A Forest We Once Knew

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ACT 2: LOAD GAME.

"We're home."

Lilly's voice echoes the forest for just mere moments until the entire clearing bursts out into jubilant noise. She lets out a wailing cry and jumps into my arms, and I swing her around until her feet don't touch the ground. Electricity crackles around her shimmering golden fur, ripping through the air in streaks, and I feel myself freeze up as it spreads to my own pelt. The pain is so familiar and yet it exhilarates me, reminds me of the strength of my own body.

I set her down and she stares up with that devious, dark-eyed smile I fell in love with while I feel my fur beneath my pawpads and lark, devilishly sharp claws. I exhale a stream of smoke through my nose, remembering the feel of the internal flame coursing through my body, the way heat prickles at my neck and mouth. I had felt almost as if I was missing some sixth sense for my entire year in Kalos, something crucial that called to me during the worst of my nightmares, and now that it's seething within me again I already can't imagine losing it.

"We're back." Dill is already rolling around on the ground, covering his baby blue scales in a nice muddy paste. Some remaining shreds of meaningless human dignity prevent me from joining him.

"Being a responsible adult should be a form of torture. Welcome back, Johto, goodbye Kalos-" Toxis falls next to his partner and kisses the earth. "-and goodbye taxes!"

"What in Arceus's name are taxes?" Dill tilts his head, looking thoroughly befuddled.

Toxis exhales for a good half minute, blankly gazing at the sky, and then picks Dill up and kisses him right where his fins meet his chubby face.

It's touching, but I have work to do. I look around, taking names and counting heads, and it appears we're all here. Another long stream of smoke leaves my nostrils, though I'm satisfied to find we're all accounted for, from Rage to Khrys- safe for Peckers, that is, though he didn't make the journey with us. According to Lilly, he's with... well, he's waiting for us up ahead. Everyone's huddled about in groups, taking in the incredulousness of the situation, and I feel the sudden pang to be with all of them at once. Being home is at once every good memory of warm nights, training, and fighting, but also each painful, bloodstained day that marked the end of the Pokemon now standing before me.

Beneath all of it is a longing so primal it burns deeper than my fire. I'm trying to remember, I realize, the instant everything becomes worth it, the moment when "I" becomes "we".

Ashley.

I steady myself and call to the others, "So we're back."
Everyone grows silent, and then another roar of celebration followed by excessive chatter emanates from the onlookers. Couples fall against each other and old friends parted by death stand as if nothing had ever happened to us.

I feel a rush of pride, every feeling somehow more... visceral as a Typhlosion. The fire surges through my blood, leaving me close to tears... can I cry? I think I would have had to at some point, given everything- off topic again. I clear my throat. "We're also disoriented and just so happen to be a massive group of rare Pokemon who might not even be ID tagged wandering around a forest. At the very least, we should get out of the rain."

There's a distinct pause before Dusty puts his thick, daggerlike claws out of the shade of a nearby tree and then slowly, as if learning to use them for the first time, drops them back to his side. "Huh. So it is raining."

"Did you have claws the last time we saw you?" Khrys asks, peering over at him from Sky's side.

"Did any of us? Reckon not." laughs Millie.

"I managed to grow out my fingernails for two months." calls Ferro from the back.

"No, he's right- I've changed, and Shell has wings." mentions Dusty, holding his friend best he can, who is indeed a Togekiss and is now significantly larger than he is. Shell lets out a soft priii of agreement.

"I'm an Ampharos." Lilly looks at her new, sleeker form, which is everything I loved about her human form and so, so much more now. Her neck rings are a pitch black and almost look as if they were made of velvet. Her ears are round and her tail and facial gem are a bright strawberry hue.
"Looks like we all got upgraded." smirks Ferro, swishing his tail. He looks good as a Furret.

"Wait, while we're talking about changes... a-are we still using codenames?" asks Chompers, raising a paw meekly.

"What?"
"Human names." clarifies Toxis.

"No." I shuffle my paws.

Chompers crosses his paws, which are thin and lanky compared to his massive Raticate bulk. "Well, 'Chompers' is a dumb name and I'm not keeping it, so make of that what you will."

Not too fond of Shell, Shell informs us through telepathy, his eyes glowing a soft purple. While I've grown accustomed to having my mind pried wide open, some of the others flinch at his presence. I guess we're going to have to set boundaries for that... among other things.

