AN: Hello guys, and welcome to the second story arc of New Beginnings! Welcome to…

P&T: Second Start!

SV: Thank you. If you haven't read the first one, I recommend that you go back and read that.

P: You can find it on the profile.

T: It has a lot of things that you'll need to know, so remember to read it.

SV: I still don't own Pokemon, and hope you enjoy the first chapters!

Chapter 1.

I stepped out of the tent. We were still in the clearing we had found yesterday, since none of us could be bothered to continue on. It was almost midnight, from my hasty glance skywards, so I sighed and walked out. I headed over to the trees, where the white flash wouldn't bother anyone, and transformed. I floated up into the branches, then flew above it all and upwards. I flew near to the clouds before I had the presence of mind to stop and make a small air bubble. I psychically compacted a cloud together and landed, growing a little in size, from two feet to around five, and looked over the edge.

From up here, I could see just about anything. I scanned the area below me, picking out the small, psychic lights of our camp, and the bright lights of both Celadon and Saffron City's. It was surprising to see the amount of lights still on at midnight. I turned, looking over towards the ocean. I fancied I could see a small island in the distance, with a little white building that seemed to be under construction.

"I wonder how they're doing…" I mused quietly. The small ring on my back flickered blue as I changed type, in an attempt to let my Flying type power take over supporting the cloud. I'd read that it could be done, but it didn't work, and I yelped quietly as I fell though the water vapour. "Maybe next time I should use Water type!" I stopped myself in midair, freezing cold, before flashing through Fire type to get rid of the cold, then back to Flying. "Not doing it any time soon, that's for-sure?" I hesitated, spotting a small speck of blue light pop out of a clearing near our own. Blinking, I dropped down slowly, readying a teleport just in case.

I needn't have bothered. Once I got down, I saw Ash, shaking his head before focusing. A small teal blue light flickered in his hands, slowly growing in size, until it was about the size I normally used for my Judgement attacks. It wobbled and flickered, before finally destabilising with a flash. I put up a small shield around us both, and Ash blinked.

"Alex?"

'Hi.' I waved my front leg and lowered the shield.

"What're you doing up? It's kinda late." He asked, as I settled on a branch nearby, again at two feet.

'Says you.' I laughed. 'Went for a bit of a fly.'

"Fair enough. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd do something productive." He gestured around the area. "It's sort of working. I can get the sphere up most times, it's just a question of when it destabilises."

'Well, at least you're not working with Judgement.' I chuckled, remembering our practise area. 'That was a lot of holes.'

"Judgement's the attack that explodes into meteors, right?" He checked.

'Yup.' I nodded. 'Want a lift?'

"What do you mean?" He looked faintly nervous.

'Well, clouds are always good for sightseeing.' I offered. 'I won't let you fall, I promise.'

"...Sure." I floated down to ground level, landing next to him before going back to the five feet I had been.

'You can hold onto the ring if you want.' I told him, belatedly swapping types back to normal. 'I'll keep a bubble up anyway, but I don't mind.'

"Ok." He wrapped an arm around the edge of the ring, and I floated upwards a few feet, forming a small, dim bubble of psychic power around us.

'One Arceus elevator going right up!' I announced, quickly rising towards the cloud I'd been sat on previously. Ash was shivering, and I'd almost swapped to Fire again before I realised that wasn't the issue. I stopped and looked around. He was holding tightly to the ring with his eyes closed, and taking sharp breaths that Pokemon hearing easily picked up. I nudged him gently. 'Hey, don't worry. I'm not going to let you fall. You're safe. I've done this with Leo before, and he has with me. Nothing's going to happen.' He reluctantly opened his eyes, and almost glanced down. I pulled his head up with a careful burst of Psychic. 'Don't go looking down, it'll only worry you even more. We're nearly there, then I'll land. Ok?'

"Sure." He shivered again. I quickly ascended the last couple of metres to the cloud, and solidified it again before landing. "Sorry. I don't like heights much."

'I had noticed.' I said sarcastically. 'Sorry. I probably should have thought.'

"Don't worry."

'Anyway, look this way.' I created a small Judgement in front of us, making a little golden-gray glow that lit up the area. It floated forwards, and I rose a metre up to follow, with Ash watching around my head. I pointed out the island I had noticed before, where I thought I could see Rosa's house.

