-Chapter 1, Welcome to this Place-

It has been awhile since I had typed "Chapter 1" on the top of the page, along with some quickly thought up title which I will probably change several times while writing this chapter, the very first one, of the third book in the series. Anyway, as this book is arguably more of a companion to its predeccesors, rather than a proper sequel, things will be a bit different. I'm not really sure how different at the moment, but over the next few chapters, I think I might experiment a little bit. Anyway, onto the story.

- the morning, right after Charley was born, from Nina's point of view, sometime in early September-

I woke up, everything was great, I got out of bed and went over to my closet to find a tape to watch on my tv. Daddy had so many tapes, and he let me have them all. He told me that he had them since he was a kid, so they must have been pretty old. I usually watch tv in the mornings, as mommy and daddy usually shower first. I wondered if Charley was awake yet, he was so cute... I decided to go up and see him instead of watching tv, leaving the tape I picked out on the bed, maybe I would watch it later. It didn't have anything written on it, so I didn't know what was on it yet, anyway, I went upstairs, I didn't think Mommy and Daddy were up just yet, as the bathroom was empty, and the lights in their room were still off. I just hope they hadn't been "having fun", as Mommy usually put it, which I knew meant they were having sex, but was too embarrassed to tell them. However, because Charley was in the room with them, I doubt they would . Anyway, I quietly opened the door with my powers, it was fun, moving stuff with my mind, Mommy and Daddy were still asleep, and so was Charley.

I went up to go see him, but Mommy woke up as I aproached.

-softly- Phoebe: "Nina, what are you doing sweety?"

-softly- Me: "I just wanted to see Charley."

-softly- Phoebe :"Oh...well, it looks like he's asleep right now, just let him sleep for awhile ok?"

-softly- Phoebe: "I'll let you hold him later...after he wakes up."

-softly- Me: "Ok..."

I quietly left the room, gently petting Charley's cute little head, and then I went back downstairs to watch the tape.

It turned out to be a show about train crashes, I liked trains, so I decided to watch it for a while. I heard Daddy come down the stairs a bit later, and left my room to hug him.

Cj: "Goodmorning sweetheart."

He always called me that.

-cutely- Nina: "Goodmorning Daddy..."

Cj: "You're watching that video on train crashes huh?"

Me: "Mhm."

Cj: "I must have watched that one atleast a thousand times."

Me: "Is mommy going to be down soon?"

Cj: "Um...she's going to stay in bed a little while, to let Charley sleep in a bit."

Me: "Ok..."

Cj: "So um...what do you want for breakfast?"

Me: "Um, waffles..."

Cj: "Ok...sure, I'll get started on that, why don't you go take a shower real quick ok?"

Me: "Ok..."

I decided to hover up the stairs instead of going up them the normal way, it took a bit more work, but it was fun to float around, daddy smiled at me for a little bit as I did so, he always did whenever I used my powers.

Anyway, I got in the shower, I liked showers, because no one could see me and I could dance around naked without Mommy or Daddy telling me not too. Although the water made the shower floor very slippery, and there was no music either... awe...well... atleast I could shake my cute little butt to my heart's content.

Anyway, after I got out of the shower and got dressed, I saw Mommy carrying Charley down the hall. Charley was crying loudly, I don't know why.

Me: "Why is he crying?"

Phoebe: "Oh, he's just a little hungry."

Me :"Can...can I feed him?"

I lifted up my dress,to show her my nipples, but she stopped me before I could.

Phoebe: "-chuckles- ...no Nina, keep your clothes on, you don't have any milk."

Me: "I don't?"

Phoebe: "No."

Phoebe: "Silly girl."

-concerned- Me: "Does that mean my boobs don't work?"

Phoebe: "No Nina, I'm sure they work fine, but the only time you'll ever have any milk is when you're pregnant, and hopefully it will be a long time before that happens."

Me: "Oh..."

I slipped my dress back up, Mommy kissed me on my head, and laughed a little bit, I guess it was kind of a dumb idea.

-belated- Phoebe: "Goodmorning sweety..."

-belated- Me: "Goodmorning..."

We hugged, carefully as to not disturb Charley anymore.

Phoebe: "Is your father making breakfast?"

Me: "Mhm."

Phoebe: "Good, tell him I'll be down with Charley in a little bit."

Me: "Ok, mommy."

She took Charley into his room, my old room, and shut the door behind her, I guess she was going to feed him.

Anyway I went back downstairs again, Daddy was in the kitchen, and the pleasent smell of freshly made waffles filled the air. I went to see him in the kitchen.

Cj: "Hi Nina, what are you up to now?"

Me: "Mommy said she'd come down in a little bit."

Me: "I think she's feeding the baby."

Cj: "Oh...ok..."

Me: "When is breakfast going to be?"

Cj: "Not much longer, about a minute or so, you might as well just get a plate and sit at the table."

Me: "Ok."

I did what he said, and waited at the table for my breakfast.

Whatever Mommy or Daddy made, even at its worst it was way better than the crap team rocket had fed me...I hated it so much. Although those meatballs Mommy made one time were probably worse, they weren't even food, more of a torture device. Mommy always said Aunt Cionna made them, but I didn't really believe her, Daddy said she lied sometimes. Anyway... Daddy came out of the kitchen a few minutes later, and brought me some nice waffles to eat, he set out a plate for Mommy as well, hopefully she would be here before they got cold. Eventually I heard her come down the stairs, and soon she joined daddy and me at the table, along with Charley. She didn't eat though because she was holding Charley.

Cj: "Is he doing ok?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, he was just a little hungry, so I nursed him a little bit, he's fine now."

Cj: "Ok..."

Me: "How much did he drink?"

Phoebe: "I don't know..., just enough that he doesn't feel hungry anymore, I guess."

Me:" Ok."

Me: "When can I hold Charley?"

Phoebe :"After you finish breakfast you can, ok?"

Me: "Ok..."

I started eating breakfast a little faster, I was finished ten minutes later.

Me: "Can I hold him now?"

Phoebe: "-sighs-...allright...go to the couch."

I went into the living room, Mommy followed me.

Phoebe: "Now you have to be very careful with him ok, make sure you keep his head up, like this, and hold him close so there's no chance you could accidently drop him, and don't get angry or sad, sometimes he can pick up on that, and it will scare him."

-cutely- Me: "Ok..."

I got to hold my baby brother for the first time. He was so cute and tiny, I couldn't wait for him to grow up so we could play together, he was too little to play now though. He looked up at me, and started making weird sounds, since he couldn't talk yet. Mommy kissed us both, then went back into the dining room to get some breakfast for herself. He wasn't thinking much, just about his surroundings, and me and mommy and daddy, but mostly about me, since I was holding him, he seemed to be trying to decide whether I was friendly or not. I wasn't as good at reading minds as mommy was, but I understood a few things.

-briefly switching back to Cj's point of view-

Phoebe: "hehe...they look so cute together..."

Me: "So um... you want me to heat those up for you?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, that would be nice..."

Phoebe: Thankyou."

Me: "Mhm."

I kissed her, and put her waffles in the microwave to heat them back up.

Me: "You think Nina and Charley will get along?"

Phoebe: "I think they'll be fine,...hehe...Nina volunteered to breast feed him this morning..."

Me: "What?"

Phoebe: "Don't worry I didn't let her, she just wants to help."

Me: "Weird little girl."

Phoebe: "It's not her fault, she doesn't understand."

Phoebe: "What worrys me is that she's almost of age though, she could go into heat any time."

As of yet, Nina had never been in heat, likely because she was still very young.

Me: "She's not going to try to throw herself at me is she?"

Phoebe: "No, she shouldn't, I hope, but we'll have to keep her away from other pokemon, and maybe some other men as well."

Phoebe: "Hopefully I'll catch the signs, so before she does, we'll be able to prepare, and hopefully inform her about the situation while she still has a rational mind."

Me: "Well anyway, you maybe wanna go up to the timber today?"

Me: "It looks like it's a nice day out."

Phoebe: "But what Charley?"

Me: "We can take him with us, it will be allright, we could even let the pokemon out too."

Phoebe: "I think some of our pokemon might scare him..."

Me: "Yeah...you're right, but still..."

Phoebe: "Oh allright we'll go..."

Me: "Cool."

Phoebe: "Right now?"

Me: "Nah, you can finish your breakfast first."

Phoebe: "Ok.."

-back to Nina's point of view-

Daddy came out of the kitchen.

Cj: "So um, we're going up to the timber later, you want to come with us?"

Me: "Sure.."

-playfully- Cj: "Hi charley..."

Charley looked up at him...made some more baby sounds and then looked at me.

Cj: "Looks like he's a lot more energetic than he was yesterday."

Me: "Mhm..."

Cj: "Can I hold him?"

Me: "No it's my turn..."

Cj: "Oh...ok...just be careful with him allright?"

Me: "I will daddy, I promise."

Cj: "Ok."

He tusseled my hair and sat down beside me, turning on the tv. Mommy was still in the dining room having breakfast. When daddy turned the tv on, Charley turned his head towards it and tried to watch it too. Mommy came out of the dining room a moment later, and joined us on the couch. Charley started to cry as soon as she sat down. Mommy quickly tapped his head to see what he wanted, using her powers.

