PART FOUR:
PARTNERS: NATSU TO YUME (SUMMER AND DREAMS)
CHAPTER ONE: OPEN UP YOUR WINGS AND SOAR, MY MEMORIES WITH YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL
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DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own!
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Good lord, we are on part four! (cheers) I can't believe it, really I can't!
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If you're reading this, I hope that you have read the last three parts (I still can't get over how big my baby has gotten!), and I hope that you will enjoy Natsu To Yume just as much as you have the last three! Of course, if you didn't enjoy the last three parts, why would you be reading this….?
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The lyrics for this chapter are: Mind Forest by Gackt
koboreru hikari no naka, tawamureru kimi o mita
yureru kibi no koe kara hohoemi ga ukabu
kowarete kieta yume o itsumademo ooikaketa
shinayaka na yubisaki wa setsunasa o hakobu
Inside of the overflowing light, I saw your flirting self
From the voice of the wavering trees, a smile floats to your lips
I forever chased the broken down dream
A graceful fingertip carries pain
kaeranu toki no towa no hakanasa ni
te no todokanai basho ni tsuresarareteiku
azayaka ni saita donna hana yori mo
kimi to no omoide ga utsukushikute
Into the eternal transience of the time we cannot return to
You're being taken away to the place no one can reach
More than any flower that brightly blooms
My memories with you are beautiful
dokoka de hibiku kane no nanigenai merodii ga
boku no kokoro no naka ni sotto yobikakeru
The casual melody of a bell ringing somewhere
Softly calls to me in my heart
tsubasa o hiroge sora e maiagaru
ikutsumono hikari ni michibikarenagara
tooku de kagayaku donna hoshi yori mo
kimi to no omoide ga utsukushikute
Open up your wings and soar into the sky
While following countless lights
More than any distant star that brightly glitters
My memories with you are beautiful
kakaekirenai hodo no hanataba to
nido to fureru koto no nai kuchibiru ni...
So many bouquets of flowers that they cannot be held
And the lips that I'll never touch again...
kaeranu toki no towa no hakanasa ni
te no todokanai basho ni tsuresarareteiku
azayaka ni saita donna hana yori mo
kimi to no omoide ga aishisugite
Into the eternal transience of the time we cannot return to
You're being taken away to the place no one can reach
More than any flower that brightly blooms
I love my memories with you too much
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"Is this the right place?" Sirius asked to no one in particular, and no one answered him.
"I sure hope so," Draco mused, "Because Ice is down for the count at the moment."
We're home, we're home, we're home! Kira was bouncing on her paws and making loud yips, gaining amused looks from her fellow pokemon. Large, strange looking birds called from the tree, and Pikachu leapt up onto Harry's shoulder.
Yes, this is most definitely the right place. She said, Go that direction, the lab is that way. She pointed with a furry paw, and Harry nodded.
"Pikachu says for us to go that way." he spoke up, and began walking down the dirt path that led toward the village.
"It's so pretty." Sirius mused, looking everywhere he could, "It seems so peaceful, no wonder the kid loves it here." All of the pokemon were running around everywhere; Kira sniffing noses with a smitten-looking Meowth, Aoi introducing herself to a baby Nidoran, and Hikaru just cheeping and playing with a twig as she walked.
Suddenly, they caught sight of a man slightly in the distance, who was waving his arms wildly, beckoning them closer.
"Hey!" he hollered, "Are you with Ashura? Are you the ones?" He called out, and Sirius returned the gesture with a wave of his own.
"Yeah, we are!" he shouted, "Are you 'Oak-sama'?"
"Don't you even dare call me that." Oak demanded after running up, huffing, "I keep trying to make him stop calling me that as it is, don't any of you starting. Hello, Pikachu." he turned his attention to the electric mouse sitting on Harry's shoulder. "How are you, little one?"
Just fine, Oak! Pikachu declared, eliciting a smile from the man.
"Good." he replied, scratching her on the head. "Here, come with me, and I'll kelp get you settled in." he told the rest of them, and turned and began walking back to the large, white dome in the distance.
