Ragnarok

Note: MAJOR UPDATE 8/15/08! Read the Quick Update section in my profile for more!

Woo! Close call this time, almost went over my limit on making the chapters.

Also, I have an unfortunate announcement. College starts for me starting next week, so chapters might be...later than usual. I will attempt to keep at a 2-week schedule, but if I must, I will stretch to a "once per 3 weeks", or, heaven forbid, "per 4 weeks", the latter I'll try to avoid, since I really want an opportunity to get involved with this story.

Like always, read, review, rate, and stuff. Criticisms bad and good will make me happy, and potentially increase the quality of the story. I'm going to need some criticisms on my dialogue, considering this chapter is more heavy with dialogue than most chapters I've done so far.

Anyways, the main plot is coming underway, so sit tight as the story unfolds.

One last thing to, I'm considering giving my readers a little "treat" in a one-shot (not necessarily affiliated with the story), once the hit counter reaches 1,500. I'm going to need the lemon-writing practice soon for Ragnarok anyways, eh?

With that, please, enjoy the story!!
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1:02
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"It feels so dark...so cold.

My body...I can't feel my body. And my head...my head is throbbing. It hurts so much.

Is this...is this what death feels like?"

A flash of white, then nothing. At least, for a moment or two.

Noah's eyes whipped open, all of his memories of the night before pushing themselves right back into his head. Fear and agony crashed through his mind, his body acting just as it did earlier as the moon inched on by, over the horizon.. Strings of words, forming sentences in his mind, begun asking himself questions, questions he knew he'd be unable to answer. He looked down on his own person. His white shirt and blue jeans he slapped on the day before were stained here and there with traces of his blood, both dirtied from the beating he endured and running through the small thickets of grass and trees. His left kneecap was visible through a hole that ripped through the denim of his jeans; he tried to question where it had come from, before remembering that surge of pain he'd felt before. His boring white tennis shoes were caked with mud and dirt from the ground, both still in a moderately well condition otherwise, considering what Noah had been through that night.

Noah shook his head, trying to ignore the aching feeling his entire body gave off, particularly his lower half. Hesitating, his eyes slowly rolled down to his left knee, expecting to see some gruesome image of his leg crushed flat against the ground, or the bone somehow unnaturally poking its way out of his uppermost layer of skin. The very thought made Noah's body shudder.

Nothing was there, at least, not skin deep. His leg was fine; it was as if nothing had ever happened to it. Come to think of it, his face felt fine as well; he felt his face, touching every inch with the tips of his fingers, delicately checking for bumps and bruises; not a single mark. The only evidence Noah would have to prove what he'd been through that night would be this strange prickling feeling that continued to magnify with every passing minute. He had to find a way to the hospital back at Twinleaf. True he had no obvious scars or gashes, but the pain he continued to endure was just too much for him to bear.

He analyzed his environment: He was still at the edge of Lake Verity, his body still leaning on the large boulder behind him. More memories came flooding back, his senses being stripped from his being one by one, alarming him somewhat. The quiet chirps of the local Kricketot began to animate the area as Noah went down a "mental list" in his thoughts. His vision was back, as he could see the still water of Lake Verity, reflecting a soft blue sky; the sun wasn't over the hills by his home yet, and the moon, still visible, slowly began to drop behind the landscape. He sniffed into the air, the natural aroma of the outdoors slightly calming his nerves. The growing chorus of Kricketot confirmed his ability to hear, and the multiplying sensation of pain confirmed his ability to feel. Lastly, the taste of his own blood was still fresh in his mouth.

Check, all of his senses were back, and they couldn't have been working any better.

The scenery around him hadn't changed since the darkest part of the night. Everything was motionless; the only difference between then and now, would be the lighting. Noah could see the opening were he and those thugs tore through to get to this spot, he could see the supposed large boulder they had lifted, and to top it off...

He could see the imprint on the ground, a few feet away, from where the dead Zangoose should have been.

'Early morning. I'm cold, I hurt all over, I'm in the middle of a Lake, and for all I know, there might be a Pokemon out there that shouldn't be alive...'

Noah knew it couldn't have survived whatever ordeal it had gone through. He had seen its body; he had seen those lifeless eyes stare back at him, into his person, with a large gaping wound at its throat, blood spilling onto the floor. Oh yeah, it was dead all right...or at least, it was suppose to be. He tried to find an explanation as to why the body was apparently missing. It seemed ridiculous to believe that the thugs wanted the body of a dead and useless Pokemon, considering that the attack by the Zangoose pack was completely unexpected.

At least, for the time being, those grunts were gone. They must've assumed he was dead...or at least unconscious. They did, afterall, specifically say NOT to kill him. Noah's mind displayed a strange image, shrouded in black shadows and the dull light brought about by the moon. He instantly blocked it out, not wanting to think about such a strange creature. It looked just like what he had seen before fading into his own subconsciousness..