-sweetly- Phoebe: "Nina, can I have him back? He wants me to hold him again."

-sadly- Me :"Awe...ok mommy."

I handed him back to mommy and she held him again, he stopped crying soon after.

-concerned- Me: "Is he afraid of me?"

Phoebe: "No Nina, he's only a day old,but he already knows I'm his mother, so he prefers that I hold him, ok?"

Phoebe: "He let you hold him for a little while, but now he wants me to hold him again."

Me: "Ok..."

Phoebe: "Don't worry Nina, I'm sure he'll grow to like you."

Me: "Ok."

Cj: "Well, should we get going then?"

Phoebe: "Um..allright...just let me get ready, Nina you should probably change into some jeans, and I think Charley needs to be changed."

-after smelling him, somewhat disgusted- Phoebe: "Yeah...definitely needs to be changed."

Me: "Ok.."

Cj: "Allright, I'll wait for you."

I went to my room to change, closing the door behind me. Mommy went upstairs, taking Charley with her. I also got Matches' pokeball out, hoping he could come with us, and slipped on some jeans, and a shirt. Wearing dresses in the timber wasn't a very good idea. Then I got some shoes on, and left my room to see daddy still watching TV on the couch. Mommy came down with Charley a few minutes later and then we all headed outside and started heading into the timber.

Me: "Can I let Matches out?"

Cj: "Yeah sure..."

Phoebe :"Just be careful ok, make sure he doesn't scare Charley."

Me: "Ok."

I let him out, he was happy to see me, as always, Charley freaked out upon seeing him and started crying.

Phoebe: "Shh..it's ok...calm down sweety..."

Charley kept crying anyway.

Cj: "I guess he's afraid of him?"

Phoebe: "Just a little, but only because he doesn't know him yet, baby ralts are usually very alert and get scared very easily."

Phoebe: "Nina why don't you walk a little bit ahead of us, so Charley doesn't get so scared."

Me: "Ok..., come on Matches, follow me."

I led the way, with Matches running alongside me. Charley eventually settled down as Matches got farther away from him. Mommy and Daddy were walking together, like they usually did. Eventually I got very far ahead of them, so I waited on top of a hill for them to catch up, there were lots of little birds flying around through the trees today, sometimes Matches would chase them around, though he could never catch them, and he would never try to burn them either, I think he just wanted to play with them. Before Mommy and Daddy caught up with us, he started chasing one.

-concerned- Me: "Matches come back... don't run away..."

I ran after him, but he was faster than me, though still not fast enough to catch the bird he was chasing, he ran off, further into the timber, chasing a different bird as he lost the first one he was chasing. I could tell the poor little birdies were terrified of him...

-concerned- Phoebe: "Nina, where are you going sweety?"

Mommy and Daddy had made it up the hill now.

-somewhat worried- Me: "Matches ran off."

Cj:"He'll probably come back, if not, we'll start looking for him, he's old enough now he should be able to fend for himself for awhile."

Phoebe: "That's true."

Cj: "Or we could just start looking for smoke."

Phoebe: "hehe...yeah."

Charley smiled and giggled a little bit, it was so cute, though I doubt he understood what was going on.

We continued our trek through the timber, like we used to do on occasion before Mommy got pregnant, the grass was very tall, except for some places where Bulby and some of the other pokemon had been. They came up here alot, sometimes I came up here with them, there was a lot more space for them to play here than there was in the yard. Eventually we made it to the end of the trail, and there was still no sign of Matches, I was starting to get worried.

Phoebe: "Nina can you hold Charley for a moment?"

Me: "Ok Mommy."

Phoebe: "Keep him away from the edge here."

Me: "I will."

Mommy and Daddy went to go look over the edge of a cliff, it was a pretty view, and we could see our house from here. Charley was starting to get tired, so he was fairly calm.

-looking over the edge of cliff-

Phoebe: "It looks just as pretty as always."

Cj: "Mhm, just like you.."

-touched- Phoebe: "Awe...Cj..."

Daddy put his arm around her, they still loved eachother very much. I stayed quiet because I knew they were having a moment and I didn't want to ruin it. I looked away as they kissed.

After enjoying the view for a minute or so they came back, and Mommy took Charley back from me.

Phoebe: "He's almost asleep."

Cj: "Well, we should probably head home then."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Me: "What about Matches?"

Cj: "We'll look for him on the way back."

Me: "Ok..."

Me: "What about my gulpin, do you think he can help find him?"

Cj: "I don't know, honey what do you think?"

Phoebe: "I don't think gulpins have a very strong sense of smell."

Phoebe: "So I don't think he'd be able to help much."

Phoebe: "Come on sweety, don't worry, we'll look for him, he couldn't have gone too far."

-worried- Me: "I hope so."

We got back to the spot where Matches ran off, it was mostly a downhill walk, so it wasn't too difficult, but Mommy and Daddy still took their time, as they were trying to keep Charley asleep. We made it back home at about noon, to find Matches waiting for us in the backyard. I ran over to him and picked him up, he was getting pretty big now, almost too big for me to hold.

Me:"Matches, I found you again."

-scolding- Me: "Don't you ever run away from me again you..."

Cj: "He must have found his way back home after he was done with whatever he was doing."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I guess so."

He barked at me, unassumingly, Mommy and Daddy went up into the house, I returned Matches and followed them in. They went up to their room, and Mommy put Charley in his crib and wrapped his little blanket around him so he would be comfortable, the cute little guy had already fallen asleep. He likes to sleep.

-quietly- Cj: "So um, what are we going to do for lunch?"

-quietly- Phoebe: "I guess I could make some hamburgers or something?"

-quietly- Cj: "Are you sure you want to? I could cook for you.."

-quietly- Phoebe: "No, I got it...it's ok."

-quietly- Cj: "Well baby girl, if you insist."

-quietly- Phoebe: "Come on Nina, let's let Charley sleep for a little bit."

-quietly- Me: "Ok."

We left the room, which was also Mommy and Daddy's room.

Daddy never argued with Mommy very much, they always got along very well, so just a few minutes later Mommy was making lunch in the kitchen while Daddy and I were watching Tv on the couch together. I tried to help Mommy cook, but she motioned me out of the kitchen. Mommy liked to do things on her own if she was able too, I think she also missed cooking since Daddy cooked almost all the meals while she was pregnant,unless we went to a restaurant or something.

There wasn't much on tv today, nothing interesting was happening on the news, I usually found the news boring anyway, and most of the shows that were on I had seen several times before. Most channels just had that snowy screen that shows when there's nothing on them. Or the other screen with all the pretty one had some show daddy wouldn't let me watch. Anyway, for lunch, Mommy kindly made us some sandwhiches, with some chicken in them. Chicken was strange, they didn't have anything like it in the pokemon world.

-at the table-

Cj: "So um..girls, what should we do for the rest of the day?"

Phoebe: "I don't think we should go anywhere, in case Charley wakes up and we're not around."

Cj: "Yeah...I thought so."

Me: "But I want to go back outside and play with Matches some more, and maybe Gulpin too."

Phoebe: "You can if you want to Nina,but your father and I are going to stay inside in case the baby needs us..."

Me: "Ok..."

Phoebe: "Just be careful ok, you know the drill, don't get hurt."

Me: "I won't Mommy, I promise."

Phoebe: "Good."

I went back outside on my own after lunch, and then I let out Matches and Gulpin.

Gulpin didn't smell as bad now, I think the pokeball must have cleaned him up a bit, he was still very slimy though.

Gulpin: "Gulpin...gulp gulp."

He slithered around, probably looking for something to eat, I had to keep him away from the chickens, or he would eat all of their eggs, some of which had hatched into cute little baby chicks, about a dozen of them or so, they were the cutest things ever. Daddy told me I couldn't play with them though, it could kill them, so I never touched them. They were cute to watch though.

I kept Gulpin away from them, Matches was helping. Gulpin was a little hard to control, harder than Matches even. He always ignored my commands, and prefered to wander around the yard, looking for food. Atleast he didn't try to hurt me or something. Food food food, that's all he ever thought about. Although he occasionally thought about meeting female gulpins, but there weren't any around here for him to meet with, I didn't really want to think about what would happen if he did meet one. But today I had a plan, I had taken some bread from the kitchen, it was starting to get moldy, so Mommy and Daddy wouldn't mind. Gulpin noticed it before I even showed it to him, and almost tackled me, I held him down with my powers, although I was just barely strong enough to keep him down. I knew he wasn't really hungry, he just really liked to eat, Mommy said all gulpins do.

-strained, trying to keep him down- Me: "No Gulpin, you can't have it yet."

-somewhat annoyed, desperate for food despite not being hungry- Gulpin: "Gulpin...gull...gulpin."

Me: "Matches help me.."

Matches came over to me, I never knew when he was going to listen to me or ignore me, but he listened this time, and helped keep gulpin from tackling me. (Despite eating a lot, gulpin were surprisingly strong.)

Eventually Gulpin gave up trying to take the bread from me and then tried to bargain with me.

Me: "So you're ready to listen now gulpin?"

Gulpin: "Gul...gulpin"

-meanwhile, inside the house, looking out the window-

Cj: "What is she doing?"