Hershey kneads the muddy ground with her hooves, not meeting my gaze. "Can I stay Shika? I know, it's a bit of a strange name for a Stantler, but I thought so hard on it..."

"I'd like not to be reminded of my violent origins constantly." Rage admits.

"Eh, I got lucky, but... yeah, the names are kind of awful. Not hatin'." Ferro puts his paws up.

"She was thirteen, cut her a break." I grumble, but I'm already thinking Ashley Ashley Ashley and my Pokemon heart needs her more than it craves a good fight. Lilly nudges me, and she doesn't need telepathy for me to know exactly what she's thinking.

Got to play this carefully. Need to be fair. The rain is seeping into my fur now, making me shiver. I spread my paws apart, gesturing to all of them. "Fine, everyone can choose a new name if they want. Just make sure to inform me of whatever you've chosen, alright?"

This seems to be universally agreed on, and I exhale a long sigh of relief. "Now, can we all gather further in the forest, away from the shrine?"

The others, fourteen in total, shuffle best they can through the dense and unforgiving deep forest of the Illex. I glance back at the path on occasion, checking to make sure we've lost it completely before we settle back down beneath a large and sturdy oak. The woods are alive with the sound of young Pokemon, my ears full of the sharp shrill chirping of Pidgeys and the clatter of distant bug-types. I don't remember hearing half this well as a human, either, nor was my smell half as good. My senses have settled back in slowly as possible, but it's still an overwhelming load of sensory information.

I could lose myself in a forest like this if I wanted to. I can taste prey on the air, and I know most of us will need to be fed. I should be hunting right now. There has to be something worth catching out at the time of day, and I'm overleveled enough to knock anything unconscious in a single blow.

It would be nice here, if no one caught us. I could be content with just this forest if having the reins on the whole team wasn't as foreign as the human skin I wore up until just minutes ago.

They need a trainer.

I need her.

Rage settles in around the perimeter best he can, and water still runs off Toxis's ears. It's a rudimentary arrangement at best, but it'll do.

I take a headcount and find eleven sets of eager eyes watching my every move. "Wait, who's not here?" I ask, then realize within moments that it's Sky and Khrys.

"I'll go get them." Lilly says, jumping Rage's back with a shiver and returning out into the rain. I run after, but the two of them are not far off, beneath a slender elm that rustles in the wind as if stirred by breath. I scent its leaves, feel the grass beneath my paws, and an even deeper instinct tells me something else is at play here.

Khrys looks mournfully up at the rain, his thin wings twitching. The water clings to them, determined to bring him down to earth, and he turns to me with my face reflected a thousand times over in his eyes. "Had to stay with her. Sorry for all the fuss."

"S'fine." I say. "I understand if the rain's making it hard to keep up. It'll take a while to adjust, sure, but doesn't it feel good?" I stretch out, letting my neck flare burst up. Luckily for us, it doesn't burn the tree down, but I put it out for safety reasons regardless. I can still feel the dizzy adrenaline of setting things on fire.

"I didn't come back for this." he replies, his small, white teeth trembling. "This is the most dangerous thing we could have done for our family. I would have been missing something for the rest of my life, but this... I forgot how awful it is to be small. The fear. The incessant buzzing at the back of my mind. I can sense my time running out on me."

It doesn't make sense to me, but I sit down and try to remember the Khrys I knew, the Khrys who sat near the top of Ashley's backpack, played far too much Rare Candy Crush, and seemed okay most of the time. I try to imagine him back into being. Unable to think of something reassuring, I place a hand on his head and say, "We're your family. Always."

Khrys flinches under my touch, and I draw my hand away. "Not what I meant." he whispers.

Not far away from us, Lilly sits next to Sky, who's weeping with her head down. Her purple fur is streaked with rain as well, and she looks miserable, not at all like the confident young woman I saw back in Kalos. "Couldn't keep up. Not with her." She folds her wings tighter.

"Her?"
My blood runs cold.

Lilly reaches forwards, towards Sky, and then presses one hoof against the fleshy membrane of her wings. "Are you... holding something?"

Sky nods softly, then unfurls them one by one to reveal an egg.


(A/N: bit of a short one tonight, but eventful nonetheless. I figured the best way to begin the end was to go back to where it all began... with a certain Cyndaquil. 

Miss me, anyone?)

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