Slightly unnerved, Noah prepared to stand. He laid both hands, open palmed, onto the ground, bracing to force himself onto his feet. Sharp, unwelcome pangs drove his mind crazy with every small movement his body made, making the process extremely frustrating and excruciating. He built up his strength to propel his body upward, then forced his hands off of the ground, lifting his body slightly above ground.

Noah's upper body seemed to hover for a second or two, before crashing back down onto the rock.

'What? My legs...they didn't move.'

His face sunk, his eyes trailing down to the grass below. Fictional images of him getting by on a wheelchair suddenly haunted his mind.

'No, no, NO! This can't be happening!'

With pity and anger toward himself, Noah slammed his clenched fist hard onto the ground, grunting through his teeth as a large wave of this new affliction slowly teetered into his brain. He must've punctured something; his fist was slowly dripping blood now.

Noah tried moving any part of his lower body, with almost absolutely no response, the exception being nothing more than a twitch here or there in his foot.

'As if everything else that's been taken wasn't enough.' Noah started, his spirit, or whatever remained of it, beginning to weaken. He felt his sorrow begin to build up inside again. He was getting ready to blow. He was so busy concentrating on what he just experienced, that he didn't realized that the calm waters of Lake Verity slowly began to stir, ripples overlapping onto the grass and earth by the lakeside.

Noah threw his head to the sky, toward the lake, when a large pillar of water violently erupted from the center of the body of water, shooting even higher than the tallest trees the area had to offer. Startled, Noah tried to jump back, before ramming his head against the boulder, yet again. His body could only manage a small jump off the ground as the water came showering down, a medium-sized figure came somersaulting from the lake. The figure landed on its hind legs, stopped, then fell hard onto the floor, losing its balance on the landing. Disgruntled, it moved its paw to its head, dragging it along the front of its face downward. Several other figures, much smaller by comparison, starting to land right along side the creature, all lifeless and unanimated. The creature grinned, happy to have caught its prey, gathering up all the bodies into its arms.

Noah shut his eyes, not wanting to see what it was. He could hear it still roaming about, picking up some of its victims that landed elsewhere. The footsteps from the creature were exceedingly light in sound, obviously not from a heavy figure. Noah waited, hoping that the creature would take its food, and leave, ignoring his body lying by the rocks. His hopes were destroyed when he heard the footsteps increase in volume, heading toward his direction. He could hear the creature growling under its breath, carrying its cargo in its paws.

A dull thud at Noah's feet forced his eyes to clench down even harder. He could feel it now; he could "feel" a presence, standing there, at his feet, staring him down. He was preparing for the worst, preparing for the end to come, hopefully quick and painless, as he'd hoped.

Instead, he was greeted by a soft, delicate, and comforting voice.

"Here you go. You're going to need some of this to stay healthy, right?"

Noah opened his eyes. Instead of looking at the creature, he was found staring at its prey, open mouthed and gazing back into nothing. A handful of Remoraid, fished from the lake, lay there, dead, near his lap. Noah wasn't particularly shocked by this, but quickly threw his head aside for another reason.

The odor the dead Pokemon gave off was abominable. Remoraid weren't necessarily edible...

He shot his head away from the creature, the Remoraid, and the Lake, and vomit viciously into the grass, expelling a distilled brown fluid from his body, giving the blades of green a horrid new coating. He heard the beast growl again in between his moments of pause, the nice qualities of the voice gone, now replaced with a conceited tone.

"Well shit, I shouldn't have bothered at all then!"

Once the stench that triggered Noah's vomiting began to diminish, Noah finally managed to turn around to get a good look at the beast. He got a good look at its fur, a dull, ivory white with crimson red fur marking its belly, paws, and one ear. He got a good look of the wet mass of Pokemon, water dripping from its large, sharp, black claws and its droopy, soaked tail. He got a great look at its eyes, the color of the iris a delicate milky white, incredibly noticeable when compared to that deep, rosy pink color that took up the majority of its lens.

It was a Zangoose, obviously. Noah quickly made a glance back at the empty spot where the dead Zangoose was supposed to be, then back at the Zangoose that stood before him. There were no cuts, bruises, or any wounds of any kind on this one. It couldn't be the same one; after all, there were other groups of Zangoose in the area, so one was bound to come by again anyway.

It definitely stood out more than any moderate Zangoose. Despite the fact that its fur was wet, and that it was red and white, just like all the other Zangoose in the wild, its fur was of a deeper shades of red and white, appearing, with a second glance, to be maroon and grey, accurately. This dark shade of color only reinforced how distinguishable its eye color was, compared to the color of the rest of its body.

But, why help him, an ordinary nobody? Why help a person you've never known or seen, at least, to the Zangoose and all the other Pokemon in the area. Atop that, wild Pokemon never really cared for the humans, at least, the Pokemon near Twinleaf.

He felt a quick surge of anger build up, from where, he couldn't tell. As quickly as it had come, it disappeared. The Zangoose threw its paw out toward Noah, regaining his attention.

"If you don't like it, then maybe you can get some yourself. I mean, look at you," the Zangoose spoke, quickly eyeing him from head to toe, "I'm pretty sure you can dive down into the Lake to catch something, your body does look capable enough, huh?"

