Chapter 1: The Change
Emerald Town, Dog House, 7:30 A.M. (Flint's POV)
As I started waking up, I opened my eyes a tiny bit, shifted around in my straw bed, then relaxed back down, closing my eyes with a sleepy yawn. I couldn't feel the warmth of the sun yet, so I couldn't summon the energy to drag myself out of bed. As a Growlithe, it was always hard for me to get out of bed at all in winter.
"Hey, Flint, wake up," a distant voice called to me. Half-drifting back into dreamland, I vaguely felt something prodding at my side, my weary mind almost interpreting it as an enemy trying to punch me in the gut. With an impatient groan, I rolled over onto my other side, flicking my tail in the direction of the unknown source of my rest interference. I barely heard someone give a frustrated sigh. "Flint, get up," the voice tried again, clearer this time. I could now recognize the owner of this nagging voice.
"It's too early, Dusk," I tried my best to say clearly through a yawn. "Go back to sleep."
"Then you leave me no choice," I heard Dusk sigh. I wondered for a second what he was about to do, but couldn't muster the energy to worry too much about it.
*CHOMP!*
"GAAAH!" I shouted in surprise and shot up out of my bed and onto the wooden floor like a bullet after I felt a sharp pain through my tail. My heart racing like a Rapidash, my head whipped in the direction that the rude awakening had most likely come from. Sitting on his hind legs, wearing an arrogant and very annoying grin on his face, was a Poochyena with a tuft of messy, scruffy fur on his head. Calming down from the shock, I frowned and narrowed my eyes at my best friend.
"Good, you're up," Dusk chuckled smugly.
"What the heck was that for?!" I demanded, baring my teeth as I got right in his face.
"Hey, that was the only way I could get you up," Dusk defended, his grin turning into a wide one as he revealed his fangs as well. "But it was fun."
"You know not to mess with my tail," I reminded him through gritted teeth. As a Growlithe, my fur condition is kinda important to me. We're born and raised feeling a bit of pride in our fur, and in our fire power.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot how sensitive your tail is," Dusk chided, putting annoying emphasis on 'sensitive'. I frowned harder and started growling at him. Seeing this as a challenge, he glared at me right in the eyes. "Well, little pup?"
"Don't call me a pup," I growled firmly. And I'm a year older than you! I thought to myself, annoyed literally to a near boiling point. "Scruff mutt."
"Oh, you wanna go, tough guy?" Dusk snarled confidently with his hackles raised, replacing his grin with a huge sneer.
"Break it up," a stern voice commanded. The two of us broke our stare to see who was talking. Sitting in a strong, confident posture in front of the closed door of our home—aptly named by the other villagers the 'Dog House'—was Sarge, our other best friend. Sarge was always a stickler of a Houndour and always carried himself in an authoritative manner. The fact that Sarge never had a problem waking up early, even on a chilly morning, never ceased to amaze me.
"Hey, not my fault the little puppy isn't a morning Pokémon," Dusk scoffed, trying and failing to pat down the tuft of fur on his head.
"What?! How can you expect me to be a morning Pokémon with the way you wake me up?! And don't call me a puppy!" I snapped back, digging my claws into the floor firmly to show I wasn't about to back down, and baring my teeth again, to which Dusk responded by baring his own and growling. He dug his own claws into the ground, crouching ever so slightly into a warning stance.
"You wanna piece of me, pal?!" he snarled assertively, glaring at me with piercing eyes. I could tell he was trying to use Leer, prompting me to Leer right back at him, which nearly turned into a staring contest that could have possibly gone on for hours.
"Enough," Sarge barked. Dusk and I flinched at the serious tone in his voice as we nervously returned our attention to him, guilty expressions on both of our faces. Cleary fed up with our shenanigans, he stared both of us right in the eyes with his own Leer attack. His signature stern gaze combined with the crystal clear annoyance in his attitude and his always intimidating appearance—what with the fangs always visible even when his mouth closed, and the skull shape on his forehead—was more than enough to snap Dusk and I out of our instinctual competitiveness. In less than a second, our instincts switched from dominant to obedient as we immediately sat on our hind legs and stood at attention. "If you two have to spend your energy squabbling, you can use it to wake yourselves up on the training grounds, later." Sarge glared at us firmly, making it clear that he didn't want us getting into a tussle like immature hatchlings. And I'll admit, the two of us always were pretty crazy. With a nervous gulp, I loosened my grip into the floor, and for good measure, rubbed my paw hastily against the wooden planks to try and smooth out the tiny grooves I poked into them.
"Fine," Dusk and I responded together, not wanting to argue with Sarge.
"Good," Sarge nodded, satisfied. Getting up and turning around to push open the wooden door, he added, "Come on, we can't be late." I felt a small, instinctive shiver course briefly through my body the moment the door swung open. Seconds later, I could feel the brisk chill of the icy winter winds causing my shuddering. Of course, Dusk wasn't shivering. For a moment, I felt a tinge of jealousy for his basically built in cold proof insulation; he had more fur than me, longer fur than me, fluffier fur than me, and to top it all off, his fur was black. Not to mention, he wasn't a fire type! His body temperature was technically 'normal', as opposed to my own, which was about the same as a hot meal. As a result, Dusk could resist the cold much more easily than me. I mentally growled at these thoughts, the irritation raising my temp up even further, and making the cold even worse.
"Right behind ya!" Dusk called as he trotted outside after Sarge, his annoying smile back on his face. Shaking my head a little to try and get my annoyance out of my head, I followed along behind Dusk. As I walked out the door, I was quickly calming myself down, and bracing myself a little better for the impending ice-coldness outside, when I suddenly lost my footing after tripping over something, and face-planted right into a small snow pile.
"AAH, COLD!" I shouted frantically, leaping up on my feet as fast as a Politoed. Shaking rapidly to get the freezing slush out of my fur, the adrenaline from my earlier annoyance came rushing back as I got a pretty good idea of what had happened. I heard an annoyingly familiar snicker behind me, and when I whipped my head around to see who it was coming from, my suspicions were confirmed when I saw Dusk standing right next to the still open door with his back left leg outstretched in front of it. He wore a mocking grin on his face, everything about his appearance confirming that he had tripped me. Growling under my breath, I immediately turned my body around and ran towards him, preparing to lunge at him as I raised my paws. "Why you—!"
"Ahem!" an abrupt cough interrupted me. My attention instantly hooked onto the source of the noise, I saw that up ahead, Sarge had stopped in his tracks and glared at the two of us sternly and wordlessly over his shoulder. Almost impossibly fast, I lowered myself back on all fours and put a sheepish smile on my face, Dusk doing the same. Ears drooping a little, Sarge let out a little sigh. "Please, can you two at least try to stifle your… exuberance until after we receive our assignment?" he asked tiredly, pausing a little before the word 'exuberance', most likely because he was thinking over his words carefully.
"Sorry, buddy," Dusk and I apologized guiltily, our ears drooping along with Sarge's. We shared a brief glance, silently agreeing not to grate on Sarge's nerves any longer. As fun as it was to fight with each other, there was a point where fun is easily outranked by the job that kept the three of us fed every day.
"Thank you," Sarge sighed in slight relief, giving a nod and a small smile, hearing the guilt in our tones. "Now, let's go, or we'll be late." With that, he resumed walking, finally getting within ten feet away from the house.
"You got it, hot-shot!" Dusk called as he ran a little to catch up with Sarge, then slowed down to regular walking speed once they were side by side.
"Coming!" I called as I did the same. Though I was shivering cold, I decided I wasn't about to let that slow me down, or stop me from doing my best that day along with my two best friends. Still, I always had to wonder how Sarge never seemed bothered by the weather. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. The three of us picked up the pace a little, as we had to make sure we could get to the large dome building on the other side of town in time.
…
A. A. Center, 8:00 A.M.
Ah, the good old Aid Aliment Center, or A. A. Center for short. A full service organization dedicated to helping the Pokémon of the town in any way that they need. Sarge, Dusk and I had started working there as unofficial employees back last spring, for two different reasons. The first reason being that ever since discovering the work these Pokémon do every day, Dusk and Sarge had made it their life's dreams to work in the Aliment. The second reason being that it was the only way the three of us were affording to eat and sleep with a roof over our heads.
"Ah, there you three are," the front desk receptionist, a Farfetch'd named Farfel, greeted us as we practically stumbled through the front door of the Aid Aliment Center, each of us panting slightly from running the last bit of the way there.
"I'm so sorry; are we late?" Sarge managed to respectfully apologize and ask though being as out of breath as Dusk and me.
"No, you've made it just under the wire, so to speak," Farfel shook his head, though upon a second glance, he wasn't even looking at us. With a pencil held in his wing rather than a usual leek that a Farfetch'd carries, he was busily sorting through a slightly lopsided pile of papers on his desk. But he had known us long enough to know what our voices sounded like, so he didn't have to look up to see it was us. Farfel was always very friendly, but such a hard worker that he never felt he had time to waste with chit-chat. Luckily, he was also very efficient. With a swift flick of his pencil, he pushed a rolled up piece of paper off the desk towards us, which Sarge held still with his paw and unrolled to read. "Here's your assignment for today. Supervisor Abo will be in the back room with the supplies." While Dusk was near the door shaking off the snow he had gotten covered in, being careful not to shake it inside, I came up to Sarge's side to see the assignment. The parchment read, 'Market Delivery: Due to the recent snowstorms, the path into town from the other nearby settlements has been blocked by an avalanche. As a result, the Rhyhorn Delivery System has been delayed, virtually cutting off our access to trade resources. Without it, our markets will run out of food before the next shipment can get through. Thankfully, some kind bird Pokémon from the capitol city were generous enough to bring in as much as the city can spare in via the airway. The supplies are in differently colored crates, each color to distinguish between which market the crate is to go to. Deliver the crates to each market before the end of the day.'
"Thank you," Sarge thanked Farfel with a nod before picking up the parchment in his mouth and making his way around the desk towards the entrance to the back room. Dusk, who had finally finished shaking the snow out of his fur, followed quickly after Sarge. I could vaguely hear Dusk asking what the job was, as he had been too busy shaking off snow to read the paper, to which Sarge responded by letting the paper unroll and showing it to Dusk as the two of them kept walking. Mentally psyching myself up for the assignment, I quick-walked after them, being careful not to run into any busy Pokémon traversing the main room.
"Good luck," Farfel called from behind me, raising his voice over the sound of rustling papers and Pokémon footsteps. Without stopping or turning around, I smiled at his never-ending politeness.
"Thanks, Farfel," I called back before sprinting to catch up to my friends. As I walked by their side, I saw Dusk had finished reading the assignment, and just in time. Sarge pushed open the door in front of us, opening up the entrance to the back room. As we went in, the first thing I could see was the three red, blue, and green crates. The second thing I could see was a Grotle, whose name I believed was Grover, pushing each crate onto a large sled. And the final thing I saw was Supervisor Abo himself, standing next to the crates and looking at us with his usual large, happy grin on his face.
"We-e-ell, good morning, you three," the Ambipom chuckled, arms crossed as he twiddled his twin tails. Grover appeared beside Abo after he finished shoving the last crate onto a sled. "Ha-ha, thank you, Grover. You may go." Giving a nod and a quiet grunt, Grover slowly started lumbering out of the room and back to what I assumed was his regular job. He gave us a small smile as he passed by us, but didn't say anything. From what I understood, he had always been the strong, silent type, meaning he was always reliable for heavy lifting.
"So, we just have to take these crates to the merchants?" Dusk spoke up, making sure he understood.
"Ha-ha-ha, that's right," Abo nodded with a happy laugh. I couldn't help but smile around him. His ever-present good mood always seemed to be contagious. My smile was replaced with a startled frown, however, when a Diglett popped up out of the ground right in front of me. Not only can you not hear them coming in because they don't have to open any doors, but they seem to feel the need to pop up wherever you least expect it.
"Sir, your team is waiting for you!" the Diglett—I think his name was Devan?—squeaked out to Abo quickly before burrowing back underground and out of the room just as quickly as he had come in.
"Oh-ho-okay, then," Abo laughed. To us, he added, "We-ell, sounds like I'm needed! Those outlaws won't turn themselves in, you know! I-hi think you three can handle yourselves from here; ha-all you need to know is that each crate is the same color as the merchant waiting for it, ha-alright?" With that, he started bounding away, using his tails more than his legs. "Do us proud, you three-hee-hee!"
"Yes, sir!" Sarge called out, though it was hard to tell whether or not Abo had heard him. Wasting no time, Sarge carefully looked over the crates, making a face of deep concentration as he considered what to do. After a moment, he hooked himself up to the sled with the green crate. "Alright. You two, come here."
"What do you want us to do?" Dusk asked as he and I approached the remaining sleds.
"Here's what I think," Sarge began. "I'll take the green crate; this one is intended for the Kecleon Market, which is the furthest one from here. I'm the most used to walking long distances. Dusk, you can take the one with the blue crate; the one for the Nidorina Market. It's a fair distance away from here, but you're better insulated for being outside in the cold longer. And Flint, the red crate is to be delivered to the Charmeleon Market. It won't take you too long to get there, so you shouldn't have much trouble at all. Got it?"
"I got it," Dusk answered after hooking himself up to his sled, tugging tightly on the harness to make sure it wasn't going to fall off.
"You can count on me," I added on while hooking myself up to my own sled.
"Alright," Sarge nodded. "We'll meet back here when we're all done. Understood?" Dusk and I nodded, and Sarge smiled. "Then let's get started."
…
Charmeleon Market, 9:30 A.M.
"Ahh, cold, cold, cold, cooolld!" I couldn't stop myself from complaining as I tried ridiculously hard to make my footsteps quick and light so I wouldn't have to feel the freezing snow under my feet for much longer. I was relieved beyond belief when I caught sight of the large, red tent that made up the Charmeleon Market. The Market's owner, as the name implied, was a Charmeleon, a fire type much like myself, so he made it a point to always keep his workplace warm enough for him to keep it open even in the winter. "Cold feet, cold feet, cold feet!" I had long been able to ignore the lugging weight on my back in my scramble to get to the warm Market. Once I had dragged myself and the sled under the tent, I let out several brief pants of relief to be temporarily out of the cold, taking great comfort from the warmth that the torches on either side of the tent. Shaking the remaining snow out of my fur, I carted the sled in front of the counter. For a moment, it appeared that the shop owner wasn't there, but after a second glance, I could see a red, flaming tail sticking up from behind the counter, wagging a little.
"Not over here… Not over there…" he muttered to himself, seemingly searching for something under the counter. "Now, where did you go?"
"Hey, Chuck?" I spoke up and tapped on the counter top a little, getting the feeling that if I didn't get his attention, I would be waiting there for quite a while.
*Thunk!*
"Ow!" Chuck winced after bumping his head. Standing back up and rubbing a clawed hand across the top of his head, he finally noticed I was there. "Oh, Flint. I'm sorry; I didn't hear you come in." Forgetting his small injury, he put a smile on his face, as he was usually glad to see me. "I was just looking for the rest of the food that was left." He look down a bit sadly. "But because the next shipment from the Rhyhorn has been delayed, I'm practically sold out. I'm sorry, but if you came to do some shopping, I can't do anything to help you." I stifled a small laugh. As nice as Chuck was, he wasn't the most attentive guy.
"Relax, Chuck; I gotcha covered," I informed him as I unfastened my harness and pushed the crate off the sled and against the counter. Chuck perked up immediately, his smile back on his face.
"Oh, bless the Aid Aliment!" he practically shouted, eagerly pulling the large crate over to his side of the counter. "Thank you, Flint!"
"Don't mention it, Chuck," I attempted to calm him down before he got too excited. For a few moments, I watched in amusement as he practically tore the crate open and hastily began grabbing fruits and drinks into his arms and rushing to the shelves in the back to place each item in its right spot. For a moment, he stopped in his tracks, put the rest of the stuff he was holding away, and reached for something behind a shelf.
"Oh, there's the stuff I was looking for!" Chuck exclaimed. At this point, I assumed he was talking to himself again, so I decided I should probably start heading back to the A. A. Center. As I turned around, however, Chuck called, "Flint, hold up!" Confused, I turned back around to see Chuck back at the counter holding up a small sack.
"What is it?" I asked as I walked back up to the counter, concerned that maybe something was wrong.
"Here, take this," Chuck offered, pushing the sack towards the edge of the counter. "It's the food and drinks that were left from the last shipment that made it here. Since you've brought in the new shipment, I won't need them."
"I-I…" I stuttered, taken aback. "N-no, I'm sorry, but I can't pay for that. I don't have any money on me right now."
"You don't have to pay," Chuck shook his head. "Just take it, as a reward, okay?"
"Oh, okay," I sighed, putting on a grateful smile. "Thanks, Chuck." Taking the sack in my mouth, I started pushing the sled back outside, finally getting on my way.
…
Dog House, 6:00 P.M.
"Oh, man, how long is Sarge gonna take?" Dusk yawned, lazing in his bed as the two of us waited for Sarge to return from the Market. The three of us had all finished our deliveries without any problems, and had met up back at the A. A. Center as we had agreed. