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Equilibrium	By : jvperric Category: Pokemon > General Views: 12587 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Nintendo does. I make no claim towards any of the copyrighted intellectual property contained herein. I am making no money from this story in any way.

Chapter List
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*****Equilibrium*****

*****Book I: Old Familiar Places*****

*****Chapter I: Rebellion*****

The night sky was thick with acrid smoke, billowing from dozens of smoldering impact sites. All around them, entire sections of the building had collapsed. Some were crumbling to the ground, others falling into the frozen northern sea.

Two forms rolled across the floor of one of the few intact wings, trading vicious blows while all around them sparks flew and fires raged. An avian shape screamed away across the sky, silhouetted by a full moon.

*****

“Jason! You up yet?”

“Yeah, Dad. I’ll shower before I eat.”

Jason Sato set down his notebook, trying to shake off the unease his latest dream had given him. He pulled together his work uniform and took one more look around his room. It was small and cramped, lit by the first rays of light to hit the Sedera region.

The hot pulse of the shower was a welcome relief from the mid-April chill in the house. Jason put his head under the water, washed out the shampoo, and let his hair mat against the back of his neck. The water was hotter than what would have been considered comfortable, or even safe, but the heat of the town’s refinery had had years to callus his skin.

He cut off the water, shivered, and took a towel from the rack. He didn’t bother wiping the fog from the mirror; he already knew he had to shave. Jason took his razor and cleaned up his face and put on his uniform. His hands performed the task automatically, sliding the uniform on and pulling up the zipper.

His dirty clothes flew through his open door and landed next to his hamper, but Jason didn’t see. He was already down the stairs and halfway to the kitchen when he heard the clang of his plate on the table. Scrambled eggs, just like his father’s. Always scrambled.

“Long day today,” his father said.

“Why’s that?”

“They found a new vein down off the eighth branch. Looks like about eleven tons.”

Jason picked at his eggs. “Are you going down there?”

“Soon as we’re finished here. Ready?”

He set his fork down across his half-eaten meal. “Yeah.”

Jason ran their plates under the sink and went out the door with his father. He put his headphones in and turned on the radio on his Pokégear.

“Good morning early birds,” the DJ said over the light music. “It’s a cool forty-seven degrees in Duskwind Town, the Starly are chirping and the skies are clear. Hopefully this cold snap we’re stuck in now will let up by this evening. Isn’t that right, Ian?”

The station’s meteorologist began his guessing game and Jason turned the dial in his pocket. He found a saxophone piece he enjoyed and walked along the street with his dad.

Long day, he thought, reflecting on his father’s words. For you and me both, Dad.

“Jason!”

He turned and saw his friend Casey jogging towards them on a side road. “Wait up!”

“I’ll meet you up there, Dad.”

“Don’t take too long.”

The older Sato kept going on the main road while Jason stood at the intersection. Casey caught up to him and jumped into a hug.

“You’re up early, Cassandra,” Jason said, letting her down.

She hit him lightly on the arm as they started to walk. “I hate when you call me that. Off to work?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, his eyes slipping to the refinery’s smokestack visible from every part of town.

“You haven’t told your father yet, have you?” Casey asked.

“That can wait until I’m ready to go. I can’t believe my license finally came. I still have to stop by Professor Bayberry’s lab and the bank.”

“I’m so excited for you.” Casey stole a kiss and smiled at him. “You’re going to have so much fun.”

“You can still come with me,” Jason said. “Come on. We can see the country. I know Shara would want to travel.”

“She’s bred for beauty contests, not battles. And I’m not really an ‘on-the-road’ kind of girl, you know that. Don’t worry, you’ll meet all sorts of beautiful girls in the cities. I’m sure you’ll be breaking hearts all up and down Sedera.”

“That’s not why I’m going.”

“How far do you want to take this? To the League?”

“Well, I don’t want to get stuck on Victory Road and challenge everyone that passes through. You’re going to turn on the TV one day and see me on a podium, be sure of that. We’re here.”

