And Jango's back! Did you miss me? No? Whatever. You probably missed this story though!

Just finished setting a trap into the front lawn, which Hyperjade will be falling into later. Good fun, and it's non-lethal. I think.

We had reviews! I will respond to the ones not involving specific character bios, because people don't need spoilers, according to Hyper. Hyper himself has some responses too, but who wants to hear that?

"To Northwest Brony: i agree that Servine's character development happened rather quickly. My attempt was to show the impact Caleb would have on the people in this world with who he is. And hey, you don't have to wait long for the next installment, you're about to read it!"

Yeah, Servine changed real quick. I asked Hyper to explain, and he said something about Servine not having figured out who she was at that point or whatever.

"To Phillip Harbindinger: Thank you very much!"

I can imagine. Many PMD fictions involve retelling the game anyhow.

"Don't be rude now, Jango"

How did you... Never mind. I guess you could guess what i would say. I was/will be your character after all...

"To Pigeoncracker: I am sorry the ending was not satisfying, and i am glad that the sequels planned for the story will continue on for a while to come."

Books are like drugs for you, huh? Something worth being addicted to, I guess.

Right then! The first chapter of book two is upon you! Go ahead, read it!

Chapter 1: The Morning

⽯Caleb's POV⽯

The sun. Brilliant, burning, and crucial to survival. Most people view it as just that, the sun. A miracle, they would call it. Life giving, warmth bringer, a symbol of hope and a new day, the start of everything, even the day.

I was not most people. I view it as what it physically is. Most see it as the shining light that starts everything. I see it's physical side. I know what a star is, the burning sphere of plasma out in space that happens to provide light and warmth to our planet, and if the planet was any further or any closer to the sun, it is less likely to sustain life. I know what a sun is, and how even the brightest of stars eventually die.

At least, I used to be that way. I still know something for what it is, but I try to avoid that 'it'll die eventually' kind of stuff. I was growing up… No, I was doing the opposite of that. I was degrading back to childhood. I was slowly becoming a kid again.

I was walking away from the guild this morning right now. I was looking at the sunrise and thinking everything is off of my chest. Everything will be all right.

At the same time, I still knew what the sun actually was. I was old enough to know that I needed to be professional, at least if no one else will. I needed to be analytical to help people succeed, just like I have always done.

However, I have allowed myself to laugh a few times while with my friends. I feel amused by their jokes and their antics as they jest and play around me. I watch them talk and play and blow things up… It's all fun and games to them, and it is life here.

A definite change to where I used to live. I had to decide whether it was a welcome change to me or not still. These guys made violent demolition of the surrounding areas whilst sparring look fun and inviting. It was fun to them, it was fun to everyone who lived here. This is what they do best, battling and sparring.

My friends. There was Servine. An interesting person. She acts differently in different times, like she is unsure of who she is. Her personality is in a constant state of flux, and she always had funny things to say in response to things. She had a bad side though, I learned that if you mess with her, you get roughed up badly. She does seem to be finding a personality that she will stick to at this point, however.

Then there was Mightyena. The guy was interesting. He had been a nasty person when I first met him, then he had a crush on my teammate, and then he was like this. He enjoyed fighting, which made sense considering who he was. Even after what happened during the first moment I met the guy, he was probably one of my closest friends here. He had some conflict in his emotions as well. He was practicing intimidating foes for the upcoming battle, and was practicing turning invisible with a faint attack. Loyal to the end, that one.

After those two came Jake. He used to be rather afraid of me, and I suppose that besides the obvious bit about my being involved in a few deadly situations, I did look rather intimidating. It took a while for that fear to evaporate completely. He could destroy me in a fight, after all. The amnesiac had plenty to do with some of the events around here, and he even saved the world at one point.

His buddy, Swampert, was big and imposing, but he was actually quite nice. Kind of like Kangaskhan, but he is willing to fight and along with Jake, saved the world at one point. He was a good listener, while Mightyena might ask someone to get to the point, Swampert was patient and willing to listen while someone, say me, blabbered on about something using more words than I have to. His strength was impressive.

After that, there were Servine's and Mightyena's teammates. Bastiodon, Machoke, and the tangela twins. Those twins were odd. They spoke at exactly the same time and had the same voice, and showed no apparent emotion unless they were laughing.

Machoke was a powerhouse. Unable to toss attacks around through the air and destroy things from a distance, he preferred to use his impressive strength to beat foes into submission. He tried to avoid the antics of my friends, preferring to sleep against a tree and join in when the actual training starts.