Noah's jaw fell right open. The Zangoose just opened its mouth, and talked; it just talked in human English.

Zangoose looked back at Noah's expression, letting out a little grunt. "Are you okay? That look you have...are you sure you aren't sick?"

'This Pokemon...it's talking to me!?' Noah thought to himself. 'Pokemon can't talk like humans...it's impossible, this has to be some...hallucination, or a dream!'

"Nope, this is real." Zangoose interrupted, the voice of the creature ringing inside Noah's thoughts.

His thoughts froze over, almost literally at that. He continued to stare at the Pokemon, completely aware that it had just read his mind. There would have been no reason otherwise to reply like that.

'What the hell are you?'

"Well, from what I've heard from your mind already...I'm apparently a Zangoose." it replied, its paws presenting themselves to Noah.

'So you can read my mind.'

This time, Noah was filled with irritation at his own statement. It subsided quickly.

"No, I'm just damn good at guessing." the Zangoose snapped back, crossing its arms, giving off that angry stare that Zangoose worldwide were famous for.

'This...this is unbelievable. How...what's going on?'

"You're awake, you're moving, and you're obviously thinking. But, are you okay?"

'Well, I'm a little confused...'

'This guy must've gotten hit on the head or something...' Zangoose thought to itself, scratching its ear with its long black claws.

'Well, yea, that stunt in the water made me hit my head on this damn rock'.

This time, it was Zangoose's turn to jump back.

"Wait, wait. Did you just....?"

Noah's mind finally clicked. 'I thought you said that...'

"What?"

'That little remark about me getting hit on the head...you said that, right?'

"N-no. I didn't."

An awkward silence took over the two strangers. The Kricketot chirping from earlier came to a sudden halt. Before Noah could really delve deeper into what had happened, the Zangoose interrupted.

"You must be crazy or something, I didn't say anything..." it explained, turning its head away slightly.

Noah couldn't help but laugh under his breath as the Zangoose paced toward and away from its spot at his feet, still scratching its head and ears, trying to piece together what just happened. Zangoose started to grab its ears with its paws, tugging them to its sides gently, trying to solve what Noah had already figured out. It finally gave up, walking back toward Noah, burying its face into its paw.

Noah let the Zangoose stand there, as the sun's warm rays started to break through the trees, and onto Noah's face, the "healing" sensation he got from the source felt fantastic. The dead Remoraid's fluids continued to "drain" as Zangoose and Noah waited the morning out.

----------

A long stretch of time passed before Zangoose's ears perked up, Noah ready to hear what it had been thinking for the last hour or two (maybe even three).

"You bastard." it finally spoke, in a playful tone, smirking at Noah. "You can read me, just like I can read you."

'Bingo.'

"Ugh. Guess I should've looked more into how this was going to work before doing it...oh well." it spoke aloud for Noah to hear.

'For what to work? What are you talking about, how are you talking, and what's happening?'

"Would you shut up and slow down with the questions?. The sun just came up, and you're not going anywhere, at least, not now. Give me some time to figure things out; we have time, for now, okay?"

Noah could only sit and wait as he did as the Zangoose ordered. He had to try to move himself to avoid resting in the same position for too long, as it left his body stiff and sore. He waited for something else from the Zangoose, be it mental or vocal. He had no idea how he did it, but whatever he felt when he breached its mind, apparently, he tried to feel now, trying to read what it was thinking.

The Zangoose sat directly across from him, in almost the same position as he was in, except she was upright whereas he was leaning on the boulder. Zangoose's arms were again crossed, its mind lost in thought, eyes sealed shut, its claw tapping its shoulder. Millions of thoughts were running through the Zangoose's mind, but for now, it decided to take its own advice, and slow everything down. The boy wasn't going anywhere, and if what it did was as accurate as it thought it was, neither was Zangoose.

Zangoose cracked an impish smile, staring back at Noah, staring at him.

"I got it. First things first. What's the last thing you remember?" it asked.

'Well, the first thing I reca-'

A long pause followed the question.

"Stop it." Zangoose cut in.

'Stop wha-'

"That."

'What am I-'

"God damn it are you listening boy!?" Zangoose roared, getting up on one leg. "Stop talking through your head. Just...talk."

Noah could feel a sort of guilt in his innermost consciousness. He couldn't talk. He would love to, but he knew that at this point, it was impossible for him to utter a single word.

'I...I can't-'

"That's a complete load." Zangoose uttered. "You're a human, and humans talk, so talk human."

Noah looked away from the Zangoose, trying as hard as possible to avoid any direct contact with Zangoose's eyes. The furry little mammal decided to continue.

"C'mon, I know you can talk, so just do it!"

'No...'

"Come off it! At least tell me your name!" Zangoose asked, knowing full well what it was already, and knowing exactly what was about to happen.

'It's Noah'.

"Sorry, couldn't hear that, what'd you say?" Zangoose teased, lifting its paw to its ear.

'Noah.' Noah said, his blood pressure beginning to rise.

"Couldn't catch that!"