The Duskwind Iron Refinery loomed over them as it loomed over the rest of the small town. Smoke puffed out from the top of the large stacks jutting up into the sky. Next to the building, carved into the small mountainside, was the entrance to the expansive, ever-growing tunnel system that provided millions of tons of iron every year.

“Good luck today, Jason,” Casey said, kissing him on the cheek again. “Call me before you leave?”

“I will. See you later.”

*****

“Watch it!”

Jason sidestepped out of the way as a shower of sparks rained down from one of the melting cauldrons. He brushed off the few that landed on his sleeve and glared upwards.

“Keep that flow under control!” he shouted back.

The man grumbled and returned to his work. Jason took the back of the cart he had been pushing and worked it to the opposite end of the refinery floor, where the colossal main furnace stood, belching smoke and fire from its rusted, scalding seams. He picked up a shovel and threw the coal on the cart into the open door, the flames swelling up with every chunk deposited. When there was none left and the furnace was full to bursting, Jason set the shovel on the cart, wheeled it into a back office and opened the one window in the room.

He swung one leg over the windowsill, then the other. As soon as he was clear he closed the window and started for the main gate, the left edge of which was visible past one of the refinery’s large walls.

Jason passed a man on a smoke break in an alcove. “Leaving?” he asked.

“Uh…foreman wanted a coffee.”

“Pick me up a Hoenni roast, will you?”

“Yeah, sure.”

He kept walking. He tried to keep his pace perfectly even. Sweat rolled down from his armpits and stained his shirt. Every face in the crowd by the mines looked like his father’s. They had the same uniforms as him. A legion of Brendan Satos, milling about with blackened faces and dirty goggles—

He was past the gate. Jason ran.

Duskwind Town was so empty in the middle of the day. A few cars puttered down the main road, some children sat outside the ice cream shop. Jason felt very out of place in his work coveralls, the beige fabric blending into the cement of the sidewalk. He took out his phone and dialed.

“Duskwind Pokémon lab,” a voice on the other end answered.

“Hey Billy, it’s Jason Sato. Is the Professor there?”

“Let me get him for you.”

There was some static from the other side of the call, and the sound of the phone being handed over. “Jason?”

“Hey, Professor. Do you think I could drop by in about five minutes?”

“Yes, but I thought you were at work.”

“I got out early. I’ll see you in a few.”

He cut the call and turned down a side street. The lab was a cheerful little brick building sitting between a nail salon and a barbershop with a large glowing glass Pokéball on top. Young Pokémon barked and chirped and made a song in the back yard. He went inside.

“Anybody home?” Jason asked, shutting the door behind him.

“In the back room, Jason,” an older man called.

Through the open door was a smaller room with several tables, Pokéballs and a single cheerful man dusting a cabinet. Two young children, a boy and a girl, were playing with a Tepig in one corner.

“Hey Professor Bayberry,” Jason said, shaking his hand.

“Nice to see you, Jason,” he said, setting down his duster. “You know my grandchildren, Jack and Sarah.”

“Hey guys.”

“Hi Jason,” they said, not looking away from their Tepig.

“So you’re here for a Pokémon, Jason?” Professor Bayberry asked.

“Yeah. What do you have?”

“Well, the Regulatory Commission is going with a different approach this season,” he said, taking a tray from one of the cabinets with three Pokéballs on it. The one on the left had a small brown sticker on the top, the middle one a purple sticker, and the one on the right a black sticker. “You know there was a major shortage of Grass-types from the breeding centers this past year.”

“Right…they cost six times as much as Fire and Water-types.”

“There simply aren’t enough to meet this year’s demand, so we’re offering something different this season. You can pick from a Psychic-type, a Dark-type, or a Fighting-type. They didn’t release a list of any specific Pokémon they wanted us to distribute, but I have a Ralts, a Houndour, and a Tyrogue on hand.”

“Can I see them?”

Professor Bayberry scratched his head. “I’ll have to see your Trainer’s license first.”

Jason took it from his wallet and handed it over. When he was satisfied, he handed it back to Jason.

“I can’t let them out of their Pokéballs, I’m afraid. They’re in stasis right now, designed to come out once the Pokéball is ID locked to a Trainer and you’ve lifted the stasis at a Pokémon Center. They’re all healthy, I know that much, but not a lot else.”