Bastiodon is slow, but easily the most powerful of us. He could take any of us out in one hit, the problem was hitting us. The guy took so long to turn around it was just embarrassing. However, if any of us got hit with a flash cannon… We were done for. Bastiodon was basically a physical wall with few weaknesses. In a way, he literally is a wall. The beginners to fighting, like me, practice dodging by avoiding these flash cannons and trying not to get instantly knocked out. A tough thing to do because Bastiodon was learning to shoot ahead of targets. The amount of times I have suddenly blacked out with quite a bit of pain to this date…

And after that, there were my teammates. The first was Shedinja. He could only say his name for some reason, ever since he went through a process called 'evolution', which does not follow the pattern of actual evolution apparently. I had yet to learn anything about it. Shedinja used to be called Nincada, pre 'evolution'. He did not talk much even then, but he had useful things to say when he did. Shedinja was creepy now, always being silent and viewing the scenarios in front of him with no passion whatsoever. He was not able to. He was able to understand us, and he trained himself just as we trained, but we could no longer understand him. Regardless, he has been a good friend to me in the time I could speak with him, and I intended to be a good friend in return.

Finally, the last person in this circle of friends… Well, I don't really know if I can call her a friend. She is plenty friendly, and her personality is definitely good. She was friends with the others, but nowadays, she is almost my worst enemy at this point. She, however, does not think so. The silly girl is hopelessly in love with me, to the point where she won't ever leave me alone. Her name is Sarah. Sarah, well, as far as I can tell, she is a slightly insane, lovestruck pyromaniac. Maybe that's not completely fair, but she likes to use flamethrowers, she is completely and scarily attached to me, and she won't ever, ever leave me alone. She scares me, really.

Those were the people in front of me. The people responsible for my recovery. My friends. Allies. If it was not for them, I may not be around. I actually owe my life to Sarah, and have told her this, but every conversation with her turns into her trying to do something to make me interested. She never used to act like that, but she slowly got worse and worse over time until she eventually became unbearable and I had to flee from her repeatedly.

When it had been a choice between getting me back to my old home and being stuck here forever, Servine had been willing to stop Sarah at any cost, but at this point it was useless to try and stop the crazy girl. Now I simply told her to make the best of it, and I would just run away when I needed to. She would find someone else eventually.

I hoped.

Oh, dear. It seems I have forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Caleb. I am an absol. At least recently. Others think I am strong, that I am the impenetrable leader. I do not know if they are right, but I feel that I am not as much as they think I am.

I had been told by an absol that it was more than humility, and that it was more like pessimism. Maybe so, but I knew there were pokemon stronger than me. There would always be someone stronger, and I would not dare forget that. Just like I would not dare forget what my world was like. What my old life was like.

Yeah, I said 'my world'.

This world, full of pokemon, was not originally my world. Servine, Mightyena, Jake, Shedinja, and everyone else are pokemon. I am an absol, but I was not always one. I used to live in a world where it was easy to bleed, in a world that had wars and destruction and other terrible things that ended in death. Yet, it was also the world that had many achievements. We made it to the moon. We did many things as a species.

I am talking about the human world, of course. I am a human. Am human named Caleb, forever trapped in this body. The body of an absol, the mind and experience of a human. The other human who has come to this world, Jake, had lost his memories.

Jake. The raichu currently blasting Servine with enough electricity to fry anything. She stood shakily to her feet. Grass types do repel electricity. It was intense how much punishment a pokemon can take compared to a human. That blast could have torn a human apart.

"Nicely done taking that thunderbolt while he was wearing his scarf." I praised. Servine had been knocked out in one hit the first time that happened. Now she was strong enough to handle one of them.

"Th-th-thanks," she stammered, shuddering from the paralysis and the high voltage coursing through her body "Th-th-That m-means a 'l-lot to m-me, really."

Inwardly I chuckled. Her slightly sarcastic tone was always amusing to me. Mightyena was the one chuckling out loud. "Listen to you, stammering. You acting shy today? Is that the personality you picked for today?" he said, and earned himself a vine whip to the top of his sorry skull for his attempt at humor.

Now I chuckled. "You earned that, Mightyena" I chuckled. My friend glowered at me.

"You're next," he said coldly.

Jake looked over at me, and I did not miss the uncertainty in his eyes. "Uh… You really want to try?"

"Not necessarily, Mightyena," I growled, glaring back at the wolf-like pokemon. He grinned his grin full of fangs. Servine sighed over to the side, while the tangela brought her her cheri berry and oran berry, the berries for curing paralysis and healing the body respectively.

Servine does not like cheri berries it seems, as she cringed upon eating one. I have never gotten it in words, but it was quite clear; regardless, she stopped sparking and and her electrical burns disappeared as she ate the two berries.

I call them berries because that was what the pokemon called them, but oran berries were about the size of a tomato, and was a bright blue with a thick stem. The cheri berry was near the size of a cherry, but a little larger, and the few times I have eaten one, it had no pit. They were actually somewhat spicy, and I do not like spicy food. On the other hand (paw, sorry), Mightyena apparently loves spicy food. He uses this thing called a tamato berry in the drinks he makes in spinda's cafe. How spicy are they? Don't ask me.