'Noah.'

"Oh come on, speak up!"

Rage was starting to break Noah's natural logical thoughts.

'NOAH.'

"Are you deaf as well? Talk for the love of-"

That did it.

"MY NAME IS NOAH!!! NOAH SOL!!! Noah shouted, his voice echoing throughout the wilderness. "I've told you twice already! God, what the hell's the matter with you!?"

Noah started to cool down when he heard Zangoose start to giggle under its breath, a single red paw over its mouth. Noah looked at Zangoose, not knowing what to think.

"I got you." Zangoose said.

"Got me? What the hell are you talking about? Are you stu-"

Noah nearly fainted, truth finally shining in through his anger like the beaming rays of sun that shifted above and over the trees on the borders of the lake, right over Noah and the Zangoose, as well as the dead fish that marinated in the sun's heat.

"I...I can talk." Noah said aloud, his already mixed emotions beginning to blend together even more. If he could move his legs, he'd run throughout Twinleaf right now, oblivious to his injuries, waking up everyone in the city, announcing that his voice had finally returned. In particular though, his voice had grown slightly deeper than the last time he himself had heard it. It had been three years. Happiness flowed throughout Noah's being, his mind was still numbed by what was going on. Zangoose only looked on and smiled, finally getting Noah to talk.

"I told you didn't I? All you had to do was talk." Zangoose said, pointing at him, letting the joy slowly recede from Noah's feelings. Zangoose retracted its arms, placing them firmly on the ground, and sitting upright on the grass, very similar to a Growlithe who'd been ordered to sit as a means of training. It looks like a trained dog, or a cat right now...

...a very large, white, talking cat.

"Now, again," Zangoose said, the sweet softness returning to its voice, "tell me, what do you remember last?"

Noah breathed in, eager to talk as much as Zangoose was to listen.

"Well, the very last thing I remember from last night..." Noah started, his mind nothing but a blur, images of the strange event hard to piece together. "All I can remember is a strange...black thing. I can't even say what it was, but it was large, and it scared the other people."

"Well, do you remember any details? Anything else come to mind, like what was happening?"

"Well, the thugs had chased me from the route to Sandgem..."

"Sandgem?"

"The town down the road, the road Cynthia and I were on." An alarm went off inside Noah's thoughts. He'd have to return to where they were ambushed as soon as he could. Cynthia could be hurt.

Zangoose tapped Noah on the arm; Noah had started to daydream. "Continue, please."

"There was a herd of Zangoose that attacked the thugs, but the men were able to scare them off. They killed one of them, and threw it to the side."

An obvious sigh of relief came from Zangoose.

"They started to beat the hell outta me, and dropped something large on my leg."

Noah tried to dive deeper into what else might've happened last night, but nothing else came to him, except a large blank space of memory.

"That's all I can remember." he finished, moving his hands to his legs, trying again to feel for any internal damage. He looked back at the Zangoose, a curious expression on his face.

"What about you? Where'd you come from, and what happened to the dead one?"

Zangoose smirked at his question. "Can't you figure that out yourself?" Noah's puzzled expression forced the ferret to continue. "Ugh, just think about it. I'm a Zangoose; there was a dead Zangoose here last night, and now there's one Zangoose right here," it said, pointing to itself, "and now the supposed dead Zangoose is gone."

Noah shook his head. "That's exactly it though: That Zangoose is dead. It's stupid to make me assume that you're the-"

"I am." a voice said in Noah's mind, the sudden presence making him shift in place. He stopped completely, waiting to see if he could hear it again.

"You hear that?" the Zangoose questioned sarcastically. "Geez, I wonder who that was?"

Noah quickly turned away, a little embarrassed that he hadn't figured it out sooner. The Zangoose did, after all, communicate with him earlier after hearing his thoughts, so it wouldn't be completely unbelievable if it could speak to him in the same manner, right? Even so, this Zangoose could talk; it could talk plain, human English, so it certainly wasn't normal to begin with. Not only that, but this entire sequence could be a dream, something Noah had yet to rule out, and the more bizarre this conversation became, the more inclined he was to believe this was all some sort of hallucination brought on by the beating he had taken earlier.

Zangoose propped itself up onto its hind legs once again, crossing its arms, and paced back and forth once again, before taking a seat in front of Noah once more.

"Well, since you did share your experience, I guess it wouldn't hurt none to share mine too huh? Unless of course, you don't want to hear it..."

Noah decided to play along. Even if this was a dream sequence, there was no harm in listening to this mysterious Pokemon.

Zangoose took a deep breath, and then held the air in, trying to focus on what to say. It made struggling noises, trying to keep the oxygen from escaping into the air, acting like a child. It kept slamming its paws onto the ground, trying desperately to keep the air in, before letting out the entire collection burst out from its mouth. Zangoose, disappointed, hung its head in shame.

"I can't figure out where to start off..." it said, giving off an embarrassed smile.

Noah "face-palmed".

Slightly aggravated, Noah asked, "Well, do as I did. Just go back, and try to just say whatever comes to your mind about what happened."