“Do you know their genders?” Jason asked.

“I don’t. Why?”

“I thought it would be cool to have a Gallade, but I don’t know if I want to get stuck with a Gardevoir.”

“Yes, the females can get a bit…clingy with their Trainers. I’m sorry I can’t help you with that, but you could take the Tyrogue or Houndour.”

“I can pick up a Dark-type and a Fighting-type near Presida City. I’ll take the Ralts.”

“Very good.” Professor Bayberry took the middle Pokéball from the tray and placed it on the table. He reached into his coat pocket and produced a small, dark red object. “I also want you to have this.”

Jason took it. “A Pokédex?”

“They send me one every year. I’m supposed to give it to a Trainer who receives their first Pokémon, and I wouldn’t trust a ten year-old with something like this.”

“Wow, thanks Professor. Are you sure?”

“I’m not going to use it. Now why don’t you check that Ralts?”

Jason nodded and picked up the Pokéball. He touched the front button to the sensor on the top of the Pokédex and its screen began glowing. Information flashed across the display. “Oh good, it’s male.”

“Well there you are. Psychic-types always form a close bond with their Trainers, and since you understand Pokémon so well I’m sure you’ll become fast friends. Are you headed down to Presida City?”

“Yeah, I’m leaving tonight,” Jason said. He looked down at his Pokéball. The children’s Tepig was swinging its tail against a filing cabinet.

“The best of luck to you, then. Swath, the Presida Gym Leader, is a real nice guy. I’m sure you can pick up a few good Pokémon on the way, too.”

“I’ll make sure I show you once I get there. I’ve got some things I need to do around town before I’m ready to go, so I’ll call you when I get into Presida City.”

Professor Bayberry clapped him on the arm. “Good travels to you, Jason. I’ll talk to you soon.”

The Tepig bashed its tail on the side of the filing cabinet, finally dislodging a heavy box on top. Jason saw it begin to tumble and darted over, grabbing it a few inches above the heads of Jack and Sarah. The momentum carried him forward, knocking his head on the front of the metal drawer. The children and the Tepig scrambled out of the way, giving Jason enough space to put the box down and sit beside it. He rubbed his head with one hand and slid his Pokéball into a pocket with the other.

“What is this Professor, your rock collection?” Jason asked, getting to his feet.

The old man took his hand from over his heart when he saw his grandchildren were safe. “Thank you for catching that, Jason. It looks like you dropped something there,” he said, pointing to a small gray pendant on a leather strap. Sarah walked back over and picked it up.

“It’s pretty,” she said, running a finger over the small diamond embedded in the middle of the pendant. Sarah turned it over and felt the shallow indentation of a flame etched into the material. She handed it to Jason.

“Thank you. It was my mom’s. She gave it to me before she passed away.” Jason retied the strap’s knot, slid it over his head, and tucked the pendant into his shirt.

“Yes, it’s very nice,” Professor Bayberry said. “But you may want to get a better strap. It would be a shame to lose something so valuable.”

“Maybe I’ll pick one up in town. I’ll see you later, Professor.”

Jason left the lab, waving to the Professor and his grandchildren as he closed the door. He returned to the main road, where the Pokémart stood proudly near the town’s southern exit. Everything he thought he would need he bought, inwardly glad he had always sent his checks from the refinery straight to his bank account. He also picked up a Dawn Stone for when Ralts evolved.

He went to the Pokémon Center, where the attendant unlocked his Pokéball and brought Ralts out of stasis. The lobby was empty in the middle of the day, and Jason decided to meet his Pokémon before it spent too much time cooped up. He sat on a couch and flipped the ball’s release catch.

The Chansey at the front desk covered her eyes as the Pokéball released a flash of white light. A small, sleeping Ralts materialized on the couch cushion next to Jason. He stroked Ralts’ hair, being careful to avoid the sensitive horns on the front and back of his head.

“Hey sleepyhead,” he said, rubbing Ralts’ arm with his thumb. The Psychic-type yawned and slowly opened his eyes, taking in the lobby and the pair of pants next to him. He followed the pants up and met Jason’s eyes, smiling when his new Trainer did.