Phoebe: "It looks like she's trying to get it to follow orders..."

Cj: "hehe...she'll be a fully fledged trainer before long."

Phoebe: "Mhm..hehe."

Phoebe: "I was wondering why she took that bread, I was hoping she wasn't planning on eating it herself, it was getting moldy."

Cj: "Yeah."

Phoebe: "But Gulpin won't care, he's immune to food poisoning."

-back outside-

Me: "Oh...ok...Matches please get off of him."

Me: "It's very simple gulpin, just obey my commands, and then I promise I'll let you have this bread."

Gulpin: "Gulpin...gul...gulpin..."

I had his attention.

Me: "Ok good, now, follow me, let's get away from the house..."

I led him out into the yard, Matches followed too.

-worried- Gulpin: "Gul gulpin gul?"

It was worried it would be thrown into a battle right away.

Me: "No, you won't have to battle, not yet anyway."

Me: "I can't battle yet anyway, I don't even have a trainer's license, and Matches is just learning how to use his abilities."

Me: "For now, I just want to see what you can do..."

Me: "So why don't you just go out there and show me what moves you know."

Gulpin: "Gulpin...gul...gulpin?"

Me: "No target, just attack that tree over there."

Me: "Um...try sludge bomb."

Gulpin just staired at me in confusion.

Gulpin: "Gul?"

Me: "Oh...you don't know that, ok, um, try um...sludge?"

Gulpin spat out a blob of sludge, it missed the tree, landing a few feet in front of it.

Me: "Um...ew...but I guess you atleast know that..."

Me: "Pound?"

He slithered up to the tree and rammed it...as opposed to punching it, gulpin were tougher than their small size would suggest.

Me: "Poison gas?"

He nodded, instead of using poison gas...

Me: "Ok if you say so."

Me: "Amnesia?"

He shook his head no.

Me: "So you're not very high leveled then?"

- sadly- Gulpin: "Gul...gulpin..."

Me: "Awe...that's ok...we'll work on that together..."

-happily- Me: "Now here's that bread I promised you."

I gave him the bread, he ate all of it in one bite...

I let him and Matches play for a little bit, they didn't seem to play together that much, I guess it was because they were completely different pokemon, Gulpin wondered around almost everywhere, still searching for food. Matches mostly just followed me around like he always does, sometimes I picked him up and held him, he liked being petted and he was still so cute. Gulpin didn't really like to be touched.

-meanwhile, from Cj's point of view.-

I was watching tv on the couch with Phoebe, while Nina was playing around outside, It seemed like it would be a quiet, peaceful, and maybe slightly romantic evening, Phoebe was snuggling me a little, there wasn't much on, and nothing really interesting was happening.

Until we both heard Charley crying upstairs, signifying he was awake, we both got up and went to go get him. Poor little guy, got scaired just because Phoebe wasn't in the room with him, or anyone else for that matter. He was crying very loudly, completely terrified that nobody else was around.

Phoebe picked him up and held him.

-motherly- Phoebe: "shhhh..."

-motherly-Phoebe:" It's ok...mommy's here..."

Their eyes met, and Charley started to calm down...I never understood how she did that.

-motherly- Phoebe: "There we go...all better."

Phoebe: "Come on...you look a little hungry..."

Phoebe: "Cj...go back downstairs so I can feed him...I want a little privacy..."

Me: "Allright..."

I don't understand why she wanted privacy now, considering I had to make her wear a bra while she was pregnant... but awe well, no point in arguing with her, I headed back downstairs so she could nurse Charley in private. She came down a few minutes later,holding him. Charley obviously didn't like to be left again most newborns don't...that's probably one of the worst things that could happen to them is being left alone for a long time, but Phoebe was being a very good mother so far, and she was still so pretty...

Anyway, back outside, and back to Nina's point of view.

I decided to go back inside, I heard Charley crying a few minutes ago. Although I knew it was probably nothing, babies cry a lot. I returned Matches and Gulpin and headed inside, Mommy and Daddy were sitting on the couch, with Mommy holding Charley, as usual.

Phoebe: "Hi sweety."

-concerned- Nina: "Is Charley ok?"

Phoebe: "Mhm...he's fine..."

Nina: "Good."

I kissed Charley on the head, he giggled a little bit...it was soooo cute.

Me: "Teach Gulpin any new moves?"

Nina: "No...not really."

Me: "Oh...ok..."

Phoebe: "You should keep working on your own powers sweety, I saw how he almost overpowered you."

-sadly- Nina: "I know..."

Phoebe: "It's allright, you're getting the hang of it."

Phoebe: "I'm sure you'll be as strong as me someday."

-excited- Nina: "You really think so?"

Phoebe: "Of course..."

Mommy kissed me and then I sat down next to her.

Nina: "What show is this?"

Phoebe: "I don't know, what is it Cj?"

Cj: "Um...CSI?"

Cj: "I don't know really, there's alot of shows like this..."

Me: : "There's a dead guy..."

Me: "Charley look away..."

Cj: "Nina, it's allright, he's too little to understand...it doesn't phase him in the slightest."

Me: "Oh...ok."

Phoebe: "He's not even looking at it anyway Nina, he's looking at you."

Me: "Oh..."

Me: "Hi Charley..."

He smiled at me, just a little bit.

Phoebe: "Awe...I think he likes you..."

Me: "Good...hehe..."

I spent the rest of the day inside, with Mommy and Daddy...until it was time for bed. I got to hold Charley while Mommy made dinner for us...

-sometime that afternoon, while Phoebe was making supper, Cj's point of view.-

I was watching some action movie, Nina didn't mind, she loved action movies. Sometimes even I was surprised by how much we had in common. Somehow the Scy Fy channel managed to survive the disaster and kept making movies, now they even used real pokemon on occasion for special effects, of course, none of the movies were particularly amazing, but they were still interesting to watch. The thing about scy-fy movies, is that sometimes they take a ridiculous concept, for some reason usually involving some kind of shark or other aquatic predator, and actually make a fairly decent movie out of it. Of course the movies would never win any awards, but they were still watchable. They all seemed to have the feel of 1980s movies, albeit with modern CGI and cameras. It was also one of the few legitamate channels besides the news, pretty much everything else was pirate.

Nina: "Ow..."

Me: "What?"

Nina: "Charley just wacked me in the head for no reason..."

Me: "Hehehehe..."

Nina: "It's not funny..."

Me: "Babies do that sometimes, just shake it off, he can't hit you that hard, he's just a baby."

Me :"Don't get mad at him or anything, you could scare him."

Me:" Just don't put your face so close to him and he won't hit you."

Nina: "Ok..."

Eventually that day came to an end, we put Nina to bed, then we went to bed ourselves. Like last night, Phoebe was laying on her back and holding Charley again, it was hard to get Charley to stay quiet if he was awake and she wasn't holding him. So unless he fell asleep in her arms, Phoebe had to carefully hold him while she slept. He would probably grow out of it eventually though, and then he would be sleeping in his own room, and Phoebe and I could be alone at night once again.

A week or so passed, not much happened...we had just moved Charley's crib into his own room, since he was finally starting to get used to his surroundings, though he still got scared very easily. Charley's first week basically involved eating, sleeping, and the third thing that's usually after those two. Phoebe was litteraly his whole world right now, the only one he knew, the only thing he could rely on is that she would be there to care of him, he didn't really understand anything else yet. He didn't understand I was his father, Nina was his sister, not biologically of course, but as far as we were course just because Charley was here, didn't mean we loved Nina any less. It just meant we had to focus more on Charley, because he was more needy, and pretty much entirely dependant on Phoebe, and me, by extension as I usually took care of Phoebe, but he was too little to realize that. I'm not really sure what he thought of me, sometimes he'd let me hold him, and other times, if I tried, he'd start to cry. He was still very timid, and it didn't take much to scare him. But I knew he would grow out of it in time.

- morning, in bed, just waking up-

-cutely- Phoebe: "Goodmorning Cj..."

Me: "Goodmorning baby girl..."

She kissed me.

Phoebe: "I want to go see if Charley is up yet."

Me: "Okay..."

Phoebe: "Comming with me?"

Me: "Sure."

We got up and went over to his room. Quietly opening the door and sneaking inside.

-cutely whispering- Phoebe:" I think he's still asleep."

He was all covered up in the blankets, looking very comfortable, we quietly left the room, knowing if we woke him up he would probably get upset.

Phoebe: "Well...since he's still asleep..."

-playfully, cutely- Phoebe :"Come on Cj..."

She led me into the bathroom.

Me: "Hehe...you never get tired of this do you?"

Phoebe: "Nope..."

Phoebe: "Come on, it's been awhile..."

Me: "Yeah...it has..."

Phoebe: "You're still attracted to me aren't you?"

Me: "Like I could stop..."

Phoebe: "Hehe...good."

We had some fun in the shower, after discovering we could be in the shower at the same time again,she had gotten so big during her pregnancy it became impossible for us to. Even though she wasn't quite back to her original shape, she was still very pretty, and my attraction to her hadn't changed at all.

Anyway, after that we got dressed and went to go see Charley yet again, he was starting to wake up now.

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Awe...you almost woken up sweety?"

Phoebe picked him up. He almost started to cry, but then realized it was her, so he stopped.