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"Jii-san, are they here?" A young voice asked the second they walked in, and came from a boy of about thirteen, with wildly spiked brown hair and eyes of the same color. He was sprawled out on a couch with a fit looking Umbreon on his lap, and moved to stand when he saw them.
"Set him down there," Oak told Sirius, "Let him rest, he won't be up for awhile after that little stunt." Silent, Sirius obeyed, laying Gohan down on the couch; the boy hadn't moved the entire walk down there. "Please, all of you, sit down. You must be tired." He gestured to the chairs littering the room, and they all obeyed, sitting down. "Now, if you would introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Harry Potter."
"Draco Malfoy, desu."
"Sirius Black, also known as Padfoot."
"Remus Lupin, how do you do?"
"Quite well, thank you very much. As you might be able to tell, I am Professor Samuel Oak, and I am the head researcher in Pallet town. This is my grandson, Shigeru. It is so good to meet the people who have taken such good care of Ashura." Oak said kindly, and laughed when Sirius grinned.
"More like he took care of us."
"Well, that is very like him," Oak conceded, laughing a bit, "He has a tendency to take in any stray pokemon he comes across, so I was worried about how he would react with people his own age when he told me. I was so glad and relieved when I began to get regular letters from him." He leaned back and let out a breath. "Ashura should be out for a long while, so Shigeru, why don't you show Ashura's friends around the lab and grounds while I put him up in his room?" The boy nodded and got to his feet, and all of the newcomers gaped when the somewhat middle-aged man picked Gohan up as easily as Sirius would.
"Jii-san works with pokemon on a daily basis, he's strong." Shigeru informed them all proudly, and began to lead them out the door, "Here, I'll show you the barns and the fields, then we'll come back and I'll show you the town, and you can get settled, alright?"
"Sounds good to me," Harry said, watching as a young Ponyta foal raced after it's mother, a beautiful Rapidash. Shigeru caught his intent expression.
"Shura's going to be over the moon about this when he hears," he said, drawing their attention, "The baby's mother was one of the first pokemon he ever met, he saved it's life from thieves when he first got here. We told him that she was due soon, and he'll be thrilled that the foal's doing well." Said foal had now caught sight of the strangers and come up to the fence, nickering sweetly at Shigeru and staring in curiosity at the the rest of them.
"Hello there, little one," Sirius cooed, reaching out a hand at Shigeru's prodding and tickling the little foal's muzzle, "You're a sweetheart, aren't you?"
"She, the mare, I mean, was always really shy and skittish, but for some reason she really warmed up to Shura right off the bat, he'll be happy that she's turned out to be such a good mother. Isn't that right, Reika? He used the kanji for spirit in her name with the other half the kanji of Ka (or hi), as used for the word fire, so we named the baby Raika, with the kanji for thunder and the other half the kanji for uta, also said as Ka, the kanji for song. Jii-san and I think they fit, anyway."
"They do!" Sirius responded with the sappiest, most smitten expression anyone had ever seen him with on his face, and he returned to cooing at the adorable baby, who seemed to soak up the attention like a sponge, leaning forward into his hand and whickering. "Oh my god, she's too cute!"
"Actually, Raika is a boy." Shigeru informed him, laughing, "Shura was right, you guys really do assume that names ending in names are for girls, that's really amusing!"
"Yeah, yeah, hyuck it up." Draco scowled slightly, not really taking offense, and pointed over to a bright blue barn in the distance, "What's over there?"
"There?" Shigeru had to think about it for a second, "Oh, that's number three, it's one of the places where Jii-san keeps trainers' big pokemon, because he doesn't think that they should stay in balls constantly. Would you guys like to go and see?" He received several rapid nods in reply, "Alright, but let me warn you, they aren't all as sweet as these two here, they've mostly come since Shura left, and I'm sure that you guys know about the influence he has on living things…"
"Yeah," Harry said, "This year he became really good friends with a unicorn named Gazer."