Ralts got to his feet and stepped across the soft cushion to hug Jason’s midsection, squeaking as he did. He nuzzled his face into the fabric of Jason’s shirt.

“Aren’t you affectionate?” Jason gently stroked his front horn. “I bet you’re hungry too, huh?”

Ralts looked up and rubbed his stomach. “Okay, let’s go get lunch. I don’t want to put you back in your Pokéball, though. How about I carry you?”

As if on cue, the little Pokémon jumped into Jason’s chest and curled into his arms. He stood up and left the building, humming to Ralts as they went down the street. Holding Ralts with one hand, Jason got out his phone and dialed Casey.

“Casey? It’s Jason. I just picked up my Ralts from Professor Bayberry. Can you and Shara meet us at the café next to the mattress store? All right, I’ll order your favorite for you.”

He hung up the phone and bounced Ralts gently in his arms. “You’ll like Casey, buddy. And Shara too, she’s very playful. What kind of food do you like?”

“Berries!” Jason heard ring through his head. “Berries are my favorite!”

“Oh wow, you can talk already,” Jason said. “Normally you wouldn’t start until you evolved. Or maybe it’s because of my mom.”

“Mommy! Mommy!” Ralts said, squirming as they turned into the café.

“Yeah, my mom was able to understand Pokémon and she passed it on to me.” The hostess came back to the front of the restaurant.

“Just you, sir?” she asked.

“I’m expecting someone else, but I’m supposed to get a table for us.”

She led Jason and Ralts to a nearby booth and offered a pair of menus, but Jason waved them away. “We’ll have a turkey club, a tofu kebab with some amba sauce and two bowls of kibble, please.”

The hostess nodded and brought their order to the kitchen. Jason set Ralts down in the seat next to him, took a high chair from an adjacent booth and propped up the little Psychic-type so he could see the top of the table.

“Hey Jason,” Casey said, walking in with her Vulpix nipping at her feet. “Oh, is that your Ralts? She’s so cute!”

She plucked Ralts out of his seat and hugged him tight. “Ralts is male, Casey,” Jason said.

“What? Oh!” She put him back in his high chair and took her seat on the other side of the booth. Shara, her Vulpix, leapt into the last seat. “I’m sorry Ralts, you just look sort of feminine.”

Ralts put his hands in front of his eyes and smiled. “Nice little guy, right?” Jason asked. Casey nodded. “So I picked up the last of my supplies. Everything else is at my house.”

“You’re really going.”

“As soon as I’m packed.”

“What about your dad?”

“I’ll leave him a note. I don’t want him to try and stop me. He might hurt Ralts.”

“He wouldn’t do that, would he?”

Jason shrugged. “Is it worth taking the chance?”

A waiter brought their food. They ate slowly, Casey picking apart her kebab while Jason spoon-fed Ralts the unfamiliar kibble. Vulpix disappeared under the table and emerged next to Ralts, playing peek-a-boo with the younger Pokémon. Ralts laughed and rubbed Vulpix’s short fur, taking care to avoid her sensitive bloom of tails.

Casey wiped bits of kebab from around her mouth with her napkin. “So what kinds of Pokémon do you want to get?”

“I want to round out the Psychic-Dark-Fighting circle,” Jason said, rattling off his mental shortlist. “Something to fly me around, maybe a Dragon hybrid. A Water-type, too. I’m not sure about the last space.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all planned out.”

“Well, I don’t want to just go through the motions, I want some action, some adventure. Everything is subject to change at a moment’s notice.”

“You need some stability in your life, Jason,” Casey said. “Even if you think it’s boring. Are you going to look for someone to travel with? You don’t want to end up some drifter that’ll only talk to his Pokémon.”

“Ah, this is all stuff I can figure out later.” Jason popped the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. “I guess I should go finish packing.”

Ralts and Vulpix sensed the gravity of the moment and fell silent. They watched their Trainers.

“Will you call me when you get to Presida City?”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “It’s about a week’s walk. You’ll get to see how much Ralts has grown!”

