it is highly irregular when it’s coming from someone like you.”

I get here early… sometimes!

Geronimo snorted as Lila soon arrived at the table, confused from Geronimo’s snort. “What’s so funny, Geronimo?”

Geronimo turned back to me. “Why don’t you tell her what you just said, John?”

Well, alright then, but I really don’t see what’s so funny. 

I was telling Geronimo about how I arrive early sometimes. I don’t see why-

Lila began laughing to herself as she sat down at the table. Geronimo’s face grew a large smirk as he too lightly chuckled to himself. At this point, I’m not even going to bother trying to figure out what they’re laughing about. Especially since I still have a strawberry shortcake to dig into. Not much use in waiting now that I know I’m in the right place, so let’s dig in. 

…

Hm, that’s funny. Tastes… different, than usual. Very… 

…Oh dear Arceus , that is horrible. It’s like eating from a Trubbish’s poo, except worse. It tastes about as bad as, if not worse than, a potato, and I absolutely despise those things. Something’s up if a perfectly good strawberry shortcake somehow got ruined. 

“John, you alright? You took a bite of that and you look like you want to die.” If tastes could kill, this would, so you aren’t too far off in that guess, Geronimo, but still. 

I’m… I’m fine. Just… um… 

What do I say here? They know full well that I love these shortcakes as much as a Togetic loves happiness, but even I don’t know why this tastes like Mudsdale droppings. Hard to make an excuse when even you don’t know what you’re excusing yourself from. 

Must have had something extra added in it. Might’ve been peppermint or something. I’ll just dump it in the bin. 

I took a quick look over the shortcake before I went to dump it. Nothing about it looked off in any way, and at a glance it looks fine. Texture looks normal, heck, even better than usual, it’s got the usual cream on it, and the strawberries look fine. Might be something internally in the shortcake, or maybe… 

“So you gonna dump it, or are you going to keep staring at it like a murder suspect?” 

Har har. I’m just double checking it, Geronimo.

“Riiiiiiight.”

I gave my best attempt at an eye roll before grabbing the shortcake and heading over to the bin. But what was I thinking? Oh right, internal stuff. Internally, like the shortcake… reminds me of myself and my complete “makeover” recently. It’s gonna be awkward next time I get an x-ray. I doubt illusions will stop that thing from seeing my true biology. Am I going to have to inform my medical providers about this? That’s going to be one awkward meeting. Basically everything’s different now, including everything inside of me and… um… outside of me. I doubt anything’s the same as it used to be, which makes me have some serious questions about- 

Hang on. Everything inside of me changed. Did that include… my taste buds? That would explain a lot about why that shortcake tasted so odd… I’m going to have to test these new tastebuds later. Maybe after school after I swing by Golbat? Hopefully the cafeteria’s still open by then… hm… 

Well, still, no one denies me my strawberry shortcake. That was my favorite thing, and now it’s ruined. I swear if it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to find whoever dropped that feather and chuck them into the ocean. You don’t just take my strawberry shortcake from me and live to avoid punishment. 

I returned to my table, with Callum seemingly having arrived in the interim. No sign of August, though. Maybe she went to chill with whoever she normally sits with? 

“Say, John, do you even have any lunch?”

Nope, not really. Never bring anything, anyways. The food here sucks.

“Come to think of it,” said Lila, “I don’t think I see you eat more than one thing during any given meal.” 

Geronimo readjusted his glasses. “Yeah, actually, you raise a fair point. What do you eat, John?” 

I eat! Sometimes… Well, I mean, I have a few sandwiches here and there, but like… is that abnormal? Sandwiches are perfect for any meal of the day. Sandwich with bacon at breakfast, sandwich with cheese at lunch, sandwich with lettuce at dinner, and I’m set. 

Still, I can't say sandwiches without them thinking I’m starving myself, so what should I say?

Food. 

Nailed it. 

The others looked unimpressed. Geronimo rolled his eyes. “Suuuuuuure.” 

Is it that hard to believe I eat properly?

Callum chose to pipe up this time. “It is when you eat the equivalent of table scraps on a daily basis.”

Sandwiches are not table scraps!

Drat, I let slip. 

“You’re only eating sandwiches, aren’t you?” 

I…. maybe?

“Look, man, you need to eat more than just sandwiches. Want me to cook you something?”

Callum, speaking openly and honestly, I don’t trust you near an oven. 

“I’ve cooked before!”

“You nearly set the entirety of Petalburg Woods on fire when you tried roasting a marshmallow.” 

“Yeah… Callum, no offense bud, I also don’t trust you near an open flame.” 

“I’m not that bad.”

Lila sighed. “Next time we meet up, I’m giving both you and John cooking lessons.” 

Huh? Oh no, I do not trust these claws with an oven. They’re way too small. I gotta wiggle my way out of this one. 

Is there any way I can decline?