"A unicorn, really? You guys have unicorns! That's so cool!" Shigeru crowed, and Draco was suddenly reminded of Gohan's first reaction upon laying his eyes on Gazer that first day.
"Yeah, he said something along those lines as well. But you guys have pokemon, so I wouldn't complain." Shigeru shrugged, and they continued to walk down the path to the blue barn.
"Hey, you haven't said much," the native directed his attention to Remus, "Are you okay? Jet lagged at all? Sick? Hungry?"
"Oh, no, no!" Remus exclaimed, "I'm just looking, it's all so beautiful here. I'm fine, don't worry about me."
"Are you sure?" Shigeru asked, looking worried. He couldn't treat any of these new people like he would a pokemon if they didn't take dimension hopping too well, he didn't even know if the regular treatments like potions and such would even work! "Tell me if you start feeling sick or anything," he said sternly, "I know that Yumi-san doesn't like the ride at all, and normally has to sleep it off every time she does it manually."
"Is that why Gohan passed out?" Harry asked, and Shigeru shook his head.
"No, he passed out because it takes a shit load of energy -pardon my French- to dimension hop, even for him. He'll be fine once he gets a re-charge. Ah, here we are." With the manner of one used to doing such things, Shigeru slid opened the doors and undid the heavy padlock, "Ever since an incident a few years ago, we've had to keep locks on the all of the doors -down boys!" he suddenly exclaimed when two large dog-looking pokemon stepped in front of them, growling. "These are called Mightyena and Growlithe, great guard dogs. The big one is named Hoe, the shortening of the word howl, and the Growlithe, the little one, is named Mamoru, the word for protect." Shigeru knelt down next to the two.
"Are they dangerous?" Sirius asked warily, and vaguely wondered if being a dog animagus would have any ill effects for him, and-oh god, Remus!-he just realized.
"Only if you try to steal any of the pokemon." Shigeru answered, petting the canines, who began licking his face like two big puppies, "Okay you two, listen up. These guys are all guests here, so be nice." He was answered with two yips. "Yes, yes, Shura's back as well, he'll be around to see you later when he, you know, actually wakes up. No, no, it's fine you two, Kira, Aoi, and Pikachu are looking after him perfectly well, you don't need to abandon your posts to protect him right now." Two identical whimpers. "He's fine, I promise." Shigeru got to his feet, "You want the grand tour? Let's start at the beginning, I suppose."
In the first stall was a dainty little Girafarig who was staring at them, wide-eyed.
"This one is named, oh god, the name makes me die, Pochi. It's one of those generic names, kind of like Spot. It makes me die." Shigeru said, and Sirius moved close to pet her on the nose. "No, don't do that!" he exclaimed, just as Pochi shoved her head forward and snapped, nearly taking a chunk out of Sirius' hand. Immediately, the native raised his hand and brought it down sharply on her withers, startling the pokemon and causing her to shriek in anger. "KNOCK IT OFF!" Shigeru roared, and as she tried to bite him as well, he slapped her again, grabbing her head and pulling it down firmly, hands wrapped around her muzzle, forcing her to stand still. "No, knock it off." he ordered, "Do that again, and I'll smack you again." The pokemon promptly turned her back on him, sulking in the corner of her stall.
"Good lord." Draco mused. He remembered that one time that Gohan had been out with herd several months ago when Gazer was taking a run in the forest; one of the nearly grown colts had snapped at him in an attempt to raise his position in the herd order, and Gohan had done something of the same thing, slapped him and brought his head down, before making him leave his vicinity, shooing him away every time and turning his back every time if he tried to come closer. In wasn't two minutes later before the colt was whinnying apologies and begging to come back into the herd, and several more before he was forgiven. None of the mares had interfered with Gohan's disciplining of the colt, and Draco hadn't realized until later what exactly the younger boy had done; He had thoroughly established his place in the herd, and none of the other colts had challenged him again. The other unicorns looked to him as a second-in-command, only next to Gazer, which Gohan quite frankly had no problems with.