She smiled and reached over the table to ruffle Ralts’ hair. “Don’t evolve him too fast, he’s so adorable as he is.”

Their Pokémon finished their kibble and they paid their check and went their separate ways. Casey shooed Vulpix away from her ankles as she watched Jason and Ralts fade down the road and turn out of sight.

*****

Jason hoisted his backpack onto his shoulders as he walked through his kitchen. Ralts sat on the counter, fascinated by a pear as big as his head. A cabinet with a small stock of non-perishables had been cleaned out and sat in a side pack of Jason’s bag. He left a note on the table for his father and checked his watch. The refinery was just letting out.

“Time to go, Ralts,” Jason said, scooping him up and cradling him against his chest. “We don’t want to be here when dad blows his stack.”

“Daddy?”

Jason opened the kitchen door and stepped out to the side yard. “That’s right, dad. Maybe you’ll meet him someday. But right now he’s not too keen on the idea of me being a Trainer. Or he wouldn’t be, if he knew. We’ll come back eventually.”

“Go?” Ralts asked. “Where we go?”

“Presida City, on the south end of Route 301. We’ll train up, get stronger, maybe add a few teammates, and then take on the gym there for the Wing Badge. It’ll be the first step on our adventure.”

They kept walking towards the town’s southern exit. “And we’ll keep winning Badges. Once we have all eight, we’ll head west and take on the Sedera League. After that, well…I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.”

Ralts cooed questioningly.

“It’s all an adventure, Ralts. That’s why I had to get out of town.” Jason turned down another street and saw the northern terminus of Route 301. “There’s nothing doing here and I don’t want to work in the refinery all my life. I’ve got plenty of money saved up, and we can get more by winning battles against other Trainers.”

They crossed the threshold. Duskwind was behind them.

The sun gradually crept towards the western horizon as Jason and Ralts made their way down Route 301, stopping every so often to confront the wild Rattata and Bidoof that scurried out of the bushes on the side of the path. Some fifty feet west of them, they heard cars on the road that formed the only supply line to Duskwind. About the same distance to the east the tide was coming in, bringing with it the rhythmic hum that Tentacool made when gathered in large numbers. The Starly and Pidgey that had provided music for the two travelers since they began walking were retreating, settling down in their nests while the Hoothoot and Noctowl gradually replaced the daytime twitterings with their own.

“Sure is peaceful out here, huh Ralts?” Jason asked. Ralts nibbled one of Jason’s fingers in response. “What was it like where you lived?”

“It was quiet,” Ralts said. Jason could only guess that now that their bond was established, he could hear more complete pieces of Ralts’ speech. “Most of the time. Sometimes the black things come. I didn’t like the black things.”

“You mean Dark-types?” Jason asked, before he remembered that Ralts had no conception of types. He took out his Pokédex and scrolled down to a section with pictures of Dark-types. “These?”

“Those ones,” Ralts said, pointing to Houndoom and Mightyena. His hand motioned towards Poochyena and Houndour. “Them too.”

The Psychic-type trembled and Jason put away the Pokédex. He sighed. “So I guess you wouldn’t be comfortable with having one on the team?”

Ralts looked up with wider, more fearful eyes than Jason would have thought possible. “With us? Why? I can’t hurt them.”

“That’s why I want to get a Fighting-type, too. You can’t hurt Dark-types, but they can. And say we were in a battle with another Psychic-type much stronger than you. Wouldn’t it be better to have a Pokémon that’s immune to them?”

He could see it would be difficult working through thousands of years of conditioning. “But what if it tries to hurt me? Or you? I couldn’t protect you.”

Jason bounced him in his arms. “Don’t worry buddy, you’ll learn other moves, ones that work against Dark-types. In fact, I can show you one tonight, after we make camp.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“Jason? Fighting-types are muscley ones?’”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’d like a teammate like that. There were muscley Pokémon in the forest. We liked them. They helped us against the black things that came at night. Can we get a muscley teammate?”

“Sure, Ralts, sure. We’ll get one and then you’ll never have to worry about the black things ever again. And who knows? Maybe you’ll even make a friend out of one of the black things.”