Zangoose closed its eyes, focusing only on what Noah assumed where its memories. Again, nothing but disgruntled groans. The cat ferret starting pulling at its ears, a bit more harshly this time, trying hard to remember. Zangoose whimpered, only causing it to pull its ears harder.

"H-hey, calm down." Noah ordered.

Zangoose didn't respond, still pulling its ears.

"Come on now, don't hurt yourself, it's okay if you can't remember..."

Again, not a single audible reply, unless you consider painful cries an answer.

"Hey, cut it out!" Noah yelled, more irritated than concerned with Zangoose's actions.

The mammalian Pokemon quickly opened its eyes, its mind snapped back to the real world. A smile appeared on its face, ignoring the small tears that had begun to manifest in its eyes from the pain. Zangoose walked away, and sat a distance away from Noah, thinking to itself quietly.

----------

After another long pause between the two, Zangoose walked on over to Noah's side, looking to the sky.

"Your life as you once knew it is over." it repeated off the top of its head. The words, once uttered, sang repeatedly into Noah's thoughts. He could remember it, from last night. Whatever it was that was talking to him that night, as well as the nights of the two...incidents. Was the voice associated with this strange Pokemon?

"That's all I remember hearing...before I saw this shiny, blinding light."

Noah's eyes slightly widened. "I...I saw a light before I got knocked out. Tell me," he said, slightly beginning to excite himself, "How did it look?"

Zangoose started to get aggravated again. "Well, if it was blinding then I don't think I'd be able to see it, wouldn't I?"

Noah paused for a bit, the viciousness in Zangoose words stung him, bothering him just as equally as he'd bothered Zangoose.

"Quit being so damn sarcastic and just answer the question." Noah demanded.

Zangoose turned the other way, arms crossed across its chest, anger flaring from its eerily calm eyes. Its nose twitched a few times as it made several "second-takes" toward Noah's direction.

"If you're so desperate to know, it looked just like that." it said, pointing to Noah's chest, directly at his necklace.

Noah's eyes followed the pointed claw to the enigmatic item, finally registering that something was there that shouldn't have been. Resting above and slightly to the right of the supposed Soul Plate his father had given him about three years ago, was a dark purple, and much smaller "plate", more in the shape of a small coin. It nestled itself inside one of the sixteen small concave grooves on the artifact: a perfect fit. He stared at his necklace, trying to solve exactly how the strange material got on his father's present.

Something about the new purple coin sent a surge of old memories back into the Zangoose's head, unknown to Noah. It suppressed the urge to scream, struggling to keep its emotion under check.

"That's never been there..." Noah said to himself, although loud enough for the Pokemon to hear.

"Well whatever it is, that's the reason I'm here."

"Wait, what?"

"Something about that thing on your neck. It attracted me to this location."

'There's something wrong here.' Noah thought to himself. 'Everything fits too damn well for this to be true. That...and this Zangoose...'

Cautiously, Noah opened his mouth again. "What are you?"

"Zangoose, right?" it replied, helping in no way. Noah frowned.

"You can't be a Zangoose."

"Why not? You thought it yourself; I'm a genuine Zangoose, whatever the hell that is."

"Exactly!? You don't even have any idea what a Zangoose even is!"

"So?"

"So how can you be a Zangoose, if you don't even know what a Zangoose is? Even wild Pokemon know what they are!"

"So?"

Noah's anger didn't want to be contained today, for some reason or another. "Quit that! Just tell me what you are! Is it that hard!?"

Zangoose motioned its entire body away, its dried tail waving back and forth, obscuring Noah's view with its "poufy-like qualities".

'It's hiding something.' Noah thought to himself, hoping that Zangoose was reading him. As much as Zangoose would later deny it, that's exactly what it was doing.

"...I don't know what I am."

"Wrong. Something happened to you when you looked at that purple material on my necklace. You might have thought otherwise, but I saw your face. You were holding something in, now talk."

Zangoose threw its paws into the air, like a crook would to a policeman. "Fine, it's not like you'll believe it anyways, you still think this is all a damned lie."

There was a long, quiet pause between the two. The sun was already looming overhead at an angle; the sun was preparing its descent.

"I'm an angel."

"An angel?" Noah asked, raising his eyebrow, immediately believing it to be yet another lie. That, or Zangoose was being sarcastic again. "Really now? An angel? Is that the best you can come up with?"

A large claw swung down upon Noah's head, slamming onto the top at an angle, forcing his body to almost make a full three-sixty onto the dirt. Another sharp pain to Noah's head made him slightly dizzy, his vision blurred for a few moments as the injury lingered. He quickly moved his body back, leaning onto the boulder, and of course, angry.

"What the fuck!? You realize how much that hurt!? Damn it!!" he shouted at the Zangoose, rubbing the back of his head with an open palm.

"It's your fault."

"How the hell is it my fault that you slapped me across the head!?"

"For not believing the truth."

The statement shut Noah up.

"But you can't be an angel..." Noah muttered in disbelief, the discomfort from the attack already wearing off.