"What is it?"

'Hold on.' I said. Time for another experiment. I organised a small Light Screen in front of us both, angling it so the screen reflected the island, showing it closer up. 'See it now?'

"I think so." He squinted. "Isn't that the island we were on with Rosa and the Lugia twins?"

'Yep. If you look carefully, you can kinda see the hotel they wanted to build.' I moved the screen slightly. 'See?'

"Yeah, I do. Looks pretty cool." We watched for a few seconds before I dispelled the Light Screen and moved slightly.

'We used to do this pretty often, once.' I told my passenger, looking up at the sky. 'We compact the cloud psychically, so we can sit up here. Some Flying and Water types can do it naturally, but we've never learned.'

"Sounds like it was fun."

'It was. We don't do it often anymore, too much of a risk. This is the first time I've bothered since we started our journey together. It's been even longer since I've done it with a passenger.'

"Well, it's nice to see up here." Ash slid off my back, landing on the cloud. "Don't drop this please."

'Don't worry.' I said absently, still looking at the sky. Specifically, a fairly large star in the sky, quite close to us all. 'If I did, I'd catch you anyway.'

"Thanks for the reassurance." He walked, slightly unsteadily, across the cloud, and peered over the edge. "This is ridiculously high up."

'Yeah. There's an air bubble around us, in case you were wondering.'

"Why can't I see it? I assume you're using Psychic for it, right?"

'It's like the illusion field. You know, the one you broke before? It's keeping air trapped in it, but you can't see it. Helps when you want to admire the scenery without any obstructions.'

"Thanks for that." Ash said, walking back. "This is really high up, though."

'We're sitting on a cloud, Ash.' I laughed. 'Why are you surprised?'

"I dunno." He sat down, and almost fell straight through. I grabbed him with Psychic and pulled him onto my back again.

'Careful. It's not completely solid, just compacted. You can still fall through.'

"I suppose you're floating as well, yeah?"

'Sorta. It's weird.' I glanced around, finally ripping my sight from that star, and caught sight of the moon instead. 'We should probably get some sleep. Ready to drop?'

"Please don't tell me we're going skydiving." He mumbled, glancing down worriedly.

'Of course not. If you want to, then sure thing. But not right now.' I smiled back at him.

"Thanks for that." He patted my head. "Quick question first? You don't have to answer."

'Shoot.'

"What's that star you were looking at? That huge one." I glanced up instinctively, before facing my friend again.

'It's a long story, but the short version is that it's home.'

"Home?"

'Yeah. It's where Bella and Amy are right now. I guess I can't help wanting to be there with them.'

"Can we back up a bit? What do you mean about it being your home?"

'Long story. More a history lesson, to be honest. I'll tell you another time. Preferably when it's not one in the morning.'

"Alright. Down we go, then?"

'Yep.' I released my Psychic hold on the cloud, then the illusioned air bubble around it, before forming a new one and dropping. Ash held tightly onto the ring, and I chuckled. 'You ok back there?'

"Sure!" He called back. I slowed down, and halted about three feet off the ground in the clearing Ash had been in before. He slid off, and I landed, swapping back to human again. "But tomorrow, mind telling me what it's all about?"

"Sure. When we take a break to do Aura, I'll put up a psychic privacy field or something." I shrugged. "Never actually done that, but I can try my best to do it. That, or we can just world it instead."

"No worldlet, if you don't mind." Ash said. "I don't feel like it's a good idea."

"Fair enough. Is there a reason for it?"

"No." He frowned. "It just feels like something's going to go wrong if we leave."

"Oh?" I asked, confused. "Ever had this sort of feel before?"

"No, just now. Think it's something to with Aura?"

"It might be." I pondered. "We don't really have one, except for the permanent shield we use for warnings, but I know Aura can be much more sensitive to changes like that." Ash looked ready to reply, but I cut him off with a small burst of telepathy. 'Nearly back now, so we'll need to be quiet to avoid waking them up.'

"Isn't there a shield?" He asked, whispering.

'Yep, but it's mine, so the only person to be alerted will be me. No need to worry.'

"Ok." We silently walked back in, and with a non verbal goodnight, went back to bed.

Chapter 2.