The little Pokémon curled into a ball. “Maybe.”

Eventually the sun set completely, and Ralts’ yawns told Jason it was time to make camp for the night. They stopped at a small clearing on the side of the path with a small cinderblock fire pit left by some conscientious traveler. Ralts gathered some small sticks by electric lantern while Jason rolled out his sleeping bag and got out their dinner.

“I got some!” Ralts said, waddling back under the weight of the branches he had collected. He placed them in front of the fire pit.

“Good job, Ralts. Can you prop them up like this—” Jason showed him a teepee arrangement with some of the kindling, “—while I get some bigger logs and leaves?”

He nodded. Jason took his hatchet from his bag and surveyed the trees nearby, looking for one with thick branches. He found one with what looked like enough for the night and started hacking, his silhouette fading slightly as he moved away from the camp site.

Ralts cheerfully set about arranging the sticks, swaying his head and wondering what teammates he would meet along his journey. He picked up a few fallen leaves around the clearing and put them under the kindling, making sure they were flat and dry. When he was finished, he stepped back to admire his work when he heard a low whimper from the woods.

“Hello?” he called out.

“What is it, Ralts?” Jason said back, still cutting through the branches.

“I thought I heard something,” he said, still looking around. “It sounded like another Pokémon.”

“There’s lots of Pokémon around here. Don’t worry about them, most of the ones around here are pretty weak.”

Ralts nodded and sat against the side of the fire pit, swirling the dust on the ground with his hand. He heard a twig snap and another whimper and he was on his feet, horns glowing blue.

“I know I heard something that time!”

“It’s a wild Pokémon, Ralts. You’ve been fighting them all day, remember? It probably smells us and it’s curious. If it comes over and tries to attack, use Confusion. That’ll scare it off.”

Ralts peered into the forest, wondering what was making those sounds and how long Jason would be gone. A leaf crunched under a paw, and then a yelp sounded out. Jason must have heard that, Ralts thought. Whatever it was sounded pained. Maybe he wouldn’t use a full-powered Confusion, that would be cruel.

A Poochyena stepped into view and three psychic blasts flew into the ground around it. It shrugged off the pebbles the attacks had knocked into it while Ralts scampered behind the fire pit and poked one terrified eye out. The Poochyena was standing on three legs, its right hind leg held off the ground. A little blood fell from its thigh.

“Go away,” Ralts said. “I don’t want to hurt you but I will.”

“I don’t want to fight,” Poochyena said. “I’m hungry and tired.”

Ralts took a step away from the safety of the fire pit. “You’re a girl.”

“Does that matter? Are you going to help me or not?”

“Ralts, who are you talking to?” Jason asked, stepping back out of the woods. He noticed the Poochyena limping away from him, a much larger creature. “Oh. Ralts, put these logs by the fire pit.”

Jason put down the bundle and got on one knee. He held out his hand to the Poochyena, who cautiously inched towards it. She sniffed his fingers and licked them, forgetting for a moment that her leg was injured. The pain was an all too powerful reminder when she planted it on the ground, and she drew it back up with a yelp.

“You’re hurt pretty bad, aren’t you?” Jason asked, scratching the fur on her head. “I have something that’ll fix you up. Come over here and lie down. I’ll help you as soon as I get the fire started.”

The Poochyena laid down next to Jason’s bag while he struck a match and lit the kindling. He put one of the larger logs under the twigs and turned off the electric lantern. Ralts sat down warily next to the fire while Jason took a cotton swab and a spray from his bag and offered another stick to Poochyena.

“This’ll sting, but it’ll make your leg better. Bite down on this.”

She fastened her jaws around the stick while Jason cleaned the side of her leg. She whimpered when he brushed away the bloody fur. It looked like a bite, but something was keeping it from closing properly. Jason held down the leg with one hand and started the spray, making Poochyena yelp; Ralts watched nervously while the small dog slammed her head against the ground.

Jason stopped the spray and reached into his bag for gauze. He wrapped the leg and gave her head another pat. “That should heal up nice. Just don’t run for a few days. I’m sure you can bite the bandage off when it’s healed.”