This world was completely impossible, really. Berries that can heal a good amount of your wounds, berries that can heal triple that, berries to cure burns, paralysis, and poison, and those were just the ones I have seen in action. Apparently there is one to thaw someone out of ice. I don't know how it works, other than that it should not work.

Either way, Servine was ready for battle again. "Caleb, it's your turn to spar with me," she told me. I had not fought her yet, nor had I seen her get serious before, but now I saw resolve in her eye. This would be a real fight.

"I suppose I am out of practice now?" I conceded, walking into the makeshift arena "I had best learn to fight without having a ridiculously powerful weapon at my disposal". Servine smirked at that. "Yes, such a shame your evil, terrifying crystal blade of darkness shattered" she teased. The weapon I mentioned had been a crystal I had found in a cave around the time that I found myself here. It had been a useful weapon that absorbed attacks and allowed me to sweep enemies easily, but it also reflected emotions. and when those emotions grew too powerful, the blade started affecting things, even transforming Mightyena and I into raging monsters.

The thing had broken after that, and there was no chance I would ever try and repair it. Most of the blade had been buried anyhow; nevertheless, the fact that I had not known how dangerous it was was yet another thing I blamed myself for. A sore spot, if you will. I looked away in reaction to Servine's comment, and my expression was probably not too happy.

"Oh, Sorry, Caleb," Servine quickly amended, "I know that was insensitive-"

"And yet it is me who should be apologizing, is it not?" I asked rather harshly "I had plenty of reasons to throw that terrible thing away, but I did not. I am at fault here."

"Caleb…" Sarah said, speaking up now. Not even she liked it when I blamed myself for things. Then again, why should I not? I kept the stupid blade, I failed to go home when I had the chance, I almost starved myself to death in my sleep, and I attacked Sarah in my anger. What about that wasn't my fault? Nothing. That was what. Nothing could be blamed on anyone else. I kept full responsibility.

"Shut it!".

Something whacked me on the top of my head, driving my head down. The pain shocked me out of my thoughts for the moment. Servine had given me a whack with… Was that a flail!?

"Promise me, Caleb," Servine demanded, "promise me you will stop blaming yourself. it's over, and you need to act like it's over!"

She had a glowing green flail in one hand, a rapier in the other; prepared for the sparring match we were supposed to have. Had she pulled those out of thin air?

It took me a moment to realize what she wanted, and I was reluctant to comply. "But I am to blame!" I protested, causing her to scowl. Deep down, I think I knew she just wanted me to let things go and be happier, but was that possible for me? I thought not. "Listen to yourself, Caleb, you are begging us to treat you badly, no matter what we say, and frankly, it's getting pretty tiring. maybe it is your fault, but i… no, none of us give a damn about that! it's in the freaking past! Forget it, and promise me you will stop blaming yourself!" Servine screamed at me.

I blinked. I have never seen Servine get so angry at any point. She was downright furious with me now, just because I was blaming myself. t was my fault, I knew that, but I saw now that it was only hurting the others when I acted like that.

I looked at my friends, and teammates. Mightyena was staring at me, a hard look in his eyes. He agreed with Servine wholeheartedly. Machoke had actually came over to see what the ruckus was, and seeing me look at him, he nodded. Bastiodon also nodded. The tangela behind Servine were shaking themselves up and down. Shedinja was impassive as always, but when I gazed at him, he said "Shedinja".

And then there was Sarah. Her eyes held a sadness I had not seen for a while. Her undying, beyond annoying love for me mostly dominated her eyes, but now there was a sadness instead. Even she thought I was just hurting myself and everyone around me.

Shedinja bobbed up and down now, catching my attention. He had apparently realized that he could not speak and communed with me another way. Everyone agreed with Servine.

But why would I lie to myself? Why would I pretend that I was not to blame? Servine… saying that I was basically begging for them to treat me badly… I was, was I not? Who am I to hurt them like that? If it were just me…

But Servine and the others clearly agree. They think I am just hurting us all like that, and if they all agree… They must be right. I must be wrong. To think that I have been hurting them for so long at this point… Depressed and alone, that was what I was. My friends, the pokemon who care for me, all trying to save me from myself.

...How could I have been so selfish?

They were all right. But one thing I feared was promises. I always feared breaking a promise if I made one. Was I brave enough to promise that I would not do this to my friends anymore, to at least keep this to myself?

No. I was not brave enough. Did they deserve it? Yes, They deserve to be treated properly. My mind was blank for a few minutes as I gathered courage. Finally, I focused only on the people in front of me, friends, teammates, one and the same. I let go of things and focused on their faces. Finally, I gave a weak smile.