"Well, I am," it replied, "I mean, I did save you."

Noah gazed back at Zangoose, almost fooling himself into thinking that was a lie as well. "You...saved me? How?"

"Well...you'd be a cripple right now if I hadn't done what I did."

Intrigued, Noah began to press on. "You suddenly remembered quite a lot, didn't you? Can you tell me what you know?"

"I feel I don't have to."

"What?"

"Well, you don't believe what I am, so why should you believe what I've done?"

Noah rubbed his face with his hands, again frustrated.

"Fine," he gave in, "what if I told you that I believe you?"

"You don't, I can still tell."

"Oh come on!" Noah whined. "If you tell me, maybe I'll be more inclined to think you are what you say you are."

Considering what he had said, Zangoose replied, "Well, I suppose it won't hurt either way. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Thanks."

"No problem," it replied, somewhat discouraged. Noah couldn't help but regret not trusting the Pokemon, real or not.

"...I can't really explain too much. I still can't remember where I'm from or what I really am. I can though, tell you what you seem to have missed several hours ago."

"Yeah, I blanked out when I saw that black shadow."

"Well, yeah I remember that. The black shadow...that was me."

"You can't be serious? That thing was way too big to be a Zangoose of your size."

"Disregarding what you believe, it's the truth. I came from that silver-white colored plate on your necklace."

Noah eyed his gift, touching the Soul Plate with the tip of his index finger.

"So, apparently you came out of this?"

"Yeah. My appearance scared off the others..."

"Then what?"

"Well, technically, I only managed to manifest my spirit into this strange world. That black shadow you saw was literally...all me."

"What...do you mean that what I saw was your spirit?"

"You got it." Zangoose tapped the tip of his nose with its claw.

"So...this Zangoose is-"

"I couldn't find any other substitute. Besides, this body's natural host had abandoned it, so I simply took control from that point on."

Noah shuddered, realizing that even though he still had a slight doubt that this was true, the fact that he was talking to a reanimated, dead Pokemon made him nervous.

Zangoose managed to read the thought.

"I don't know if you can call me that."

"What do you mean? It was dead when you showed up. Also, how can you explain why you lack the injuries the Pokemon suffered before its death?"

"Sure. I'm an angel, and having this occupation has given me some...temporary otherworldly abilities for this strange world."

"Such as healing wounds like that?"

"Correct. Since I took control of its corpse, it fully regenerated, making the body fully functional. It's as if this...Zangoose...had never died."

"Does that also explain why my leg isn't physically damaged?"

"Yes, although it's a bit more in depth than just fixing what's broken."

"I could tell. Even though it's not broken, it won't respond."

"Mm-hmm. That's a small side-effect of my ability. You're not of my world, and as such, it would seem that your body can't fully adapt to such a drastic change in physical manipulation. I believe this is a simple reaction to my power."

"So, since I'm not adapted to taking in such a strange property, my body goes limp and does not respond?"

"To put it in one word: Yes."

"How long will this last?"

"Well, it depends on the wound. You didn't really suffer anything, save for a broken leg."

"So...that means...?"

"It'll probably be healed when the sun is above us."

"The afternoon then?"

"Sure, if that's what you call it." Zangoose shrugged its shoulders. "The ability has another small property about it."

"And that would be...?"

"It saps away at any excess energy you currently have to heal the wounds."

"Excess energy?"

"Any energy you don't need to live. In this case, it's draining the energy from your legs to heal."

"So, in that case, I should just relax?"

"And eat. Food is energy, and more energy means a speedier recovery." Zangoose hinted, looking back at the Remoraid that continued to stare blankly into space.

"Is that why you got these fish for me then?"

"Hmm, probably not. I didn't remember all of that information beforehand." Zangoose blushed, unnoticed due to the fur covering its cheeks. Its paws grabbed at its plump belly.

"Ah, you were hungry, so you naturally 'hunted' for food." Noah explained. "Strange, I had no idea that Zangoose could swim before, it wasn't something taught to me during the Academy."

"Academy?"

Noah looked away. "Oh, it's nothing, really."

"I see."

"Well," Noah continued, "thank you, for helping me."

After he said this, the wildlife busted back to full motion, Bidoof and Shinx could be heard roaming about, while Starly flew overhead and Kricketot continued to chirp away. A large gust of wind blew from the south, cooling Noah's face a bit from the hot summer sun.

Both Noah and Zangoose scoped the landscape for yet, another long period of time.

----------

Noah was smiling. Although he would never admit it to himself, he was enjoying this, being outdoors, sitting on the grass, hearing the wild, and most importantly, having someone to talk to, even if the subject, and the other in question, was outrageous. It reminded him of happier times back then, with Jerry, when he was a Pokemon Trainer...

Two stomachs, at the exact same time, snarled and growled at their owners. Zangoose and Noah looked toward each other, hearing one another's gut begging for sustenance.

"Well, Noah, it's time to eat." the Zangoose finally said, breaking the silence after the snarls.

"Wait, before we do, I want to know. Do you have a name?"