“Thank you,” Poochyena said.

“You’re welcome,” Jason said automatically. He was in the middle of replacing the supplies when he stopped moving. “Wait. I understood you.”

“How?” Ralts asked.

“Must be because of my mom,” Jason said, musing. “I wonder if it works for every Pokémon. Anyway, you’re all fixed up. You should go back to your den now, Poochyena.”

“I don’t have one anymore,” she said, pawing at the ground. “A bunch of Weedle attacked our den. That’s how I got hurt. None of my brothers or sisters got away.”

“Oh,” Jason said, petting her. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yes, it’s very sad, but that’s the way things are,” Ralts said. “And our campground isn’t that big…”

“Ralts.” Jason glared at him.

“I mean…won’t you stay for dinner?”

Poochyena looked up at Jason. “Could I?”

“Of course. I’ve got plenty for all of us. I hope kibble’s okay, there’s only dry food.”

Poochyena sat next to Jason and put her head on his leg. “Anything’s fine, I’m so hungry.”

Jason put his meal over the fire and opened two tins of Pokémeal. One he set on front of Poochyena, still snuggling against his left leg, and the other he gave to Ralts, who made a point to sit on Jason’s other side. He gave them warm bits from his own meal when it was finished heating.

“This is good,” Poochyena said between mouthfuls. “What kind of Pokémon tastes like this?”

“It’s not Pokémon meat,” Jason said. Of course she would think it was meat; what else had she ever eaten? “It’s a mix of grains and vitamins and a bunch of other stuff. It tastes like meat, but it’s not.”

“Oh.” Poochyena ate another kibble. “It’s still good.”

“See? You don’t need meat to live,” Ralts said.

Poochyena growled. “We need meat because we need to move around to catch weak Psychic-types that spend too much time in their own heads.”

“Stop it,” Jason said. “Ralts, enough with the barbs. Poochyena, don’t antagonize. We’ve helped you already.”

“Sorry.”

“Sorry.”

“Just don’t bother each other. I’d like my first day of training to end without any bloodshed.”

“Training?” Poochyena asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s…my job, I guess. I go around, catching Pokémon and making them more powerful, fighting other Trainers and their Pokémon, and exploring the country.”

“You catch Pokémon? How?”

Jason reached over and took out an empty Pokéball. “When Ralts, or another Pokémon when I catch a second, weakens a wild Pokémon enough, I throw this at it, and the Pokémon gets sucked in. If they’re too weak to break out, or they’re willing to be captured, they become part of my team.”

Poochyena looked at the Pokéball and put a paw towards the button on the front, but Jason pulled it away. “You don’t want to go touching that or you’ll be sucked in.”

He put the Pokéball away. “Now I think it’s time we all got some sleep. We’ll get going at dawn.”

Poochyena decided to bed down on a pile of unused leaves in front of the fire while Ralts waited for Jason to climb into his sleeping bag before joining him, cuddling up into his chest. He watched Poochyena for a few minutes before he was sure she wasn’t going to pounce on them.

“Jason?”

“Don’t worry about Poochyena, Ralts, she won’t attack us. I’ll protect you.”

“No, it’s not that, I was wondering…would you tell me a story? My daddy always told us stories before we went to sleep.”

“A story, huh? All right, I’ll tell you about the weird dream I had last night.”

Ralts curled up into a ball and grabbed the fabric of Jason’s shirt.

“I was floating in this big empty void at first, but a long way away, I could see something shining through the darkness. I went towards it, and after what seemed like a long time it got closer. Turns out it was four things, four small lights twinkling in the void. One was white, one was green, and the other two were blue and red. The green one started to shine brighter than the others, and soon all I could see was green light.

“The void transformed, and suddenly I was in a huge forest, with trees three times taller than me and Pokémon crawling all over the place. In the middle of the forest was a huge mountain. It was taller than even the biggest trees, and I bet you could see everything for miles around from the top. The green light was shining from the top of the mountain, making everything look green.