"I… Promise…" I got out. I snapped to attention, and widened my smile. After a few minutes of trying to forget everything wrong with the world, as I had just promised to do, my smile became real. "I promise to never take my past out on you all. I am sorry, I have been insensitive," I said.

After five seconds, what I said sunk in. Everyone broke into the biggest smiles I have ever seen in my life, and all looking right at me. It warmed my heart, seeing those smiles, and I found a sense of euphoria rising in my chest. My smile widened as well, and I knew that even if I found myself thinking these things, I would not let those thoughts control me. I would do my best to never subject my friends to that. Ever.

Servine game be a hug, which turned my happiness to horror for just a moment as I tried to escape the grass type's grasp, but she was actually pretty strong. I grunted and tried to pull away while the others laughed. My head was being tilted to the side as Servine was pushing down my single horn on the side of my head.

My grunt was muffled by the leafy skin the plant snake had. I remembered with a smile how I had accidentally bitten it and realized it tasted like spinach. Oh, if I did that again, I would die a painful death by a vengeful grass snake pokemon.

I had not expected her to get up close and personal with her hug, but there was no real affection behind it, just relief and happiness that I was doing better. Mightyena reminded me of Shadow somewhat, the character from Homeward Bound, at least the loyalty bit and the never giving up bit. If Shadow had been a shadow ball throwing mightyena, that is. His personality when he was not practicing intimidating people definitely reminded me of that. Mightyena, like Servine, had not known really who he was after that little change of heart, but he was figuring it out slowly, just as Servine has been doing.

I wondered which character or person Servine now reminded me of. She was finding herself, and she seemed to be a powerful individual but happened to enjoy certain things and when she gets them, she acts more like the stereotypical fun loving girl. At times she was also terrifying, like if two of my friends not into an argument and she went to break it up. I remembered a time when Sarah and Mightyena were bickering, like they have been doing recently.

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Sarah had said.

"Yes, Sarah, I do, and if you don't really want to pay attention, you won't see why i'm right. You need to listen for once in your life!" Mightyena had responded.

Then Servine, taking notice of the argument, immediately put on her disappointed face and looked at the two of them. "Is there a problem?" She had asked coldly, and you could practically see a dark aura of disappointment around her that scared the crap out of the rest of us.

"We're sorry. We'll be quiet now…" Mightyena and Sarah had whimpered immediately, stunned at the change and quite afraid. I had been fearful as well.

And that was why I am glad Servine was being a happy person right now. No dark aura of disappointment for me, and I probably would have been easier to convince to make a promise if she had done that to me. The only person scarier than her would probably be an angry Chimecho.

Who does she remind me of?

Servine released me, and I stumbled back, looking at the girl apprehensively. After a moment, I did as I was told and dropped it. "You wanted to spar? I am afraid I won't offer too much of a challenge yet…" I asked.

"Not yet. If it's the last thing I do, you are going to be the toughest absol in the bunch" she said, and I felt a chill "Let's start with some dodging".

She picked up her weapons. I decided to stall because I was still unsure about fighting like this. "You use a flail and rapier?" I asked, putting the sense of being impressed into my voice. I was impressed, after all.

"Is 'rapier' the word for a sword in your world?" she asked. So many human words somehow in the pokemon vocabulary for whatever reason, and they don't know 'rapier'? "It is a type of sword, and there are many types of swords. That blade would be best used for thrusting and stabbing attacks, though it looks like you can do at least some slashing with it. And the other weapon… A flail?"

"You call this thing a flail?" she asked, looking at the ball and chain. I nodded in response. "Yes, they are typically used for heavily armored knights who prefer slow and powerful weapons, and that thing is pretty big even by flail standards".

I frowned for an instant of an instant.

Slow and heavy weapon as well as a lightweight fast weapon… That is a conflict of fighting style if I have ever seen one…

Then again, if she was using them, that must mean she could make it work. "Right then, we had best get to battle then," I said, and immediately earned a glowing flail to the mouth. I yelped in pain as I tumbled away.

That freaking hurt! Time for me to get serious…

But I hesitated again, because fighting just was not my thing. However, I had to get used to it, maybe even learn to enjoy it. Sarah looked like she wanted to help, glaring at Servine, but I shot her the harshest warning glance I could. I needed to deal with this myself.

Servine was in my face already. By everything, she was fast! Her rapier flew forward in a rapid stabbing maneuver, moving fast enough to appear like she had multiple blades. That hurt too, but I was not being flung anywhere.

Acting like what Servine definitely did not expect, I stood my ground instead of stumbling away and swung a scratch at her. My horn glowing a brilliant white with powerful normal type energy, I tried to carve her face while enduring the pain. If there is one thing I can handle, it is pain.