Zangoose stopped immediately at the question, blanking out at the process of thinking. It frowned, shrugging its shoulders again.

"So you don't have one? Do you...mind if I give you one?"

Again, Zangoose held off on a reply, and simply nodded in return, giving off a half smile.

'I need to know the gender first though...' Noah thought, 'don't wanna give it a strange and irresponsible name...'

Zangoose immediately blushed again, grabbing its tail and bringing it to its front. Zangoose obviously heard him thinking again.

"I'm going to have to think more silently from now on, huh?" Noah questioned aloud.

"Yes, you are." Zangoose replied, almost blinding its vision with its puffy tail. "And for your information, I'm a female."

Noah nodded. "Alright then, a female name for a female Pokemon..."

His thought was broken by another growl.

"But first, we need food." Zangoose said, rubbing her stomach, trying in vain to soothe it.

"Well," Noah started, "Remoraid aren't necessarily known to be really...edible. I mean, humans and Pokemon can eat them...but they naturally just taste...bad to me."

"So..is there a way for you to still eat it like this?" she asked in return.

"Well...we can always cook them, but I'm stuck. You're gonna have to make the fire..."

"Make a fire? What's that?"

"Oh man...well, just listen to what I tell you to do, and we should be fine, okay? Now to make a fire, you need wood from the trees, wood that'll burn up nice and clean-like."

Zangoose looked at the trees around her. "And...how do you suppose I go about doing that?"

Noah frowned a bit, confused. "You're a Zangoose, use your claws to rip those trees to shreds."

Zangoose looked down at the four large, sharp claws that rested at the ends of her paws, shining in the setting sun. "Oh okay...I was a little thrown off for a second, I haven't used these things yet..."

She stood several feet from the tree, crouched and gathering up a small amount of strength. Focused, she threw her right arm out in front of her, swinging it in a semi-circle pattern, across the tree. The claw shred cleanly through the delicate bark, and into the hardened wood in the center, slicing it perfectly in half.

Noah was slightly impressed at the result. The Zangoose prior to this being's possession must have been quite strong. "Nice, Zangoose. Now, I want you to try and cut that piece into several smaller pieces...

----------

The Remoraid slowly spun around a thick stick over a small fire. The sun had already fallen, and the growling coming from either's stomach was growing louder and louder with each minute passed. Zangoose was already salivating after all the hard work she had put into making the fire, while Noah was simply just hungry. It had almost been an entire day since he last ate, and with this "healing power" Zangoose used on him, he was lacking in energy. He needed food.

Even though Remoraid didn't taste too well, even cooked Remoraid, both were nervously waiting for the dead Pokemon to slowly cook over the fire, the wood shifting here and there from the fire, the flames licking away at the source. Through the entire time they were cooking, Noah tried to find something to do, particularly, thinking up a name for the Zangoose that had saved him. He would throw out a name here and there, before she would immediately reject it. He tried again to run down a fresh list of names.

"Nixie?"

"No."

"Servati?"

"Nope."

"Parisa?"

"No way."

"Mary Sue?"

"What kind of a name is that!?"

'There goes another list...' Noah thought, clueless. He had already gone through many common girl names, so he had hoped that maybe some foreign names might sound better, but to no avail.

A fantastic aroma suddenly wafted in front of Noah's nostrils; at least, fantastic based on what he'd been through that day. The fish were finally ready to feast upon; Noah gave Zangoose the signal, the mongoose almost completely ripping the fish out of the fire, handing two to Noah, and keeping two for herself. Neither of them hesitated, both primitively clamping down on the cooked meal as if it were their last. Noah's teeth ripped away at the skin's delicate meat, Zangoose's fangs doing so in a much more successful manner, being that her body was already adapted to eating rough meals like this.

"A bit overcooked, but who really cares? This is great." Noah muffled out of his mouth in between bites. He felt a large sense of joy coming from inside, which quickly faded back to black.

"My first...meal...cooked at that. It's delicious." Zangoose replied through a mouthful of Remoraid.

For the remainder of their first supper together, both parties remained quiet, except for the loud and somewhat obnoxious sounds of their bodies ingesting the food, the fire slowly dying out as the sun vanished beyond the landscape.

----------

Noah and Zangoose licked their hands and paws clean of the remains, enjoying every last morsel. Noah then ordered Zangoose to put out the embers of the fire with some dirt and water from the lake. He was impressed to say the least, not only at how he still had a good basis of how to go about using materials in the wild that he'd learned from the academy, but at how effecient this Zangoose was at doing the tasks for him. Even if she was reading his thoughts as he instructed her, with the differences in anatomy, and those massive claws, making a fire should've been more difficult than she made it to be. The wildlife was calming down for the night, even the Kricketot were more quiet than usual. It was perfect; Noah would need the quiet to sleep later. He scoot himself down slightly so only his head was resting against the rock, more like a pillow, and rested, preparing for the hopefully peaceful slumber he'd fall into momentarily.

He decided to hold it off for a moment longer. He looked to Zangoose, who was still on the side opposite him, across from the fire.