I stretched, smiling. A small popping sound alerted me to the fact that my shield had dropped, and I frowned. Shouldn't have done that yet. Maybe it's later than I thought. Looking out, I saw that was mostly correct, since it looked to be about ten. None of the others were awake either, or if they were they weren't in the camp. Well, I can check that. I closed my eyes again, spreading Psychic senses instead of normal ones. The three Pokemon that slept outside were there, and the much more vibrant teal colour of Ash's now wielded Aura. Leo's Psychic imprint, flickering between different colours… and no Crystal.

"Huh." I said aloud. "I wonder where she went."

'She went out, I think.' Spark said, crawling out. 'Dunno really, since I was asleep. Heard her leave, though.'

"Right, thanks." I replied. "Morning, by the way."

'Morning.' She stretched, and sat next to me. 'Think we're doing anywhere today?'

"Don't think so. Let's see…" I counted off. "We did Ash's Pokemon yesterday, so that's done. There's training, but I'm not sure how much we need. I still need to speak with Deku," I winced. "Need to stop putting that off. And the last thing is probably Aura with Ash."

'Which we could do on the road.' Spark finished. 'So, no problem.'

"There is." She looked up at me, and I frowned. "Ash seems to feel we'll run into a problem if we leave today. Aura's sometimes a bit more sensitive to this stuff, so I'd say we stay. Plus, I'd rather talk to Deku here, rather than elsewhere."

'Fine. Would you like one of us to join you?'

"I think… no." I shook my head. Before I finished explaining, Ky slipped out the tent.

'Hey guys.' She said.

"Hi." I patted her. "Say, if either of you two don't mind, I'd like to go talk to Deku soon. I'd like you to stay here, ok?"

'Sure thing.' Ky yawned. 'When'll it be?'

"I'll take Ash to the clearing over thataway," I pointed over to where I'd ran into Ash the night before. "And he can get a bit more Aura stuff done, while I talk with Deku."

"Sounds like a plan." I jumped, turning sharply to face Ash and Pikachu.

"Don't do that!" I yelped.

"Not my fault you're unobservant this morning." He chuckled, sitting down. "Anyway, what's up?"

"Talking about Deku. Though, I suppose you already knew that."

"Sorta. Though, I do know you wanted to talk to him while I work on Aura."

"That's about the size of it, yes." I levitated my bag out of the tent, looking for the note that had been on the book.

"I thought Bella took that?" Ash asked.

"She took the book, yeah. She passed the Pokeballs over to me, and the note too. Thought it'd be easier to explain to Deku with that."

"Well, that makes sense." As we spoke, Pikachu, Spark and Ky wandered off, presumably to have a chat without forcing a translation. Or maybe to stop me listening, I don't know.

"We'll wait for Crystal to get back, then we'll borrow Cobalt and we can head out."

"Where'd Crystal go?"

"Apparently she went out earlier. I assume she went flying, since I'm pretty sure we'd all know if she was teleporting close enough."

"Actually…" Ash looked curious. "You said you can tell if someone's teleporting near you, how come you didn't pick out George yesterday?"

"Lack of focus, lack of familiarity, and the amount of Psychic energy from Saffron." I listed off. "I don't really know that many hybrids very well, honestly. I know George, but the main reason I've noticed him before is because his pattern shows up against just about anything."

"Pattern?"

"It's what we see with Psych Scans. You know, that thing that lets us see Psychic energy?" I waited for his nod before continuing. "I can see the different patterns in people. I mentioned about the first time I saw human patterns, since they're almost purely one colour, with no sign of power. Psychic's always have pink or light purple, Aura seems to be different shades of blue, but most human shades are literally anything. Fainter, normally, but that's actually why I didn't notice you."

"Did you not know about Aura, or was it just because humans have so many shades?"

"Bit of both, honestly." I admitted. "Human patterns can be quite literally any colour, but they're rarely fused with others."

"Say, you mentioned Aura Sight before, right? Do you think it can do the same stuff that your Psych Scans can do?"

"Probably." I frowned. "I'm not really the person to ask, honestly. Cobalt knows more, obviously."

"Well, when Crystal gets back, I'll ask about it." He decided. "I want to see some of the stuff that you guys can. It sounds really interesting."

"It does look really good. Whenever we camp, we actually need to be careful at how much we look around. The number of clashing and mixing colours gets a bit confusing."