Phoebe: "Yeah...you're awake now..."

She hugged him, it was hard to describe how cute they looked together. As expected, Phoebe absolutely treasured him, I loved him too, of course, but Phoebe always tended to express her love alot more than I did. Anyway, we headed downstairs, passing Nina who was comming up to take a shower as well.

Phoebe: "Goodmorning sweety, I'll get some clothes for you while you're in the shower ok?"

Nina: "Ok mom..."

Me: "Goodmorning.."

-cutely- Nina: "Goodmorning..."

Phoebe never took Charley in the shower with her, she just gave him a bath in the sink instead, very carefully of course,which would be more gentle for him anyway. Nina was trying to grow up a little bit, but she still called us Mommy and Daddy a lot. We didn't really push her that hard, she had been through enough, she just needed some time to be a kid now.

Anyway, I started making breakfast, Phoebe went to get some clean clothes for Nina, still holding Charley, the morning went by normally, with nothing exciting happening. We left the house around noon, to get lunch in Goldenrod, with Melissa, who just wanted to see how Charley was doing so far, as well as to check on his developement, which was part of her job.

-at the entrance of a restaurant in Goldenrod City-

Melissa: "Is he doing ok?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, he's doing really well."

Melissa: "It looks like you've been taking good care of him."

Melissa gently petted him on the head...

Melissa: "Is he growing hair?"

Phoebe: "A little..."

Melissa: "What color?"

Phoebe: "It looks kind a dark teal, but it could lighten up as it grows."

Phoebe: "What's the usual color for them?"

Melissa: "It varies, we've seen anything from yellowish green to jet black, they never have the father or mother's hair color, but usually some shade of green that varies with how dark or light the father's hair is, but there are several other factors as well."

Melissa: "Like for instance, if the father is blonde, usually the child's hair will be greenish yellow, or a seafoam green if the mother was shiny, but, we've also seen some of them grow black hair, regardless of the father's or mother's hair color. It doesn't really mean anything is wrong with them, it's just the usual randomness associated with genetics. "

Melissa: "But it looks like he's doing great so far."

Melissa :"No irregularities, just a healthy, normal baby."

Phoebe: "Well that's good, right."

Melissa: "Mhm."

-hungry- Nina: "Are we going to go inside soon? I'm hungry."

Phoebe: "Yes Nina..."

Phoebe: "Come on let's go."

Nina: "Finally..."

Phoebe: "Nina, don't be rude."

We all went inside and got a table, and ordered our drinks as well. We even got a high chair for Charley, though he was still too young to eat normal food yet.

-inside the restaurant, after finishing lunch-

Phoebe :"Well Melissa, it was nice seeing you again."

Melissa: "Yeah, you too..."

Phoebe :"When do you need to see us again?"

Melissa: "Um...in about, two weeks or so."

Phoebe: "Ok..."

Melissa: "Just call me, we'll arrange something."

Phoebe: "You're leaving already?"

Melissa: "Yeah, I have some other things to attend to."

Phoebe: "Allright well, see you in two weeks."

Melissa: "Mhm."

They hugged, briefly.

She took some money out of her purse and layed it on the table,

-playfully-Melissa: "Bye Charley."

Charley giggled a little bit as she pet him once again. Melissa seemed to have a tendency to leave abrubtly with little explanation...awe well, atleast she payed for her meal. Not long after we got ready to leave as well. Charley was looking all over the place, he started to get a little upset, until Phoebe picked him up and held him, then he calmed down like usual. Phoebe held him for most of the way home too.

Phoebe: "I think he's a little hungry..."

Me: "Ok..."

Me: "We're almost home, just another five minutes."

Phoebe: "I'll try to keep him calm until then."

Me: "Allright."

Me: "Just keep your clothes on.."

Phoebe: "I know Cj..."

We arrived home just a few minutes later, and then Phoebe took Charley up to our room to feed him. She wasn't comfortably feeding him in public ,she wasn't even comfortable feeding him in front of me, which was strange for her, but maybe it was some kind of gardevoirian code I didn't know...I don't know.

Anyway, the next few hours were pretty quiet. Nina went outside to play with her pokemon, I let our pokemon out as well. Unlike when she was pregnant, Phoebe started playing around with them too, unfortunately, we soon learned that Charley was terrified of the larger pokemon. He didn't mind Blossom, Mr. Jiggles, Draco, Cubey, or Mouser, but if Phoebe brought him too close to Bubba, Bulby, or Nidoqueen, or even Rapidash, he would get upset and start to cry. (Strangely, Cubey and Hellblade didn't scare him at all, and Mouser was actually being well behaved for once.) Nina had let Matches and gulpin out too.

-Charley was crying, afraid Bulby was going to hurt him, or Phoebe, or both, though really he wouldn't even try to do either.-

Phoebe: "Shhh...Charley, it's allright, he's not going to hurt you..."

-calmy- Bulby: "Venus...venusaur..."

Bulby was just trying to be nice, unfortunately he only terrified Charley even more. Not the reaction Bulby was hoping for, he put his head down in shame.

Me: "Honey I don't think he understands..."

Phoebe: "It's allright Bulby, he's too young, he doesn't know you yet."

Phoebe petted him, and then took Charley away to try to calm him down, he was now crying louder than ever, scared out of his mind, poor thing. Bulby kind of felt bad too, though he really didn't do anything wrong. Eventually he went into the timber with Bubba, Nidoqueen, Rocky, and some of the other pokemon, they seemed to like it up there. Phoebe was having a little trouble getting Charley to calm down this time, he only started to calm once Bulby was out of his sight.

-calmly- Phoebe: "Shhh...it's ok Charley, calm down..."

-He continued to cry, but was becomming noticably quieter-

Me: "You got to be careful sweety, you get him scared too bad you could traumatize him, and then he'll probably be afraid of larger pokemon forever."

-somewhat annoyed- Phoebe: "I know, I know."

She started singing to him...

-singing very beautifully- Phoebe :"Gardevoir...gar...de..voir...voir...voir...gardevoir..."

He stopped crying, and then strangely enough, he giggled a little bit.

-calmly- Phoebe: "shhh...there we go..."

Me: "What was that?"

Phoebe: "It's just a song most gardevoir mothers sing to their children to calm them down."

Me: "What's it mean?"

Phoebe: "I'll tell you later..."

Me :" You mean it this time right?"

Phoebe: "Yeah...I'll try."

Phoebe: "Let's go introduce Charley to Polli, Mr. Jiggles, and Blossom."

Me: "Ok.."

We went over the them, they were playing by some bushes in the front yard. They all focused on Charley. Even pokemon liked babies.

Phoebe: "See Charley, this is polli, and this is Blossom, and this is Mr. Jiggles."

Polli: "Polli...pollitoad, polli..."

Polli: "Polli...polli...polli."

Pollo: "Polli...toed...toed...toed..."

Polli was trying to make him laugh by dancing around, fortunately he was having some success, as Charlie started to giggle a little bit at his antics.

-lovingly,cutely- Phoebe: "Yeah...he's being funny isn't he Charley?"

Blossom: "Bell...bellosom...bell..."

Phoebe :"What's that? Oh...yeah you can see him.

Phoebe :"Say hi to Blossom Charley."

She lowered him a little bit, so Blossom could see him, and he could see her.

-happily- Blossom: "Bell...bellosom."

-happily babbling incoherently- Charley: "Ra...wuh...wa."

Me: "What's he saying?"

Phoebe: "I think he's trying to say 'ralts'...that's usually one of the first things normal ralts learn to say, that's why they're called ralts. Of course gardevoirs, kirlias, and gallades species' names have different origins."

Me: "Isn't that also the basis of their entire language?"

Phoebe: "Mhm...but he's trying to learn the word, he doesn't have any idea how to speak their language yet."

Phoebe: "But he'll learn, I'll teach him..."

Me: "Ok..."

Me: "Can't you teach me?"

Phoebe: "I don't know if it would work, no human has ever mastered it before, but I could try."

Phoebe: "But not right now, sometime later."

Me :"Allright."

She kissed me on the cheek, and then she sat down, placing Charley on her lap, so the other pokemon could get a better view of him. He wasn't afraid of them at all, in fact he seemed to be fascinated by them. Nina came over to play with him too.

Phoebe: "Oh, hey sweety.."

Nina: "Hi mom.."

Nina: "It looks like Charley is having fun."

Phoebe: "Mhm..."

Nina: "Can I hold him for awhile?"

Phoebe: "-sighs-...I don't know...come here, sit down next to me, we'll see if he'll let you."

Phoebe :"Charley, can Nina hold you for a little while?"

Of course Charley didn't respond, but Phoebe gently handed him over to Nina.

-lovingly- Nina :"Hi baby brother..."

-cutely babbling- Charley: "wa wa wa..."

Nina: "What?"

Phoebe: "I don't think he even knows..."

Me: "It does kind of sound like he's talking."

Phoebe: "Mhm, but he's not really saying anything, just making sounds."

Me: "I know."

Me: "He's very cute though isn't he?"

Nina: "Mhm, he's the cutest thing ever...""

Me: "Pheebles?"

She never wanted to admit she was cute...she didn't really want to admit Charley was cute, but eventually she gave in.

Phoebe: "Yeah, -sighs- I guess he is.."

Me: "just like his mother.."

-unamused- Phoebe: "Cj..."

Me: "You know when you make your little pouty face you're even cuter..."

Phoebe: "rrrr..., you're lucky Charley's here..."

-playfully- Me:"Oh come on Pheebles lighten up."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, you're right."

She stood up.

Phoebe: "I just can't stay mad at you..."

Me: "I can't stay mad at you either baby girl."

She kissed me, then we sat down together and played with Charley and the other pokemon that were here.

Nina: "I wonder what the other pokemon do in the timber all day."

Me: "Who knows,they're probably just exploring."

Nina: "But they would have explored the entire place by now."

Phoebe: "But Nina, the timber changes all the time."

Phoebe: "Every season it changes."

Me: "Mhm."

It was september now, winter was setting in once again, but it was still fairly nice outside, we considered sending Nina to school, and we visited a few in Goldenrod, strangely for a large city, their schools were not very big, maybe about 300 students or so, surprisingly about the size of Slabtown's when they were in operation. (The schools still existed, and were even maintained pretty well, so they could go back into operation at any time) Parts of the elementary school were still being used, but mostly as a place where neighborhood kids could meet up and play, as well as hosting very small classes, usually mothers teaching their own children, plus maybe her neighbor's or friend's children. Not the best organized, but atleast it was better than abandoning them. The high school had just gotten a brand new gym before the disaster, so that saw some use as well by older children. To put things in perspective, the first year the gym was used was my senior year in high school. It also has another, older gym as well. It got water-damaged my junior year, and was under repair for most of the year, ironically this led to the entire class playing video games in PE. If that sounds crazy, then let me make it even crazier by saying I didn't make that up, it actually happened.

Anyway, it was too late for Nina to participate in the pokemon league this year, she could try next year though. So she kept on working with her two little pokemon.

We spent the most of the afternoon outside with the pokemon, until Charley started to get tired, and a little fussy, so Phoebe took him back inside to rest. At first I thought something was wrong, because she didn't tell me, she just headed inside. I was away from her, messing around with Cap'n'Magnum at the time, until I noticed she wasn't there.

Matches was playfully barking, and prancing around.

Me: "Nina, did you see where your mother went?"

Nina: "Oh, she went inside with Charley, I don't know why."

Me:" Oh...ok, I guess I'll go see what's going on."

Nina:" Ok."

Nina: "Do you want me to come in?"

Me: "Nah you can stay out here if you want."

Nina: "Ok."

-upstairs, nursery\Charley's room-

Phoebe gently kissed Charley, and placed him in his crib, and gently covered him up in the blankets.

Phoebe :"There you go, all comfortable."

Phoebe :"Now get some sleep Charley, I can tell you're starting to get tired."

He smiled at her, in a way only babies can.

-motherly- Phoebe: "Sweet dreams little guy, I love you."

It didn't take long for Charley to drift off into sleep, allowing her to leave, I got there just as she was leaving the room.

-outside the room-

Me: "Is he okay?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, he's just tired, he's a baby, he needs to sleep a lot."

Me: "Yeah, I guess."

Phoebe:" You get worried?"

Me: "A little..."

Me: "I'm sorry, I can't help it..."

Phoebe: "Awe...it's allright..."

She kissed me.

Phoebe:" I love you Cj..."

Me: "I love you too baby girl."

Phoebe: "Now come on, let's go back outside."

Me: "Ok..."

We headed down the stairs.

Me:"Hey Phoebe?"

Phoebe: "Yeah?"

Me:"Is there anything I can do for you?"

Phoebe: "No...not right now...why?"

Me: "Nothing, I just want you to be happy."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Cj, I'm as happy as I can possibly be right now, stop worrying honey.."

Phoebe: "You're doing great, don't worry."

Me: "-sighs- allright."

Me: "You would tell me if I was doing anything wrong wouldn't you?"

Phoebe: "Of course..'

Me: "Allright..."

She kissed me again before we reached the front door and headed back outside. Nina was still playing around, Matches was playfully chasing her, along with , and Cloudela.

Me: "So honey, are you going to make supper tonight, or should I...or we could go somewhere..."

Phoebe: "Nah, I'll make it..."

Me: "OK."

Me: "Are you really going to teach me gardevoirian?"

Phoebe: "I'll try...I have to teach Nina and Charley too."

Me: "Nina doesn't know?"

Me: "But she's translated for me before..."

Phoebe: "Hmm..maybe she does then..."

Phoebe: "Nina?"

Nina: "What?"

Phoebe: "Gardevoir...gar...gardevoir...voir...gar...gardevoir."

Nina: "Gardevoir...gar...de...gardevoir..."

I had no idea what either of them were saying, I never even heard Nina speak gardevoirian before.

Phoebe: "So you do know?"

Nina: "A little, not too much though."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I thought so, a few of your words were mispronounced but I could still get what you were trying to say..."

Phoebe: "I'll help you learn...both of you..."

Me: "Cool..."

Nina: "Mhm...is Charley ok?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, he's fine, he's just taking a nap."

Nina: "Ok."

Nina: "Did you see that car pass by?"

Me: "What car?"

Nina: "It was another car from the pokemon world."

Me: "Oh..."

-concerned-Phoebe: "Was it black with an R on the side?"

Nina: "No it was silver, with nothing on the side."

Phoebe: "Ok then, it's probably just some tourist."

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Could you tell who was driving?"

Nina: "Some guy...I don't know.."

Phoebe: "Allright."

Me: "It looks like Bubba's comming home."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I see him."

Phoebe: "It doesn't look like the others are comming back yet though, but they usually don't till sunset."

Me: "Mhm."

Nina :"What time is it?"

Phoebe:" It's about 4 now... why?"

Nina: "Just wondering when supper is going to be..."

Phoebe: "Oh Nina, you're always hungry aren't you?"

-cutely- Nina: "Maybe..."

Phoebe: "I guess I could go in and start working on supper..."

Phoebe: "You want to help Nina?"

That was rare for her to ask.

Nina: "Sure."

Phoebe:"Ok then, return your pokemon and come on in."

Nina: "Ok."

Nina returned Matches and Gulpin and headed inside with Phoebe.

Phoebe: "Cj why don't you return the pokemon that are here and then come inside too."

Me: "Ok honey.."

I returned the pokemon and then came inside, Nina and her were getting started on supper in the kitchen.

Me: "So honey what are you making tonight?"

Phoebe: "Um...I thought we could try something a little different."

Me: "Like what?"

Phoebe: "Um...tacos...and burritos..."

Me:" Ok..sure..."

Me: "Do we even have taco shells?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, we got some last week remember?"

Me: "Oh yeah.."

Me: "Ok.."

Me: "You want any help?"

Phoebe: "Nah, it's allright, Nina and I will take care of it."

Me: "Ok..."

I almost made it out of the room, feeling a bit bored, and somewhat left out.

-at the last minute- Phoebe: "Wait...Cj?.."

Phoebe: "Why don't you go check on Charley, make sure he's ok?"

Me: "Allright, sure."

Phoebe: "And if he's awake bring him down here."

Me: "Allright..."

I went upstairs, to Charley's room, and peeked inside, he was up against the railing of his crib, looking out the side. Holding on as tight as his tiny hands would allow. His gazed focused on me as I entered his room.

Me: "hehe...I see you're awake."

As expected, he didn't respond, just looked at me.

I carefully picked him up, fortunately he didn't get upset.

I carefully brought him back downstairs to Phoebe. She was cooking some hamburger for the tacos.

Phoebe: "Awe...Cj..."

Me: "He wanted to see you..."

Phoebe: "Awe...he's so cute."

Phoebe: "Nina, just keep stirring this ok, try to keep any of it from burning."

Nina: "Ok."

Nina took over for her, Charley almost immediately decided he wanted her to hold him, and started to get upset that I didn't hand him over right away.

Phoebe: "Here Cj, let me hold him."

-softly- Phoebe:" shhhhhh, it's ok mommy's here."

He calmed down once he was in her arms.

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Don't be afraid of Cj silly,..he's your daddy..."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "He loves you, and I love him..."

Of course Charlie didn't really understand this, but he would eventually.

-lovingly- Phoebe: "And you know I love you...don't you little guy?"

She tickled him a little bit, and he giggled.

Phoebe: "hehe..."

Nina: "Mom, am I doing this right?"

Phoebe: "Um...I think so...it doesn't look like it's burning."

Me: "Looks like it's almost done..."

Me: "But what about the shells?"

Phoebe: "Oh...-sighs- I knew I forgot something."

She turned the oven on, we baked the shells because it makes them more crisp..or something.

Me: "Eh, it's ok, just keep the meat on low, and keep stiring it, it won't burn.

Phoebe: "Ok..."

She turned the heat down on the burner.

Phoebe: "Keep stirring Nina."

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe: "-sighs- I was hoping he would still be asleep...hehe.."

Phoebe: "Awe well."

She went out into the living room and sat on the couch.

Me: "Do you think he's hungry? You haven't fed him for awhile..."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I guess I should try to see if he is."

Me: "Just feed him on the couch honey, I won't look, people can't see through the windows..."

Phoebe: "Or I can just go into the little bathroom over here..."

Me: "Oh...ok then.."

She slipped into the little bathroom, we didn't use it very often because it didn't have a shower and was generally not as nice as the other one. She shut the door, and presumably tried to feed Charley. I went back into the kitchen to make sure Nina was doing ok, soon the oven finished heating up, so I placed the shells inside while Nina kept the meat from burning.

Phoebe came out of the restroom ten minutes later.

Phoebe: "You were right Cj, he was hungry.."

Phoebe: "He's full now though."

Phoebe: "I think he's about ready to fall asleep again, hehe."

Nina: "He sleeps alot."

Phoebe: "That's because he's a baby Nina."

Me: "Mhm."

Nina: "Ok..."

The timer went off on the oven.

Me: "Oh by the way, supper's ready, I took over for you."

Phoebe: "Oh...ok.."

-jokingly- Me: "Is that ok princess?"

Phoebe: "Hehe...yeah, it's ok."

Me: "Why don't you go sit down at the table? We'll get stuff ready for you."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Phoebe: "I think I'm going to put Charley back in his crib first though."

Me: "Allright..."

Nina: "Goodnight Charley..."

Me: "Yeah, goodnight little guy.."

I kissed them both before they left the room.

Then I got a large bowl from one of the cupboards.

Me: "Allright Nina, dump all the meat in here."

Nina: "Ok."

Nina: "But then what do I do with this?"

Me: "Eh...just put it in the sink."

Nina: "Ok."

I carefully pulled the shells out of the oven, and turned the oven off, as well as the burner.

And then we brought everything out to the table as well as a thing of taco sauce and sour cream, which we actually got from the pokemon world since they were kind of hard to find in this one now, because they spoiled so easily and the factories that made them had been shut down for quite awhile.

Nina: "I'll go get the milk."

Me: "Allright."

She headed back into the kitchen.

Phoebe came back, and hugged me.

Phoebe: "I love you."

Me: "Hehe...I love you too baby girl..."

Nina came back in, with a jug of milk, also from the pokemon world, and some glasses.

I pulled out a chair for Phoebe.

Me: "Here you go sweety."

Phoebe:" Awe...you're so kind..."

She took he seat, I sat across from her, Nina joined us after she finished pouring the milk.

Me: "Wait Nina don't drink."

Nina :"What?"

Me:" That cup is uranium glass..."

Phoebe: "What?"

Me: "Go get a different cup, allright, you can't drink from that one, it's not safe..."

Nina: "Why?"

Me: "It's uranium glass."

Me: "It's toxic.."

Me: "Just dump the milk down the sink and get another glass, ok?"

Nina: "-sighs- Ok..."

It actually does contain a bit of uranium, as strange as it sounds to make glass out of radioactive material. Come to think of it, Nina just picked a bunch of random glasses, Phoebe's was more of a mug, and mine was just a regular cup.

Nina went to get a different cup, putting the toxic glass in the sink

Phoebe: "Nice catch Cj, I didn't even notice that."

Phoebe: "You know that's my favorite glass?"

Me: "It is?"

Me: "You didn't drink from it did you?"

Phoebe: "No, I know it's toxic, I just like the way it looks."

Me: "So they have uranium glass in the pokemon world too?"

Phoebe: "Mhm, except in the pokemon world it's known as radiation Glass. It's known to be toxic as well. A lot of it is made in Lavaridge town in the Hoen region, but it is also made in other places as well."

Lavaridge was known for three things, one is it's gym, the second is the lava cookies, and the third is its many glass shops, that make almost any kind of collectable glass object imaginable.

Phoebe: "My mother collects it."

Me: "Oh.."

Phoebe: "I like the way it glows in blacklight."

Me: "We should find a black light or something."

Nina came back in, with another glass that looked like a smaller version of mine.

-somewhat annoyed- Nina: "Is this poisonous?"

Me: "Nah, doesn't look like it."

Nina: "Good."

We finally started to eat.

-from outside- Bubba: "Blastoise...Blast? Blastoise."

Phoebe: "Sounds like Bubba is home."

Me: "I'll go see him."

I got up, retrieved Bubba's pokeball and went outside to return him.

Me: "Find anything interesting today?"

Sometimes he brought stuff home with him, crystal rocks, of various kinds, carps, sometimes even regular turtles, though never of the snapping variety. Bubba didn't like snapping turtles, they always ended up biting him, and then Bubba usually ended up killing them trying to get them to let go. After that he would usually come home to be healed. Surprisingly enough their bites could hurt him, though they were fairly minor compared to most pokemon attacks.

He shook his head.

Me: "No? Allright then."

Me: "You can probably go back out tomorrow if you want."

I returned him, and then headed back inside, for supper.

Finally we were able to have dinner withour further distraction.

-sometime after dinner-

It was nearing sunset, so the other pokemon would be home soon.

We got a call, on the home phone, I didn't even know it was hooked up. Phoebe got up to answer it.

Me :"Who's that?"

Phoebe :"It's Will..."

Me :"You're father?"

Phoebe: "No, the guy who was running the store while we were gone."

Me: "Oh...ok."

Me: "What's he have to say?"

Phoebe: "Oh, a few hours ago some guy came into the store, asking for us...wanting autographs apparently."

Me: "Weird."

Nina was looking out the living room window.

Nina: "There's that car again..."

Me: "Again?"

I ran to the window and watched as the car passed. It was just an old silph sedan, probably just a tourist. It was older than the kind team rocket used, and a different color, so I didn't suspect anything. It kind of looked like a dressed up Volvo 240 sedan, with more chrome, a different grill, obviously different badging, and a curvy roof profile that didn't seem to fit the car's otherwise boxy design. In addition, the front end had four old-style circular headlights instead of the square ones a real Volvo would have. But still, it's overal design gave it the appearence of a luxury car, though a somewhat outdated one. Asumably it was a predeccessor to the one we had. There was not a single piece of plastic trim on the entire car, everything was either chrome or painted metal. A very strange feature for a car that otherwise looked european.

Phoebe: "Who is he?"

Me: "I don't know, he's looking at us though."

Phoebe: "Should I go outside, go see what he wants?"

Me: "No...stay in..."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Me :"He's definitely not from around here."

Phoebe: "He could just be a confused tourist."

Phoebe :"It's not one of team rocket's cars."

Me: "Yeah, but he's all alone..."

Phoebe: "So?"

Me :"Not that many lone tourists, most of them are either couples or families..."

Phoebe: "Nina, did you hear any of his thoughts?"

Nina: "No, he passed by too quickly, all I heard was the car..."

Me: "Well...if you see that car again."

Nina: "I'll let you know..."

Me: "Maybe it's the guy Will was talking about?"

Phoebe: "I don't know, it's a long stretch..."

Me: "Well if he's looking for us, he knows we're here by now, that's the second time he has passed us."

Me: "-sighs-, call the city patrol, tell them we got a suspicious person in a silver volvo-ish sedan..."

The city patrol was basically Slabtown's police force...most they ever had to deal with so far was keeping fights from breaking out in bars. They also did patrols and occasionally arrested people, but not very often. (The city's jail wasn't that big, and of course the entire prison and judiciary system was out of whack.) If you went to jail, odds are you only be there for a week at the most, even less if you had reasonable evidence that you were innocent. Just long enough to remind you to keep in line. It wasn't an extremely effective system, but it was better than nothing. On the bright side, the majority of the police force were very well trained, most were obviously former police, and some were ex-national guard.

Phoebe: "Are you sure?"

Me: "Yeah, they won't mind, they don't get many calls any way."

Phoebe: "So it's 911?"

Me: "No 911 doesn't work anymore, um...let's see, I think it's 999-634-9438."

I had it written down on a slip of paper, I intended to put it in the phone at some point, but never got around to it.

Phoebe: "Ok."

She called them up, and they said they would lookout for the car, they probably wouldn't arrest him, but atleast they would find out what he's up to.

-after making the call-

Phoebe: "Ok it's done."

Me: "Good."

Phoebe: "Why are you so suspicious though?"

Me: "I don't know, I just don't want to take chances."

Phoebe: "Yeah, better safe than sorry I guess."

Me: "Mhm."

She sat next to me on the couch. Between Nina and I.

Nina used her powers to turn on the tv, and not much happened for the rest of the day, we returned the pokemon when they came home, Phoebe occasionally went upstairs to check on Charley, and that was about it. The patrol called sometime after sunset, saying the guy was just a tourist and there was no reason to be alarmed. So eventually we went to bed, thinking nothing would happen.

-In bed...-

Phoebe: "So um...Cj, you want me?"

Me: "Not tonight sweety, maybe tomorrow."

Phoebe: "Ok, I don't really feel like it either..."

Phoebe: "I'm too tired..."

Me: "Allright, well get some sleep then."

I kissed her.

Me: "Goodnight sweety."

Phoebe: "Goodnight."

She snuggled up to me, and we tried to sleep...

Now, we go into another new perspective, another new twist on things, into the dark side, into the mind of a team rocket agent, with a dark past, and perhaps an even darker future. This was an idea I had for quite sometime, and could have been its own series if it wasn't so short, so now, I introduce you to a new character, Mr. Greg Marconi, a man who joined team rocket after going through a horrible tragedy, and having nothing left to lose.

- Saffron City, Commercial district, after lunch on the same day-

Well, here I am once again, standing outside the headquarters for the entire Team Rocket organization, although, to the public, it is simply known as one of Silph's R&D centers, Saffron division, conveniently right across the street from Silph's main HQ. Our headquarters used to be an underground facility under one of Celadon's most prestigous casinos, this tower was already under construction by the time Devon agents came in and raided the place,ironically intended to be a legitamate R&D center, so the boss simply purchased it and coerced Silph Co into naming it as one of their R&D facilitys, and to make things even more secretive, nobody on site wore their uniforms, just regular business suits, so the public, and hopefully Devon, would not suspect a thing. Upon entering the building, two men came up and blindfolded me, and one of their pokemon hit me with a stun spore, before taking me up to the top floor to see the boss. That was actually standard procedure, even as an elite agent, I wasn't allowed to see the face of the guy I was working for, nobody did except the guys who had blindfolded me, they were the boss' personal bodyguards, and possibly the highest ranking team rocket members, second only to the boss himself.

-top floor, boss' office-

Tr Boss: "Did you get the target I gave you?"

-somewhat nervously,very strained because of paralysis- Me: "Yeah, also burned the body, just like you said, there's nothing left of him to be revived, and his pokemon were locked up and taken to the closest warehouse."

Tr Boss :"Good."

Tr Boss :"Did he know anything?"

-nervously, very strained because of paralysis- Me: "No...unfortunately, I tried everything, he wouldn't tell me."

Tr Boss: "Then we'll have to try another target."

Tr Boss: "Take him to the briefing room, Mr. Ainsley is waiting for him."

Guard 1: "Yes sir."

Mr. Ainsley, another high ranking member, the mad-scientist type, older guy, with long gray hair, tyed into a ponytail, I don't think he ever cut his hair. He was the one that was responsible for designing the blimps we used, everyone thought he was insane except for the boss. He was also the head of the intell division, he wasn't much of a fighter, but he was ffing crazy. The guards took me into the room, and removed my blindfold, although I could see, I was still paralyzed from the stun spore. Mr. Ainsley came out of his little office and turned on the large holographic screen behind him. Showing footage taken from Devon's own security system.

: "Well as you can see this footage was stolen from security cameras in the Devon experiment facility, in Goldenrod City."

Me: "What about it?"

: "Well we found them, they always come out of this particular portal, so they can't live too far from it."

Me: "That doesn't mean anything, we still have to find where they live, they could be miles from there."

Mr. Ainsley: "Yes, but, you're the only one qualified enough to take them that their security wouldn't recognize right away."

Me: "So what am I supposed to do, just slip through the portal and hope to find them?"

Mr. Ainsley: "Yes, ask around, find out where they live, and then kill them."

Me: "Ok..."

: " and then get out of there before anyone suspects you."

Me :"What about the girl?"

Mr. Ainsley: "Kill her too, she's of no use to us..."

Me: "Ok."

Then he handed me a suitcase, full of various documentation, a gun, a few clips of ammo, and some other equipment. The guards escorted me down to the ground floor, gave me a cure for my paralysis, and then immediately took the elevator back up, leaving me with the suitcase.

I've heard of my targets before, they had taken part in a lot of the major attacks on our operations. Though they haven't been seen recently, so maybe they retired. Team Rocket wanted them for two reasons, one, so they could kill them of course, and 2, so they could get information. Specifically information about who was orchestrating all the raids, and how they knew where our bases were. The rumor was that their director of defense, James, was behind it all, but they didn't know for sure, and he was usually too well guarded to go after.

Of course, I bet you're wondering why I joined them in the first place, well, it happened a long time ago.

-flashback, about 20 years ago.-

I was just a kid then, of course, my father worked as a test pilot for the now-defunct Saffron Aircraft Corporation...or SaCo, the days were long, but the pay was allright, Mr. Ainsley was the lead engineer, of course, the company was working on a new type of airship, a modified version of which would become the standard airship for the Team Rocket fleet, though nobody knew that at the time. The design didn't even feature weapons back then, it was just designed as a standard, commercial airship, intended to carry passengers on leisurely cruises over the city.

The project was highly classified back then, I don't think even Mr. Ainsley knew who he was really working for. A single prototype airship was constructed according to plan, and it was about to be launched on its first manned test flight, with my father as the pilot, and just a handful of other people, most were company engineers, but a few were working for our mysterious clients. I wanted to go, but my father wouldn't let me, saying something could gowrong, so he left with a baby sitter. My mother left my father shortly after I was born, she was never really nice to me anyway.

Unfortunately, he was right, something did go wrong. Everything started out ok, the airship took off, and got up in the air, but then the engines suddenly caught fire, and they couldn't land in time, everyone on board perished in the explosion, including my father.

The disaster made the news, and not long after SaCo was forced into liquidation, most of their assets were then purchased by one of Team Rockets shadow companies.

After the main cause of the disaster turned out to be sabotage, most of the former SaCo employees including Mr. Ainsley, joined Team Rocket. It was rumored to be Devon's doing, but no evidence was ever found.

I blamed Devon, it had to be them, considering the mysterious clients later turned out to be Team Rocket. They killed my father for no reason, which is why I want them to pay...

Team Rocket promised me revenge, which is exactly why I joined them.

-back to the present-

I caught a flight to Goldenrod, shipping my car along with me, while on the plane, i went over the documents Team Rocket had given me.

One of the papers they gave me told me which one (out the millions) of portals I needed to go to, it didn't take long to find it, security gave me no trouble, and soon I was in the other world.

I was in a small town now, not much bigger than Pallet town, there were some people walking down the streets, I eventually made my way to the town's general store, figuring they must have gone there a few time atleast. It seemed like most of the stores here were closed, but obviously people still lived here, that was odd.

I went up to the manager. There only seemed to be one guy running this entire store.

Me: "Have you seen these people?"

Clerk: "Yeah, why?"

Me: "Because... I just want...their autographs..."

Clerk: "I don't really know where they are at this moment, I can tell you if I see them though."

Me: "Ok...good."

I left the store, obviously the manager didn't know anything.

I spent the next hour or so asking people where they were, everyone knew them, but they didn't know where they lived. Which meant they probably didn't live in town. So I headed out into the country. I spent the next hour driving around some more. Until I saw a sign I was near where they lived. I went over a bridge, and saw a blastoise in the creek, according to the documents I had, wild pokemon were very rare in this world, and one of the targets did infact have a blastoise, which he had used against us on several occasions. It looked like this one was all by itself though, so I decided to keep going, as provoking the blastoise would blow my cover. I went up to the next house. They were here, but they had a lot of pokemon outside, so I passed by and decided to come back at night. I drove by again later in the afternoon, they were inside the house now, and they noticed me. I went back to the town, to try to find something to eat, on the way in, I was pulled over by the police, or atleast they claimed to be police. I tried to stay cool, they couldn't arrest me, I hadn't done anything...yet..

-after being pulled over-

An officer came up to my window.

Officer: "We had a report of suspicious activity, your car matches the description."

Those bastards had called the cops on me.

Me: "Am I under arrest?"

Officer: "Not at this time no..."

Officer: "But why don't you tell me what you're doing on the backroads? You're obviously not from around here."

-somewhat nervously- Me: "Just, exploring the area..."

Officer: "Well, I guess there's nothing really wrong with that."

Officer:"But atleast stick to the main roads from now on."

Me:"Ok will do."

Officer:"You're free to go."

He headed back to his car and I was free to leave, I continued into the city, and stopped by a small restaurant to get some dinner. Fortunately they accepted pokedollars...

-Cj's house, somewhere around midnight, once again in Nina's point of view.-

I was still awake... quietly watching videos on my tv in the dark with the sound off, so Mommy and Daddy wouldn't know, but they were probably asleep by now anyway, I heard them go up the stairs.

I was starting to get tired, but I wasn't planning on trying to sleep for atleast another hour or so. I wanter to finish watching my video.

The tape didn't seem to be doing very well. The video machine was making some awful noises and the picture was very blury, but it kept playing. I was worried that it would eat the tape and then I would have to wait until morning so Daddy could fix it for me before I could watch another, as the one that got eaten would be ruined. Then I would also need to make something up so he wouldn't know I didn't go to sleep when he told me too.

Fortunately the tape kept playing, without the sound I couldn't tell what was going on though.

But I'm glad I didn't have the sound on that night, because soon I heard Hellblade barking, I turned off my tv and got in bed, thinking HellBlade would wake up Mommy and Daddy, and then they would come downstairs, and they would likely see the light from the tv under my door.

I listened, quietly in the darkness. It sounded like Hellblade was running around the house, he came around to the backside and started barking again, I think he was trying to wake Mom and Dad up.

-Cj's perspective-

I woke up, HellBlade was barking outside the window, Phoebe woke up just seconds later. Sure enough I heard Charley crying, HellBlade woke him up too.

Phoebe: "Something's wrong, somebody's here."

I didn't doubted her, even without her powers she had good intuition.

Me: "Honey go get Charley."

Phoebe: " Ok..."

Me: "And get your gun..."

Phoebe: "Mhm..."

Me :"And don't shoot until you actually see the target...I don't want to get shot..."

Phoebe: "I know..."

Me: "Wait..."

Phoebe: "What?"

I kissed her...

-sincerely- Me: "I love you."

Phoebe: "Awe...Cj it's going to be ok..."

Phoebe: "I love you too..."

She kissed me back, got her gun out of one of the drawers and went over to Charley's room.

-Nina's perspective-

Somebody was here... and they weren't friendly.

I had to tell Mommy and Daddy, but then I saw a red glow outside the window. Cap'n'Magnum? I guess they knew already...

I teleported upstairs, and went to Charley's room, Mommy was already there, holding Charley.

Phoebe: "Oh good, you're awake."

She hugged me.

Phoebe: "Here hold Charley and go in the closet..."

Me: "No..."

Phoebe: "Nina..."

Me: "Mommy, you're powers don't work..."

Me: "I already watched my other mommy die, I'm not watching you die..."

Me: "If we die, we die together..."

Phoebe: "Awe...Nina..."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, Allright."

She wrapped Charley up in his blankets and kissed him.

Phoebe: "Don't be afraid little one, just stay calm, and no matter how scared you get, don't cry, ok? Just remember I love you..."

Then she placed him on the floor of the closet and closed the door.

Me: "Why did you do that?"

Phoebe: "So he'll be safe Nina, he's helpless, if they don't know he's there, hopefully they won't go after him."

Me: "Ok..."

Phoebe: "And now I have my hands free, so I can shoot better."

Nina: "Hehe...ok..."

-meanwhile, Cj's perspective-

Me: "Allright, Hellblade, you take the back door, Magnum, you take the front. You see anyone try to leave but Me, Phoebe, or Nina, you take them down, but don't kill them unless I say otherwise..."

Break into my house will they?

Let's see if they can break out as well...

I sent out Golbat. No human could see better than them in the dark. And they were small enough they had reasonable room to fly in the house.

Me: "Go downstairs, find out what we're dealing with, do not engage unless they fire first, and stay out of sight."

I then went over to Charley's room. Phoebe instantly had her gun trained on me.

-quietly- Nina: "Mommy, it's just Daddy."

Me: "Phoebe, for crying out loud, it's me..."

-somewhat embarassed- Phoebe: "Oh...hehe...sorry honey..."

Me: "Nina, go to the basement ok, there's a little metal box on the wall with a big red switch...pull it."

Phoebe: "You want her to cut the power?"

Me: "Mhm."

Me: "I got Hellblade and Magnum guarding both doors, and golbat is down stairs."

Phoebe: "Ok..."

-meanwhile downstairs Greg's perspective-

As soon as that damned houndoom started barking, I knew I was in for it. They had to be awake by now. What bothers me is that I swear I could hear a baby crying. The documents I had said nothing about a baby... I was in the kitchen now, I saw the silhouette of a magnezone pass by the window, to quickly for me to fire at it, not that it would do any good.

And then I noticed, it was guarding the front door. They were trying to trap me in here.

Obviously these weren't ordinary people, then again, they were my targets, so why would they be?

Fortunately, I didn't come alone either. I sent out my pokemon, a fast, but powerful weaville I've had for quite awhile, it has helped me on many assasinations before. And now I needed its services once again.

Me: "Stay by me, stay on guard, they already know we're here."

I noticed the display on the microwave went out. Really? They cut the power too?

Right away Weaville heard something, and fired an ice beam into the other room. I thought I saw something move too, but whatever it was, Weaville only managed to hit the wall. Anyway, I headed into the next room, no sign of them so far, aside from their pokemon, so they were either in the basement or the upper floor. I was guessing the second, so I found the stairs and headed up.

-Nina's perspective-

-quietly-Me: "Ok I shut the power off."

-quietly- Cj: "Good."

-quietly- Phoebe: "Shh...someone's comming up the stairs."

Daddy hid by the door, loaded his gun a prepared to fire. I heard a loud screech, it was Golbat, I think...

-quietly-Weaville: "Weaville, we..."

-quietly- Cj: "Oh crap he has a weaville?"

-quietly-Cj: "Where's Charley by the way?"

-quietly-Phoebe: "Oh...he's in the closet."

-quietly-Cj: "Nina, listen carefully, take Charley, teleport outside. Tell Magnum where we are and send him in."

-quietly-Me: "No..."

Mommy took Charley out of the closet and handed him to me.

-quietly-Phoebe: "Just go...we'll be fine."

-softly- Phoebe: "Be brave...Nina..."

Just then Daddy's golbat came into the room. Narrowly avoiding an ice beam.

Phoebe: "Go!"

I teleported out, and found Cap'n'Magnum floating by the front door, I opened the door for him. I didn't have enough power to take them with me, I barely had enough to take Charley.

Nina: "Daddy wants you to go in, they're on the second floor, hurry."

Charley started to cry...

Nina: "Charley, it's ok...calm down..."

He wouldn't stop.

Nina: "Charley...calm down..."

-meanwhile, Greg's perspective-

There's that baby again, although it sounds like it's comming from outside now, maybe they ran away?... That damned golbat screeched at me and flew into another room. I slowly walked down the hall, halfway expecting some kind of trap door or other security mechanism. Weaville screamed sudenly. I turned around and saw a magnezone floating behind me. Weaville was paralyzed, and unable to move.

-somewhat angry- Cap'n'Magnum: "Magna...magna..."

I fired at it, but it was no use, the last thing I remember before I blacked out was 1000 volts of electricity flowing through me, and the sound of a baby crying.

-Cj's perspective-

I heard two loud, buzzing sounds, and heard something drop. Accompanied by a few erratic flashes of light, and breaking glass, Magnum probably hit one of the lightbulbs on accident and made it explode, no problem, it could just be replaced.

Me: "I think that's it, he's down..."

Me: "Honey stay here, allright?"

Phoebe: "Ok..."

I went out into the hall, to find Magnum hovering over the two wannabe robbers, while also wondering, who the hell they were, and what the heck should I do with them?

-somewhat concerned- Phoebe: "Are they still alive?"

Me: "Yeah, his pokemon is still conscious even.."

I checked him for an Id of some sort...no dice, Phoebe came out of the room.

-concerned- Me: "Honey be careful, there's broken glass."

Phoebe: "Um...I'm wearing shoes..."

Me: "Oh...ok...nevermind then."

Me: "Magnum, go back outside and find Nina, she can come back in now."

Me: "And um, thanks for the save."

Cap'n'Magnum: "Magnezone."

He hovered away, somewhat glad to have helped.

Phoebe: "I need to go to Charley, I can hear him crying."

Me: "Atleast that means he's ok..."

Phoebe: "Hehe...yeah, I guess so."

-struggling- Weaville: "We...weavilly...we..."

Phoebe: "Goodnight..."

Her hand glowed as she touched the Weaville's head, finally knocking it unconcious.

Me: "You can still do that?"

Phoebe: "Mhm...I just can't teleport, read minds, or use telekinesis for now, I still have all my other powers though."

Me: "Oh...ok..."

We proceded down the stairs. Nina was in the living room, holding Charley, who was still crying loudly.

Nina: "It's that same guy who was driving by earlier..."

Me: "Hmm...ok..."

Phoebe scooped up Charley in her arms and comforted him...

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Shhhhhh...It's allright Charley, I'm here, everything's ok..."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Ooooohhhhh...you're soooo scared..."

She kissed him.

-lovingly- Phoebe: "It's okay..."

-singing very beautifully- Phoebe :"Gardevoir...gar...de..voir...voir...voir...gardevoir..."

He stopped crying...and finally started to calm down..."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "There we go...all better."

She kissed him again... her singing was so beautiful...

Phoebe: "What Cj?"

Me: "Nothing it's just..."

Nina: "Mommy, your singing is so pretty."

Phoebe: "Awe...thanks Nina..."

She gave her a hug.

Me: "Yeah, what she said."

Phoebe: "Nina sweety, why don't you go back to bed, we'll get the rest of this taken care of."

Nina: "Ok mom."

She headed into her room. I returned Cap'n'Magnum, but left Hellblade out, I had returned Golbat earlier after Nina took Charley outside.

Me: "I guess we should turn the power back on."

Phoebe: "Mhm...I'll come with you."

Me: "Allright."

We headed to the basement together, and turned the power back on.

Phoebe: "What should we do with them?"

Me: "I don't know, return the weaville to its ball, and lock it up, I guess, then I guess we should lock this guy in the bathroom...the one downstairs of course..."

Phoebe: "Ok..."

After Phoebe put Charley back to bed, we stripped the guy of any guns, knives, pokemon, or potential weapons, and then we dragged him down the stairs and into the bathroom, where we locked him up, then we returned his weaville and hid it away as well.

Me: "Allright, now that that's finished, let's try to get back to sleep."

-tiredly- Phoebe: "-yawns-, good idea.."

We went to bed... it was passed midnight now..I didn't really know what time it was, none of the clocks were set since we turned out the power. Tomorrow we'd have to figure out what we were going to do with this guy...maybe we'd hand him over to Devon... Though we didn't have any proof he was working for Team Rocket , but who else could he be working for? He obviously wasn't friendly. We'd sort it all out in the morning, we were both ridiculously tired now.