"Zangoose..." Noah called out, the Pokemon responding with a lazy moan.

"Wha-izzit?" she asked, eager to get some sleep.

"If this isn't a dream...if this is really happening to me. Can you tell me, please...?”

"Huh?"

"Why exactly are you here? Being an angel, something must've prompted you to come here."

"..."

"Well?"

"I need to find something..."

"Find something?"

"Yes. I need to find something that I've lost. I'm not sure what it is, or where it is, but I need to find it, and soon."

Noah stared at Zangoose, who rested her head back onto the soft grass. The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, hovering in the sky. From his view, it looked almost directly behind Zangoose, the moonlight making her deep white fur glow somewhat, illuminating her dull appearance. Noah had never seen anything like it before on his old journey, nor had he ever heard about such an experience from his resources after he kept himself indoors.

He finally grinned, a name in his mind that he was sure to work.

"Noah." that soft, delicate voice sang out.

"Yeah?"

"Remember...you still gotta live up to your end of the bargain."

"Wha...?"

"Remember, I asked you to help me, when I helped you."

Noah's memories flashed back to exactly the same time last night.

"I will assist you, but I however, need you to make a deal with me..."

'A deal?'

"If I help you...you are to follow through on my request. Do you accept?"

"Yeah, I remember. What is it that you want from me?"

"Not want, Noah. Need."

"I don't...understand."

"It's simple," Zangoose said, rolling over to make direct eye contact with Noah from where she lay down, a seductive smile forming on her face. "You're gonna help me find what I'm missing."

Noah paused, unsure for several moments, before making a final decision.

"I have to live up to my end of the deal. You got it, I'll help you."

"Noah, thank you."

"Do you think you might know...exactly what it is we're looking for then?"

Still staring back at Noah, Zangoose pointed, with her claw, to his chest again, back at his artifact, specifically at the new purple gem seeded inside one of the grooves.

"All I know is, we need more of those." she announced.

Noah hesitated to answer again. He shook any doubts from his mind, immediately disregarding them. "Very well."

"It wouldn't have mattered anyway."

"Hm?"

"If you said no to my request."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well..." Zangoose dragged on, building up a fake suspense. "If you said no, I'd just terminate our little deal."

"So, what's the big deal about that?"

"The Soul Plate is a big deal, Noah." Zangoose barked back fiercely. "Terminating the deal of a Soul Plate voids the life of the party that agreed to this deal."

"What!?"

"Basically, if you said no, you'd cease to exist."

Noah was slightly taken back by the statement, glad to have accepted it so recklessly with no regrets.

"The Soul Plate has a strange quality to it. Didn't you feel something when you agreed to my deal?" Refusing to wait for Noah's response, she continued. "That was me, literally, taking half of your soul for my own. Your soul is fifty-percent my property now."

Just when things were starting to feel more natural, Noah was again whisked back to step one. "This...is real? Are you serious!?"

"Yes, and since you gave me your soul, we are both linked to each other."

"Which would explain the mind-reading ability."

Zangoose's eyes blinked rapidly. "Hmm, didn't think about that. It makes sense..."

Noah's jaw fell open. 'My soul, in the hands of this clueless being?'

"Our souls are bonded, Noah. I don't know exactly how it'll work, since this is the first time I've ever experienced it as well, but from what I can already tell, the link we share is vital to the both of us, specifically you. We are going to have to be very careful not to do anything stupid or reckless in the future, or we can put each other in mortal danger. Hurting one soul will hurt the other, you got it?"

"Got it." Noah autonomously replied.

"So you still agree to the deal, right?"

"I don't have much room for choice now, do I?" Noah snapped back.

Zangoose rolled back around, relaxing her body, her tail rhythmically swinging left and right on the ground. Noah turned the other way. There was still something he had to do, if he were to go with Zangoose on this...journey. Now that he thought about it...it was like another Pokemon journey. A second chance, so to speak.

"Zangoose?"

"Mmmmm?" she replied sloppily.

"Before we leave, we need to head back to my house. I'm going to need to stock up on supplies...and...I want to visit someone before we go. Is that okay with you?"

Zangoose could sense the seriousness in his words. "Yeah, I trust that we'll be on the road by at least the day after tomorrow at the latest. We can take it easy tomorrow as well".

She continued, "Also...it's as I've said: Your life as you once knew it is over. I'll give you an opportunity...to say goodbye, before we leave."

"Thank you..."

"Still don't have a name for me, eh? It's okay, I-"

"Luna."

"Eh?"

"Luna. How is that for a name?" Noah asked, the moonlight suddenly seemed much more radiant at the moment.

"..."

"Well?"

"..."

Noah was barely managing to stay awake. His body, although it had gone through no physical work that day, was exhausted from the healing process. He questioned whether Zangoose had fallen asleep before deciding.

"That sounds...nice." Zangoose sluggishly replied back, her tail's movement coming to a calm halt. "Okay, Luna it is."

And with that, both Noah and Luna fell into a deep sleep, not knowing what the next day would bring...