AN: This is a sequel to my previous story, File Not Found. If you have not read File Not Found, this story will not make any sense. Almost all the characters are my original characters, many of whom are introduced in FNF, and this story expects you to be familiar with them. If you want to enjoy this story to the fullest, I strongly recommend reading File Not Found first. I should also mention that this story takes place in a universe that draws from multiple canons, including the anime, the main series games, and the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2 canon.

I originally started this story in early 2013, but didn't post it for a few reasons. Recently, though, I've changed my mind, and that's why I'm posting now! I currently have everything up to chapter 24 written, so I'll be posting my backlog of chapters on a regular basis until I run out, after which updates will be irregular. Hope you enjoy!


Warm, yellow, sun baked bricks made up most of the perimeter of the tiny cell. Rays of light shined through the slit of a window, casting a rather lovely golden glow onto the dust that piled itself in the corner. The room was comforting, in an odd way, even if it wasn't a good idea for him to constantly sit in the heat. But he had to like it, because he was stuck there, no matter what anybody else said.

He sat with his knees up and his arms draped over them, his back against the wall. The stuffy, heated air had gotten to him, making his eyes droopy and his tail flicks lazy. If he was lucky, he'd fall asleep soon, and he'd only have to deal with the room for a couple of hours. He hadn't been that lucky lately, though.

His prison guard, a Torterra, stopped in front of his cell. "Hey, you. You want something to eat today?" she asked with a smile.

He let out a long breath, looking up to see her face. It was perfect and unmarred, which wasn't right, but it was still her, and he appreciated that. "No."

She rolled her eyes and sat down. "I really don't know how you're still alive."

He frowned. "Because this isn't real."

"It sure feels real to me, kiddo." She beamed at him. "I'm one of the real ones, remember?"

Well, of course he remembered. She was everything. "You're not the Kari I know."

"And I've never known a Kyle before you," she replied. "But I'm still walking and talking, so I must be some kind of tangible, right?"

Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe he needed to see a therapist after all.

"So, what's new in your other life?" the other Kari asked, her voice bright.

"Mr. Evil Overlord is bringing his adopted kid over for a birthday party today," Kyle said, brushing away his hair. "So I'm going to get a lot of idiots telling me I look exactly like my 'nephew'. Including you."

"His name is not 'Overlord'," Kari said, frowning.

"Right, his name's Kevin," Kyle said.

Kari shook her head. "He's not that bad. If it weren't for him—"

"If it weren't for him you wouldn't be part of this fantasy land, but that doesn't matter, does it? You don't care so long as you get to spend time with him."

Kari flushed. In a way, it was just like the real world.

"Right. I think I'm going to try and go to sleep again, if you don't mind." Kyle yawned.

Kari sighed, still red. "Fine. I'll come by again tomorrow."

"I know. Thank you."

"You're welcome."


He felt the switch and groaned.

Kyle really hated how gravity would flip around whenever he came back to reality. It wouldn't be as much of a problem if he fell asleep the same way every time, he knew, but in the cell, there wasn't really enough room to lie down comfortably. He supposed that was a disadvantage of sleeping on his back.

He opened his eyes. He was back to normal, with his gray pullover sweater and his scars. The room was dark, save for the light from his tail. Stella was nowhere to be seen.

So… four in the morning?

Kyle felt around on his side table (also known as a moderately flat rock) for the crappy department store watch he bought. Bringing his tail close to illuminate it, he groaned again.

Three twenty-seven. He'd barely slept for two hours.

He flopped back down. He really should have slept some more, but having eight hour long dreams about being in the hottest jail cell on Earth was not his idea of a good time, even if they did include amicable conversations with an amicable Kari. Assuming they were dreams, anyway. He still wasn't sure what to call them. Alternate realities? Drug trips?

Whatever they were, they were unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. If he didn't know better, he'd say he actually did live two separate lives – one as the leader of the Shades, and another as a prisoner with a mental problem. But Kyle knew better.

He got up, reeling with exhaustion (he'd probably slept a total of ten hours all week), and stumbled his way out of his room and into the main part of the cave. Normally, he'd be alone in his early morning wanderings, but today…

"You're still up? I thought you went to bed." Ero said, smirking from across the counter. He was a Stark Mountain Monferno, gray eyed and tall, contrasting Kyle's dark eyes and shorter stature.

Kyle let out an amused breath. "Yeah, I did. Good morning."

"One of those days, huh?"

"Yep."

He didn't know what he'd do without Ero.

True, Ero wasn't the most useful member of the Shades. That honour went to the lovely Estelle Glacée, who basically did every organizational thing a rights group ever needed. Ero was a hard worker, though, and filled a vacancy that was sorely missing for a good couple of years. Kyle really needed a Wild Community Consultant-slash-Editor, as much as he hated to admit it, and it wasn't like he could release Chuno and give him his old job back.

So he'd mentioned a job opening and sifted through a bunch of unworthy applicants (some trained, some children, some human), and he came up with Ero, a soft-spoken nervous type whose confidence had skyrocketed once Kyle mentioned that he was the first worthy candidate he'd seen all week. Kyle hired him, and since then Ero had become a very good friend. It was a little easier to talk to someone who wasn't flirting with him every ten minutes, anyway. He really appreciated that.

"Let me guess," Ero said, tapping a pencil on his chin. "You got into an argument with Dream-Kari again?"