She leaped up and avoided my strike, which was not surprising considering my poor speed compared to her, and way too late I noticed a familiar green spike ball.

THUNK!

I was sent flying again, out of the clearing and into a tree, where my horn caught a tree branch and I was just hanging there, a slightly deadpan look on my face. The others looked up at me, and if it were an animated show, I would say they had a drop of sweat on their heads as they saw the result.

That is enough of that.

I powered up scratch, the branch getting cut off as my blade grew sharper in response. The white energy held as I hit the ground running. I had almost failed to do that, but things were going well so far. Now I had to actually land one blow. One hit, and I would be happy with my performance.

Just one hit was what I needed. One hit was not going to happen. Serving darted around me in a blur of green and white, glowing with the power of quick attack. I tried to turn around, but my back was slammed by a certain flail and flattened me against the ground, my legs splayed painfully outwards in both directions, making me give a yip of pain.

Did I mention I hate the way my voice now makes dog-like sounds when I involuntarily yelp in pain? I don't think I mentioned it.

I tried to look up only to find myself getting stabbed repeatedly by that awful rapier. Servine could take me down blindfolded, I bet. Blindfolded and wearing weights.

I was already losing consciousness, my vision blurring. I tried to throw Servine, and thanks to my superior muscles, I was able to toss her. She landed gracefully and looked at me. "Impressive. Not many people stand up after tha-"

I dropped to the floor and lost consciousness.

⻤Shedinja's POV⻤

Huh.

"Caleb!" Sarah cried out, running to her beloved and making sure he was all right.

"Hang on a minute, he looked fine a moment ago!" Mightyena protested, looking at my friend. He was out cold, his horn stabbed into the dirt. Again.

Not being able to talk was a serious hinderance on me, but we seemed to communicate somewhat respectively. At least for now. In the middle of combat, I would not be able to help much other than blasting something when I got the chance. it was a good thing that Caleb had at least somewhat understood me when I was talking to him considering a promise. I get the sense he does not like making promises.

"Yes, it seems that he was doing his best to remain standing, but he just did not have the power to stand. We must work on that," Servine said, crossing her arms and her weapons fading out of existence.

"Whoa there, Servine," Mightyena said, "You're talking like Caleb now? Do we have another Caleb in our midst? Nature save us!".

"What was that?" Servine asked, her voice cold and her disappointed aura rippling from her. It was actually pretty scary at this point. Mightyena jolted back. "Ah, nothing! Nothing!" he said, trying to avoid the grass type's wrath. Sarah chose the wrong time to laugh at Mightyena.

"And you…" Servine said, turning her newfound evil look at Sarah, who immediately recoiled and looked like she was thinking I've made a grave mistake!

"Uh" she said, looking from Caleb to Servine and back. Did she really want to challenge Servine? Probably not, but she was at least going to stick around. The girl was annoyingly persistent when it came to Caleb, to the point where I wanted to rebuke her at least once an hour as she tried something.

"Yes?" Servine asked. I think she was actually having fun messing with Sarah and Mightyena, who bickered constantly nowadays. They found little things to butt heads over consistently now.

"Uh… I'll just be quiet now…" She said, hoping to avoid a problem. I think Servine did actually smash one of them during one of these events. It had been rather amusing to the others, though I was focusing on something else at the moment, like how I will never be able to drink one of Spinda's drinks again (That would have drawn a tear if I had been capable of crying).

"Good."

Sarah brought out a reviver seed and slipped it into Caleb's mouth, waiting for the small thing to do its magic, and I noticed that she was planning to be right in front of the poor guy when he awoke.

"Sarah, darn it all. You really must let him be. Caleb will not appreciate your antics, and I am frankly surprised he tolerates it at all. Please do not push your luck, Sarah, because you are kind under all of that ridiculous love and emotion that you show that hurts Caleb more than helps him. Be kind," I tried to say.

"Shedinja."

Sarah, startled by my voice, looked up and backed up one step. "What is it, Shedinja?"

I needed to keep her occumpied for another few seconds. Well, I could really say anything, right? "Hello".

"Shedinja."

"What do you think you can possibly do to get Caleb to love you? There is no chance if you act like that"

"Shedinja."

For a moment, I had an urge to say something rather rude. I held myself back. Just because these people could no longer understand me did not mean it was alright to go about throwing insults like a pokemon fond of using fling.

Sarah sighed, and looked down at Caleb again. "No, look at me," I tried to say. "Shedinja."

"Oh, what is it?" Sarah asked irritably now, and Caleb woke up, his wounds healing. He took in the situation and snuck away, stealthier than I have ever seen him. The attempt to avoid Sarah seems to give him more capabilities.

Sarah looked down at where Caleb had been, seeing nothing, and whipping her head about. The human turned absol was nowhere to be seen, and Mightyena was chuckling to himself while Servine was glaring slightly at Sarah.

"Where'd you go?" Sarah asked, looking about. Caleb never answered. The guy had probably cleared out as fast as possible. I could probably find him, though.

I turned invisible with a thought command. Being a ghost type now did have a few advantages. I floated about, trying to spot the missing absol; eventually, I did, and he was sneaking up… On Servine.

you are in trouble if you do that, but be my guest.

Was Caleb was going to try and catch Servine off guard? That was a big mistake for several reasons. Servine was going to take him down in an instant. Mightyena could smell him, and Servine could probably hear him.

He chose now to lunge, and earned a flail to the top of his head. BANG! Caleb dropped like a stone, and Servine had not even turned around. I mentally chuckled at the scene, while my body said "Shedinja".

You have a ways to go, Caleb.

⽯Caleb's POV⽯

"Did you think that would work on me?" Servine asked me, while Sarah came forward with an oran berry.

"I had to try," I responded, "I need to learn how to move quicker and quieter than I can. Attempting such in a real life situation would be the best way to learn, correct?"

Servine nodded, dispelling her flail. My head hurt quite a bit. I went to rub it, but my paw would not reach. Servine chuckled at that. "Oh, you still have human habits. That paw won't help you. Here" she said, starting to rub my head, giving me awful memories and thoughts about how I am doglike now. I shied away while Sarah glared at Servine.

"I would rather not be petted," I told Servine, and then set my attention on Sarah, "and you need to understand that Servine is in no way a threat to your fantasies."

"Fantasies?" Sarah asked somewhat indignantly. I nodded in response. She chose to get closer, and I probably asked for it, but she challenged that by trying to just be near me and talking. "That's not fair and you know it, Furball. You will eventually fall for me, if I have to spend the rest of my life trying!" she said, and tried to nuzzle me on the spot. I slammed her face into the dirt in response, resulting in laughter from Mightyena and Servine giving Sarah a disappointed look.

"Listen up. I need to be training with you guys, and none of us needs to be distracted by your antics. Please, train with us, but don't let something as simple as emotion get in the way."

"Mmmfff…" Sarah replied through the dirt. I let her go and walked to one end of the clearing. "I can focus on being stealthy later. At the moment, I need to learn how to deal with several types of attacks."

"Sarah, please face me in battle" I challenged. Maybe this would get her off my back for a while.

"Wait, you want me to attack you?" she asked incredulously. I nodded, and Servine nodded as well. She understood my reasoning. "Don't be silly" Sarah protested "I won't hurt you".

"Then I will attack," I promised, staring her down, "I need to learn how to avoid widespread attacks like flamethrowers properly, and you are the only one who can do that for me."

"But-" Sarah began to protest before she saw Servine next to her, giving her a death glare. I think Servine was enjoying doing that to Sarah and Mightyena at this point. She quailed at the sight of it, and eventually, reluctantly nodded. When her back was turned to me, Servine gave a smirk.

Yes, she is definitely enjoying scaring those two. It has become a game for her.

Sarah stood uncertainly in front of me. She hesitated, and I had to decide what attack I could use. Sarah would be resistant to a bite attack, and she might get the wrong idea, if that meant anything to pokemon… I could use scratch, but that was rather weak… I could use quick attack, but I thought I may want to use more of that energy dodging than attacking.

I would have to go for scratch, but I had a trick to pull beforehand. Sarah seemed to realize I was serious when white glowing swords appeared around me and began to swirl around me for a bit. This went until they launched upward and my body was enveloped in red light. I felt my muscles pulse as my strength increased tremendously. I set my blade aglow with white, preparing a scratch attack.

"Prepare yourself," I said, deadly calm. Sarah looked apprehensive now, apparently realizing that I was actually going to attack. "Caleb, you're really going to-" Sarah began.

I galloped towards her as fast as I could without tripping and crashing. Her cry of alarm at the concept that I was perfectly willing to attack her was drowned out by her yelp of pain as I struck home with scratch. Sarah was flung away, a visible cut on her face and some of her fur flying.

I had not meant to do that much damage, perhaps I had misjudged just how much my swords dance does. I almost apologized, but I held myself back. This was a fight.

Sarah got up, a look of shock on her face. "Attack me." I ordered. She immediately shook her head no. "Attack me!" I demanded. She looked stunned. "Why won't you attack me!?This is a training exercise!"

"Why would I attack you?" Sarah asked incredulously. I scowled in response. "I need to learn how to dodge fire and water attacks, and maybe even your razor wind if it comes to it. If I do not learn how to fight and dodge, how will our team ever make it past the first round? Sarah, we need to train!"

"Find a fire type," she said, "I won't hurt you. I refuse," This was beyond infuriating. This tournament that I was just in time for meant plenty to everyone here, and so I allowed it to mean something to me. Sarah would get us defeated.

I sighed. "Very well, I shall later. Someone else, who can help me learn to dodge effectively with little effort?" I asked. I avoided Sarah's gaze. Maybe if her feelings were hurt, she would lay off me. It was horrible to consider, but did I have a choice?

yes, I have a choice. I hate it when she gets hurt, especially when I do it. I need to act emotionless at the most.

"Hey, Sarah," I said, looking back at her. She had turned around, but now she looked back at me. She had sadness her eyes. "Listen… I apologize. These actions I am taking; they are not acceptable, Sarah but I need space, all right? Can you do that for me? I don't want to hurt you, Sarah. Understand that you are giving me little choice in the matter."

She blinked. Her eyes showed some confusion. Finally, she looked at the ground, slightly ashamed. I knew that this would not fix the problem in any way, but I had to try. It hurt whenever I messed up her mood. Whatever reasons I had, something just felt very wrong making her feel bad.

"P-please, I won't… I promise I won't bother you during training, alright?" She asked. It was progress, and I think that I can take that. I can recover my sanity while fighting.

"Thank you, Sarah," I said, feeling like I was signing a contract with the devil, knowing I just gave her permission to stick as close as possible to me otherwise.

"Now, do you want to battle, or can someone else give me an attack to dodge?" I asked, changing the topic and forcing myself to look away from Sarah's sparkling eyes. Mightyena and Servine, their gazes said 'You poor sap'.

"My magical leafy chases enemies down," Servine said, making me worry about dealing with that later. She has a lock on attack? Not cool.

Mightyena stepped forward. "My attacks are not as fast as Jake's lighting, though they can still be hard to dodge. Ghost type energy does not do that much to dark types, so getting hit by a shadow ball should not knock you out in one hit." he explained.

At this, I nodded. "Let's get to it. Shall I start dodging from the far end of the clearing?" I asked. He nodded. "That will be a start. For every one you dodge I want you to get closer. Maybe just a few paces. I will be firing constantly. Does that make sense?"

"Yes," I said, moving over to the edge of the clearing. I did not have to look around or even use my absol sense to know he was moving to the other side of the arena. My muscles were bursting with energy, which might make me a bit jumpy, I really did not know for sure, but I shut it down to be safe.

There was a slight standoff when we reached our places before my friend opened his mouth and a sphere of darkness shot out right at me at high speeds. I sidestepped this attack, having plenty of time. It crashed and exploded somewhere in the trees.

Mightyena fired his next one, and this time I jumped to avoid it. My leap led to me sliding to a stop in the dirt ten feet away from where I started as the shadow ball soared past. I realized how different these shadow balls were to normal. They usually were bigger and slower. Sarah's poor attempts to fire them had produced bigger spheres with a small white light in them.

These speedy shots would be more difficult to avoid, which probably was the point. I also noted that I had barely tried, and landed ten feet away. If I jumped with all I had, how far could I go?

Mightyena turned to fire at me. I still sidestepped this one to preserve energy. I took a few steps forward afterward. Mightyena started firing faster as well. Sidestepping no longer allowed me to move forward properly. The goal, I guess, was to get right up to Mightyena.

I jumped, dashed, and sprinted away from the dark bullets coming at me. My reflexes were put to the test now, as the distance became shorter. Surprisingly, I made it halfway with little effort, dodging spheres of destruction that exploded somewhere behind me.

I feel a sense of euphoria now… I am having fun! How am I having fun considering what this is, knowing I will get hurt?

Maybe I simply have been integrated into this society. Maybe I was succumbing to pokemon instincts, considering that those instincts seemed to be far more advanced and specific. It was also possible that I would always have enjoyed this. Whichever was the case, I don't know if I care whether or not I find out.

having to dodge faster was getting tiring. Mightyena was now staggering his shots, making them fly at different angles to hit different parts of me, some even intentionally missing in the hopes I would jump right into one. And impressive display of destruction.

I was now ducking attacks and jumping as well. Mightyena was firing at me while I was in the air, and almost hit me because I could not change course in the air. Dropping to the floor almost got me hit, because my horn was almost high enough to get hit, which would have caused an explosion.

I was practically prancing about when I got within fifteen feet of Mightyena. I was bound to get unlucky eventually.

I did. I jumped when I should have ducked, and the sphere slammed into my underside, blasting me away and halfway across the clearing. The attacks stopped, thankfully. I had scrambled up quick fearing that the attacks would continue.

"Good job," Mightyena said simply, walking forward through the smoke. "That was impressive. Your instincts seem non-functional, considering the decisions you made of where to dodge, but you made up for it with that impressive brain in your skull." he praised.

"Yes, it seems that only the messed up instincts are working right now. Many things have been difficult, and I fear ignoring it in case I get another headache".

Shedinja floated up to us. "Shedinja," he said. I had no idea what he was saying, or if he was asking something or what. It was time to play twenty questions, I guess. "You want to practice some techniques?" I asked. He immediately moved up and down.

"Lucky guess" Mightyena said. I nodded at that. My luck seemed to either be really good or really bad, never anything in between. Seems like today was a good day.

"Servine, if you aren't busy, could you train Shedinja or at least help him learn how to use a few attacks?" I asked. She nodded in response, and Shedinja floated over to her. "Why don't you take Shedinja somewhere where you won't get hit by stray shadow balls. Mightyena, I want to try this again, and then I need to learn a few attacks.

After Mightyena voiced his agreement, we faced off again. I wondered how he had enough power to keep firing like that, but he did not even seem tired. His attacks were faster this time, but I had something to try.

After making it to the middle of the clearing yet again, and the attacks increased, I experimentally put a shadow claw in the way, the same way I had been told I did once while confused. The shadow ball seemed to simply sink into the claw and was absorbed.

My next test was to slash at one, and it was sliced up before exploding seconds later. I could not be moving the claw when I did this, but it was a good thing to be able to do. I absorbed a few more shadow balls before I got back to dodging. As I jumped and ran around like a crazed dog, I had an idea.

I slashed at a shadow ball in a way that made it nearly explode, and leaped up. The smoke around me created a smokescreen and I tried to get to Mightyena as soon as I could.

Unfortunately, Mightyena's sense of smell was beyond excellent, and he knew just where I was. For my attempt at being clever, I earned a shadow ball straight to the face. My yelp of pain was pretty loud, and I noticed that I was flying into the air as Mightyena glowed white and began running about the field.

What the heck are you doing, Mightyena? I asked mentally before I noticed that there were more shadow balls sailing towards me. I was hit by two before I got smart and absorbed the others. The problem was, I was still freaking high.

A fall like this would kill a human, and I was afraid for my life before I remembered how resilient pokemon were. Even so, this was going to hurt. Maybe I would get up without too many problems… Maybe I should try to softland. Practice that.

I tried, I really, really tried, but my attempt at softlanding made my legs splay out the same way as when Servine smashed me, and it hurt just as much if not more. I groaned in pain as I struggled to get to my paws. My legs now screaming from the effort, I somehow managed to stand.

"Impressive. Not smart, but impressive," Mightyena said, coming through the smoke again, "my nose is better than that, Caleb. Maybe that could have worked on somebody else, but not me. That shadow claw trick is good, though."

"Thanks," I muttered, before walking towards the berry pile. I grabbed one of the delicious blue colored berries and chomped it down in seconds. At least I was getting comfortable with eating in this body. My wounds seemingly magically vanished as I finished consuming the fruit in front of me. The pain disappeared.

"You prepared to continue with some actual combat? The shadow claw trick is nice, and I figure that we ought to find out how much you can absorb. I can create some large shadow balls for you to try and absorb or blow up trying".

"Yes, I ought to learn something other than scratch to add to and my shadow claw. This attack can't hurt everything" I said, showing him my shadow claw. He nodded. I thought about what I knew. I could use bite, a dark type move that made my teeth longer and sharper, and added strength into my jaw. This allowed me to bite into things easily and painfully. Then, I knew scratch, a basic attack, and then shadow claw. Those were the basic moves I had, not mentioning swords dance.

"I should be able to teach you crunch," he muttered. I raised a brow, and he explained, "a version of bite that has more dark power, but has less of a chance of making a pokemon flinch and stop moving."

"Ah".

"Now, Caleb," Mightyena said, "We have been here a while, see how it is close to midday? Did you invite team Amber like you said you would? I do not- ...Wait…"

"Yes, Mightyena, I-" I began

BA-BOOM!

"-Did" I finished.

Comic timing continues to slap me in the face...

Hello, everyone! Welcome, all of you, to The Absolite Chronicles: Book Two: The Challenger! I hope you enjoy the read. For newcomers to the story, i do recommend reading the first before this. If you have read the first, continue reading and enjoy!

Major, major thank you to Pigeoncracker for over-viewing the chapter and finding several errors that i have eliminated. You have been a big help.

Now that this book runs parallel to another story, the chapters may come a bit slower than the breakneck pace anyone familiar with me knows well. If you are wondering what i mean, have a look at the new story i will send out eventually called "New Age: World of Pokemon".

Either you found this on your own or read about it in the authors notes at the end of book one. Either way, Enjoy, Review please, and send me character bios if you want to. To any who have followed the first book, go ahead and follow this one too!

Character bio setup is of course available below. Good day! And welcome to book two!

Nickname:

Age:

Gender:

Species:

Personality:

Background (this may be lengthy):

Unique Aspect (optional):

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