“If you try to, I’m going to have August manhandle you there.” 

This is going to take a lot more effort to escape from, isn’t it?

Chapter Text

Seedot was not pleased. It had been half a day now, and he had already smashed so many of these little buzzbot things that kept coming to bug him that he’d lost count. What were they even expecting to gain from violating the privacy of a market stall manned by an old lady and an acorn? If you want something exciting, go bug the guy who is actually transforming into a Pokemon. 

…Or has transformed into one already. He didn’t even know, really. Swablu had told him about some rumor she caught from some terrified looking Skitty about a pair of Latias training in an alleyway, but he never could really trust alley Pokemon. Sure, there were some nice eggs, but when it came to rumors, he could never be sure if it was the truth or them looking for attention. Even so, it did seem to line up with what had been going on recently, especially involving John. 

He really needed to talk to Castform. It had been a few days since he’d heard of any details about his whereabouts. Not even Swablu had seen her once . Something must have been keeping her inside, but he certainly didn’t have the guts to go rushing into Devon HQ to figure out why. For all he knew, she was on an extended vacation in Alola with her trainer, or something like that, anyway. He didn’t know what rich people got up to, but he really didn’t care. 

Ms. LeFitz had been having a rather lackluster store day all things considered. Less buyers than normal. It wasn’t even that cold! What reason could there be for such a slowdown? He wouldn’t have been so worried if it weren’t for the fact it made Ms. LeFitz so agitated. When she was in this kind of mood, she grew increasingly volatile. And that scared him, just a bit. 

And speaking of which, it seems like it was time for her to bug him. Great. 

“Seedot, get off your behind and get over here!” He did as she asked. He had been with her so long he didn’t need to second guess anything she told him. As he looked up at her, Ms. LeFitz stared into his soul. “I need you to get that Gravy boy and go pick up a delivery of mine from Devon Corp.”

Devon Corp? Oh boy, this was going to be fun. He really hoped they weren’t going to plant microchips or something on them while they were and- wait, hang on, Gravy boy? How did she expect John to help when he avoids her like the plague?

Ms. LeFitz seemingly picked up on the confusion before Seedot could even get a word out. “Get that little bird friend of yours to summon him or something. And yes, I know you have a little bird friend, it’s been so obvious that I’m surprised you even tried to hide it.” 

…Seedot wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, but in any case, he supposed he needed to go and find her anyway. He had been meaning to find her and get to check on John’s progress for a while now, so he supposed hitting two birds with one stone, even if it wasn’t the greatest analogy to use in this instance, was the best way to go. 

Seedot nodded and ran off. Now that she knew about his and Swablu’s friendship, he sincerely hoped she wasn’t going to start bugging Swablu 24/7 as well. She was one of his main eyes in the sky and forms of transportation. He did not want her getting roped into errands every couple hours. 

Still, fetching her was a completely different story. They typically only interacted once a week at a designated time, and any other encounters they had were happenstance. To go out searching for her specifically in a city this big when he was this small? …Well, it was a tall order. 

Hm… maybe it was time to contact an old friend of his? 

------------------------------------------------------------

Seedot rounded the corner into the alleyway. He hoped that his friend was still here. Walking around Rustboro City for several hours was not on his to-do list. 

Thankfully, though, at the end of the alleyway was none other than the Pokemon he was looking for. He was even still in that run-down old fortune teller’s tent of his. This guy really hasn’t changed all that much. 

Seedot entered the tent, and found his target inside. A Kadabra lay asleep on the floor in front of him, lying on a tattered purple and yellow rug. Seedot sighed. He hated having to do this, but the ends justified the means. 

Seedot leapt into the air and headbutted Kadabra square in the chest, causing him to startle awake with a fright. Within a second, Kadabra had teleported to the ceiling of his tent, preparing a psychic attack, but stopped upon noticing just who had woken him up. 

“Seedot? Is that you? It’s been such a long time man!” 

Kadabra warped back to the floor, and before Seedot could react, he was in Kadabra’s hands, being given a noogie. He definitely hasn’t changed a bit.

“Yes, it really has been.”

Kadabra stopped noogieing Seedot as he reeled back in shock. “Wait a second…. Where are my manners!?” Kadabra warped to a corner of his tent, and grabbed a teapot, which he then began pouring the contents of into a cup. “One or two sugars?” 

Seedot warded the thoughts of how old the tea in that pot was away as he refocused on why he was there. 

“Kadabra, focus.”

“One or two sugars?” 

“I- one’s fine, just-” 

In a literal flash, Kadabra warped back to another corner of his tent, snatched a cube of sugar from a bag, and put it into the tea, which he began stirring. 

“Tea will be ready in a moment. How’s it been hanging compadre?” 

“I came to ask for a little favor.”

The Kadabra gave a sad sigh. “And here I was hoping you were here to finally have a conversation with me after last time. You know how long it’s been?”