"Yeah, I told you, they aren't all sweethearts like Reika and Raika. Pochi's owner -oh my god, the most pompous woman I swear that I have ever met in my life- brought her in for training, complaining that the last trainer employed this ridiculous liberal method of letting the pokemon of all things choose when to train and what to so, and basically let her boss him around for months, calling that training. It's no wonder she's nearly ruined. Make note that at the time, Pochi was about six months old, young enough for this to have the worst effect it could on her. So, about a month ago, this woman brings her here and quite frankly orders Jii-san to fix it."
"I hope he's charging her a lot." Draco said, watching the pokemon skulk.
Shigeru smirked.
"Straight through the nose, baby." he said, "But you know what the worst part is? She's actually improved a lot, when we first got her she wasn't halter-broken and Jii-san couldn't touch her at all, she couldn't even go out with other pokemon, it was so bad."
"Yikes."
"Yeah, I know. But, moving on." He walked down the aisle a bit, "This is Yôgan, he's a Camerupt…"
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Ugh, good lord, what hit me?
Master, are you awake?
Sort of, just give me a few more centuries for my head to stop throbbing….
I don't think he's lucid right now, Aoi.
Kira?
I suppose you might be right.
I'm lucid, I swear! Now, why can't I move or speak…?
Gohan, can you hear me?
Pikachu? Yeah, I can hear you…
Hey, I think he moved! Gohan, you're not dead, are you?
Oh yeah, way to be diplomatic, Pika-chan. We gotta work on that….
Blearily, Gohan found the strength to open his eyes, blinking as his pokemon came into focus.
"Morning guys." he rasped, his voice slightly scratchy.
Good, you're awake, master. Aoi said, looking relieved, We were worried about you.
You okay? Kira asked as well, stepping onto his chest and sniffing at his cheek before getting it a quick affectionate lick, and Gohan nodded.
"Yes, I'm fine. I didn't miss, did I?"
Nope, you hit it spot-on. Pikachu told him, looking proud, At least your aim is getting better these days, and I can tell that you're stronger, normally you'd be out for days, at least.
"Did you really ask if I was dead? I think I should be offended…" Gohan muttered, "Where is everyone?"
Well, Oak-san is waiting for you to awake, he's got some food for you, probably something light like soup that you can keep down easily enough, and the other guys went on a tour with Shigeru. Aoi told him, I told you that you would need to pack band-aids.
"And yet I never actually use them. How strange…"
With all due respect master, please shut up.
"Oh, good, you're awake!" the door suddenly opened and Oak walked in with a tray holding a bowl of soup and a glass of cool water. "How do you feel?"
"Like I got run over by a Gyarados."
"Well, you would be the expert in that field wouldn't you, having had experience in it?"
"With all due respect, Oak-same, please shut up."
Master! That was so rude!
Gohan laughed as Aoi scolded him.
"But seriously," Oak said, grinning, "I did warn you about that Gyarados. But no, no, you had to go and-"
"Please, lets not discuss this. Really, I was doing that poor trainer a favor. I was so glad that Seiryuu never laid a fang on me when he evolved, I have to admit that I had been worried."
"You were worried, Ashura? How do you think I felt? Were you aware that even Gyarados that loved their trainers as Magikarp undergo drastic personality turn-arounds, so imagine my shock when that pokemon not only retained it affection for you but let you ride it."
"I trusted Seiryuu, even then." Gohan said, "I knew that he wouldn't hurt me."
"Yeah, yeah," Oak said, ruffling the boy's hair, "And then there's your whole issue with people-"
"Can we not go into that? I'm tired, and don't feel like having a verbal spar right now." Gohan grouched, sounding like a little kid, and Oak sat on the bed, offering a hug, which Gohan accepted immediately, leaning into it.
"I'm so glad that you're back." The man whispered, "We all missed you so much. It hasn't been the same without you, Ashura."
"Ditto. I missed you guys too, and I'm glad to be home."
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NOTES: Reviews are addressed in my LiveJournal, which is put as my homepage on my bio.