“Then the light turned white, and the forest changed into empty air. There was a huge white spire, a thin kind of mountain, stretching through the clouds. Flying-types circled it, hundreds of them in unison. The white light shone from the distant peak of the spire. It was so tall I couldn’t see it through all the clouds.

“Before I could float to the top, the white light became red. The spire got shorter and wider, and started to look more like a regular mountain. Eventually it did, and it wasn’t anywhere near as high as the clouds. But it was still tall, and all around this mountain was a desert going in every direction. The green light and white light’s mountains had been humid, but the red light’s mountain was hot, very hot. Fitting for a desert. I saw the red light shine from the top of the mountain for an instant before it changed again.

“The blue light was coming from the peak of a huge glacier, something like a mountain but made of ice. All the land around it was snowy and a bunch of Ice and Water-type Pokémon were climbing the glacier, like they were trying to get at the light. It shone brightly, and then I was back in the void.

“Each of the lights was in front of me, but then the green light disappeared. I saw the forest again, but the trees had lost their leaves and all the grass was brown. The Pokémon were scattering, running away from the mountain which had no light.

“The white light vanished next. The great white spire began to crumble, with huge chunks falling off and forcing the Flying-types out of the way. Eventually so many cracks appeared that the top of the spire broke off, and it tumbled into the ground below.

“When I heard the crash from the spire hitting, the red light winked away. The desert, as harsh as it had been before, was even worse now, with fires breaking out everywhere. The mountain exploded; it had been a volcano. Lava flowed from a hundred cracks in its sides, covering everything and making it unbearably hot.

“The blue light didn’t vanish as fast as the others. It faded slowly until it, and the glacier it was on, just weren’t there anymore. The Pokémon that had been climbing it all fell to the ground, and the snow that had been falling whipped up into a terrible blizzard.”

Jason paused. Ralts was listening intently, and even Poochyena had one ear perked up. “I know there was more to the dream, but it’s not coming to me as easily. There were huge Pokémon, other points of light, an old ruined building—it’s all blurry. Weird, huh?”

“Yeah,” Ralts said, rubbing his head against Jason’s chest. He yawned. “Thank you for the story. I can go to sleep now.”

And he did. The little Pokémon’s light breathing evened out and softened. Poochyena rolled onto her side. “Weird story. I’ll tell you if I have any weird dreams.”

“Okay, Poochyena. Have a good night.”

With the fire to warm them, the three drifted off to their own dreamscapes.

*****

The streets of Duskwind Town were empty at midnight, save for two small figures that moved through the back alleys and dodged the ever present streetlights. They made slowly for the east part of town.

“Xavier,” one of them said. “What are we looking for?”

“Psychic-types,” the one named Xavier said. “Richard needs them for something big.”

“What?”

“How should I know? He doesn’t tell me everything, Erica. Now come on, we have to hit the local lab for any Psychic-types they might have.”

They stole across a main road, avoiding any lights, and pressed themselves against the front wall of the lab. Erica took a set of picks from her rucksack and slid them silently into the locks. Each tumbler opened in turn, and soon the door stood ajar. Xavier noticed two small sensors, one on top of the door and the other on the door jamb.

Erica went in first, then Xavier. He saw the security console next to the door. “Forty-five seconds before the alarm goes off. Can you disarm it?”

“Yeah.” Erica took off the alarm’s faceplate and gently placed a shunt across the master circuit. The panel let out an electric sputter, beeping wildly, and then went silent. “We’re good.”

Two flashlights came to life and swept over the lab. They opened cabinets, drawers, even a credenza shoved up against one wall. There were papers, folders containing papers and more papers still—but no Pokéballs.

“You find anything?” Xavier asked, opening another cabinet.

“No. Wait, here’s something.” Erica pulled a tray from another cabinet with two Pokéballs on it. “They’re in stasis.”

“It’s more than what we came with. We can’t stay here too long.”

He dropped the Pokéballs into his rucksack and they made for the door. The road was quiet and still when they left. Erica whistled, and two Skarmory that had been circling high above the town dove towards them, stopping just short of striking their Trainers. Erica and Xavier climbed onto their Pokémon, gave them a heading, and vanished.
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