"Really?" Ash looked excited. "What does it look like?" I blinked, surprised at his enthusiasm, then shook myself. Alex, you're talking about a world that, as of yet, he has no way of accessing. Of course he'll be excited. I closed my eyes, looking around, giving a description of each.

"Over there, with our Pokemon, is two bright yellows and one dark blue or purple. You look like a teal colour, and Leo's tent is a mix. Mine looks the same, and it looks like all the type patterns mixed. Bella would be pink and green, while Amy is just plain pink, like her form as a Mew. Crystal is an ice blue and sky blue, with streakings of pink that show her Psychic affinity, despite it not being a main type." I finished, looking at Ash with a smile. "It looks pretty cool." I reached up towards the small set of clay 'plates' that went with my other form, brushing against each.

"Man, I need to talk to Cobalt about getting Aura Sight working, fast." He grinned back. "That does sound really cool." He sighed. "Wish you could teach me how it works."

"Actually…" I thought. "I might be able too."

"How?" He perked up.

"Well, the way I do Psych Scans, I focus on my Psychic power, in the same way I would to use Psychic, then focus on using that to look around."

"Huh. Why close your eyes?"

"It blocks out normal light, so it's not so distracting." I replied. "So, what do you say? Fancy giving it a go?"

"Sure." I stood, and offered my hand to help him up.

"Well, let's not do it here. You might dazzle yourself." I started walking to the clearing Ash had been using before I'd arrived the night before, the Adept following behind. "Changed your mind about the skydiving, by the way?"

"Nope." He replied quickly. "No thanks. Not unless you've earned the ability to clone yourself overnight." I laughed quietly.

"Suit yourself. I'll get you sometime, though. Either skydiving or ocean exploration, it'll be your pick." We reached the clearing again, and I sat down, bading him to follow. "Now, ready to give it a go?"

"Sure." He sat in front of me, closing his eyes. "Can you explain your method again?"

"Sure. I focus on the power wells I use when using an attack, or even just for telepathy. Then, I focus on making that see for me, instead of looking myself." I explained. "From there, I can pick out the patterns of other hybrids, of Pokemon, and of people. However, the environment doesn't show up, so while it's more useful to find people hiding in forests, working on tracking those people is harder, since it's more likely I'd run into trees or fall over something." He grinned, chuckling, then went silent. I leaned back, knowing he was focused on using his Aura. Honestly, I'm surprised he's as good as he is. Considering we only picked up Aura training a few days back, he's really learned fast. I smiled slightly. Suppose it's enthusiasm. I sat back, ready for a long wait until he figured it out.

It actually took less time than I would have expected. Around fifteen minutes after Ash had first gone silent, he let out an excited gasp.

"What?" I sat up, looking at him. "What's wrong?"

"I got it!" He said happily. "At least, I think I did."

"Really?" I grinned, moving over. "What's it like?"

"Blue. Lots and lots of blue." He deadpanned. "Well, shades of blue. The trees and stuff are a lighter blue, but most the world is just a dark blue." I raised an eyebrow, then remembered he couldn't see me, and replied, closing my eyes and activating a Psych Scan myself.

"Huh. That's kind of similar to mine, actually. Lots of pink, but nothing shows up in other shades. The world shows up light pink, but the only other things that show up are people and Pokemon, with the little coloured patterns."

"Yeah. Not so different after all, then." I opened my eyes as Ash turned to look at me from observing the scenery, and winced, quickly looking away. "Ouch!"

"What's up?" I asked, moving forwards.

"Nothing, just dazzled me, that's all. You show up really brightly."

"Ah." I nodded. "Right. We could probably learn to dampen that, or you can turn down how you see it, maybe?" I guessed.

"We'll talk to Cobalt about it." Ash said, finally opening his eyes again. A faint blue glow faded from his eyes, and he looked over to me. "We should head back then, huh?"

"Yeah. We've not been gone that long, but we might as well. Walk, or shall I teleport us back instead?"

"Let's just walk back." Ash decided, after a few moments. "Teleporting is fun and all, and it's definitely faster, but it makes me feel a little wobbly after we land."

"Fair enough. I think it's one of the things you get used to in time." I stood up and shrugged. "But hey, I don't mind." I held out my hand to help him up, and smiled. "Hopefully Crystal's back now."

"Yeah. There's quite a bit I want to talk with Cobalt about Aura." His eyes shone slightly with enthusiasm, and I chuckled quietly, heading back through the forested area to the adjacent clearing that our camp lay in. Once our camp came into sight, I flickered to a Psych Scan for a moment, just long enough to check for Crystal's pattern in the camp, before returning to normal.

"Come on, Crystal's back. I'll be over here for a while, just to talk with Deku. I'll meet you all back there in a bit."

"Ok." He ran ahead as I veered off to the right, a little while away from the camp.

"Right. Deku, come on out." My little shiny Ivysaur came out in a sparkle of light.

'What do you need Alex?' He asked, shaking out his flower. His tone turned sharp. 'And what about Eve and sis? Are they alright? What happened with the Rockets? And-' I raised a hand, gently cutting him off.

"Hold on, and calm down, ok dear? I'll start explaining." He took a breath and nodded. "Ok. First, we might have screwed up slightly." I saw panic flash across his face, and could only imagine what he might be thinking we messed up with, so I quickly continued. "Don't worry, it's nothing really serious. Ash knows about hybrids now, that's all."

'Oh.' Relief flashed across his face, but it was followed by worry. 'Isn't that bad for you, though?'

"Eh, it could be, except there's no problem with him knowing. We were worried at first, but he's been fine about it. Actually…" I paused, thinking. "I should tell that to the rest of the team."

'As in, everyone except Ky, Spark and me, right?'

"Jade and Tele too. They were in the last gym battle. Anyway, I'm telling you all this because Ash's team knows too, so feel free to have conversations with them, but be careful. We never know who hears us."

'Alright.'

"Next, well… You asked about Lucia and Lucian, as well as your family." I paused, trying to find a nice way to put it, before sighing. "Well, we learned a bit about that too." I pulled the small letter out of my pocket, and unfolded it. He took it carefully, and started reading. Once he'd finished, he folded it back up and passed it over, taking a small, shuddering breath. I took the page, putting it back in my pocket, and leaned over, picking him up with a huff of effort and a small, equalising blast of Psychic. "You ok?"

'Yeah… yeah… I'll be fine.' He stuttered out. I gave a low, calming hum, and he pressed into my chest a little. 'It's just… an odd revelation, I suppose. I still sort of hate them, given what they did. But now, I know that they did it for a reason, and not a reason they agreed with. It's a really conflicting feeling, and I really don't like it.'

"That's fair, honestly." I allowed. "I mean, it's nothing like how most of us felt, but I think Crystal went from 'freeze them solid and murder them' to 'slap them repeatedly' in the span of a few seconds." Deku chuckled.

'Yeah.' He shook his head. 'What're Shadow Pokemon? The message said Bella would probably know, but...?' He looked pleadingly at me.

"Sorry, I don't really know." I sighed. "I know a bit. There're Pokemon that've been locked out of themselves, and I know they appeared in Orre a while back, which Lucia mentioned. Other than that, I've got nothing. Bel's not here, either. She had to head back home with Amy and a friend of ours. She's got a book on all documented Shadow Pokemon, and the book Lucian left behind, but there's nothing else."

'Oh...' The leaves on his back wilted slightly, but he smiled tightly at me. 'So, these Shadows that got Eve and sis made them Shadow Pokemon, then?'

"That's right." I patted his head. "We'll do all we can to get them back to you. I promise."

'Thank you.'

"I'll be calling the rest of you out later, since I need to talk with everyone together about the hybrid thing, and something else. However, I'll keep the Shadow Pokemon thing between the lot of us, unless you want to say something, and I'll make sure the others don't bother you about it."

'Thanks Alex.' I held up the Pokeball, and he disappeared with a small smile. Standing, I went back into the camp, to find that Ash and Cobalt were talking over to one side, and the three starters were still talking.

"Hey Alex." Crystal waved.

"Howdy." I went and sat down next to them. "Where've you been?"

"Just went to fly for a bit. Went to a small form and dropped to the ocean for a while. Went to the depths and set up a glow to look around."

"Sounds like fun." Leo said. "See anything?"

"Not really." She shrugged. "Lots of underwater caves, but nothing else. Could be fun to explore when we get some spare time, but there's not really much from what I can see."

"We should go diving a bit more, honestly." I stretched. "It's fun, plus we don't need to worry about Ash anymore."

"True." Crystal sighed.

"What's bugging you?" Leo asked.

"Nothing much. It's just Melody."

"Ah." I nodded. "You want to be there to, and want to help her out, but you can't because Bella wants you to stay here."

"Pretty much." She admitted. "But I also want to stay here so I can keep an eye on you three and help out. Plus, Cobalt's needed here to help Ash out, and while I could just leave him with you, the other thing comes into effect there."

"Well, feel free to spend time in bird mode whenever you need too." I told her. "Along with heading home every now and then if you need to."

"Thanks." She laughed. "Now I've got your permission, I guess there's nothing to fear!" We all burst into laughter as the other Pokemon, along with Ash, joined us.

'What's so funny?' Spark asked.

"Oh, nothing much." Crystal grinned, already looking to be in much higher spirits. "Anyway Ash, how's the plan going?"

"It's ok. Still can't look around here without dazzling myself, but I think I can manage to get around that. Until then, I just can't look in your direction when using it."

'It's rather odd that I never had that problem, actually.' Cobalt thought. 'I know they showed up brightly, but I never had a problem with it.'

"I guess you were just used to it already." I hazarded. "I mean, you lived in a hybird city before you came here."

'True.'

"Anyway, is there anything else you need?" Crystal asked. "If not, why don't we get a move on to the next gym you guys need?"

"Yeah, I think I'm fine." Ash nodded. "After all, we can work on the road."

"Right then." Leo stood, psychically grabbing the tents and packing them into the bag Crystal was holding. Spark and Ky ran over to me, while Pikachu jumped to Ash's shoulder. Cobalt grinned.

'Well, onwards then!' He said. 'I'll see what I can figure out about the intesity of the light, but you might just have to spend a lot of time in Aura Sight around the others to get used to it.'

"Right." Ash replied. "I'll try that."

'Though, we might need to be careful. Remember, you're naturally frailer when it comes to using Aura, so try not to drain your reserves. It'll kill you.'

"Ok Cobalt, calm it down with the warnings." Crystal told him. "After all, I'm sure-" Suddenly, she froze, and cocked her head to the side.

"Crys?" I asked, worried. "What's wrong?"

"Shush." She said, focusing. "Didn't any of you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Ash asked, before my twin and I froze too. I focused, and felt a little Psychic tendril brush past me.

"Try focusing. You might feel it too." I told him, as the other two went silent. I scanned around with a small tendril of power, looking for the little push I'd felt before. It didn't take long for me to find it, with the others looking too, so I sent a little signal to call their Psychic feelers over, while just taking Ash's small flicker of Aura with me. Sabrina's voice washed over us, and I struggled to listen.

'Amy, Bella, Crystal! I need help! There's a massive group of Rocket's here, they're taken over most the city! I'm trapped, even my Pokemon can't cause much of a dent to the sheer number of them! I was hoping you'd be able to assist!' The message broke off, and the four of us who'd heard traded worried glances. Our Pokemon looked among each other, confused, until Leo replayed the message to them.

'Well would you look at that.' Ky said neutrally.

'Looks like it's back to Saffron for us.' Cobalt added.

"Of course." Ash agreed. "I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll try and help you guys out."

"Well, you should be fine. At least you don't have a debuff." Leo winced.

'Just avoid Aura Sight. It'll be pink all over.' Cobalt recommended.

"Well, to fighting Team Rocket, then?" I asked, to a collection of nods.

"And hoping that we don't run into Lucia and Lucian." Crystal mentioned, to further nods of agreement from the rest of us. Spark and Pikachu swapped grins, and Cobalt cracked a smirk.

'Let's go.'

AN: And straight back into the action we go for New Years!

P: Really?

T: Of course! Who doesn't love a bit of excitement!?

SV: Plus most of my other stories start really slowly, because of the amount of exposition I need to get through. This one, being a sequel, doesn't need that, since it's in New Beginnings.

P: I guess. I just didn't expect this to be so soon.

T: Well, why wouldn't it be? They're right next to Saffron, after all.

SV: Anyway, I'm glad to be back at work on this fic. It was great fun writing the first part, I've got so many plans for this one it's ridiculous, and the rest has more to come! Hopefully you'll all enjoy reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it, but I'll see you all next time!