"It wasn't an argument," Kyle muttered. "It was more of an 'I've already talked to you about this' kind of thing."

Ero turned his attention back to the speech he was writing. "Oh yeah? What did she say?"

"She's real, it's weird that I never eat, and she's totally crushing on Overlord. I don't know what this is supposed to be telling me psychologically, but I'm getting kind of sick of it." Kyle made his way over to the counter Ero was at and sat across from him, collapsing onto a creaky stool.

"Hmm," Ero crossed out a sentence.

"Hmm?" Kyle repeated.

"Maybe your conscience is telling you to move on, or something? The jail cell could be a metaphor for how you've trapped yourself with this obsession over one girl, and by letting go, you'll set yourself free?"

Kyle blinked. "We've been over this."

"I know. But you've never actually tried moving on." Another sentence crossed out.

"Yes I have."

"No you haven't. That one time doesn't count, that was because you were mad at her."

"We spent years in a lab together."

"So what, you owe her or something?"

Kyle glared. "I'm not having this conversation again."

"Fine," Ero said, striking out the entire speech, "we'll talk about something else. What's happening for your nephew's birthday tomorrow? Or, well, today, I guess."

"Uh, I don't know, a party for the adults? It's not like the kid has that many friends his age. Although, I think Kevin might have planned something else." Kyle frowned. "And he's not my nephew."

"Right, he's like your second cousin three times removed or whatever," Ero said, grinning. "You southerners and your tiny gene pools."

"Like your entire upper-class doesn't look the same," Kyle muttered.

"He does look a lot like you, though. You sure he's adopted?" Ero said.

Of course. "Yes. If Overlord's kids are anything to go by, Kevin's not going to have dark eyed children. Who has a kid at fourteen, anyway?"

Ero laughed. "Oh yeah, because your dream niece and nephew are totally viable evidence. And you'd be surprised at how young parents are getting, especially on the mountain."

Kyle leaned his face on his arm. "Whatever. If I can live through today without passing out, I'll be happy."

"I'm sure," Ero said, standing up. "I'm going to bed, though. See you later."

"Mmph," Kyle replied, slumping. It was going to be a long, long morning.


The party actually managed to sneak up on him. He didn't get any sleep during the morning, but he had managed to rest a bit while reading a book on lucid dreaming (which seemed to be pretty accurate to what he was experiencing, save for the fact that he couldn't really control anything in the dreams at all). It was only when Stella called him that he realized his family had arrived.

…Well, extended family, anyway. It was going to be hard to cram everybody in one room of his modest cavern. His brother and mother were there, but so were Chikoro and the birthday boy himself, Little. He tried to smile.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Hi!" Little chirped back. He was a tiny Chimchar with huge brown eyes. Today was his seventh birthday. "Thanks for letting us come over!"

Kyle couldn't blink. "Uh, right. No problem."

"No problem?" Kevin asked, laughing. His eerie, human-blue eyes lit up. "It must have taken something like six hours on the phone to convince you, Ky!"

"Would've been more if you weren't so concerned about your phone bills," Chikoro sneered, his voice still as high pitched as ever, even though he was almost seventeen.

"Wow, you pay those?" Little asked, grinning. "Grandma just gets some human guy to do it."

Kyle's mother sighed. "That's Bill, sweetie, remember?"

Kyle heaved a huge breath. "Let's all just go outside, okay? There's more room out there."

To his pleasure, everybody made their way out of his headquarters without a fuss. Stella and the real Kari soon joined them outdoors as well, and then, the party was on. That is, if they could even call it a party. It was more of a reunion for Kevin and Kari. There were zero decorations, nor a birthday cake, not that that was unusual for non-humans. As soon as they saw each other they burst into conversation, laughing, smiling, and brightening everyone's mood. That was, everyone's except Kyle's. He knew, he was bitter and angsty and couldn't move on, but knowing that he had a problem didn't do anything to fix it. It just made him feel worse.

So of course, Little chose that moment to talk to him.

"Hey!"

Kyle groaned. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that you're really cool," Little said, smiling wide. "Uncle Kevin said that when you guys were little, you couldn't go and buy ice cream and stuff, but now you can because the humans listened to you."

Ice cream. Really. "Well, it wasn't just me. Without Professor Holly, you wouldn't be able to speak human, either."

"Oh, you mean your dad?"

Kyle cringed. "Mm. That's right. Don't go shouting it for everyone to hear."

Little nodded, and looked away. "You're lucky. I wish I had a cool dad like that."

It took everything Kyle had in him to stand still and not make a sound.

"Oh, hey, she's here! Sorry, I've gotta go talk to my friend now. Bye, Mr. Shade!" And Little scampered off on all fours to meet a Pikachu peeking her head out from behind some trees in the distance.

Kyle breathed and leaned against the side of the cave. He hated talking to Little. Not because Little was annoying or anything like that, he was actually quite sweet. He just tended to get sick to his stomach every time the seven-year-old talked to him.

The small build. The huge, dark eyes. The way he walked and talked and did everything else. Kyle saw so much of himself in him that he was really starting to wonder if there was something more to it. Even though there couldn't possibly be! At all!

But there could, couldn't there?

He would have to speak up at some point. Ero knew about the situation, and others probably had a good idea of it. He'd talked about it a little before. All he needed to do was do it again.

With Kari, because she was practically Little's mother, and she'd be the best one for him to tell.

With Kari.

…Well, he would have to practice first.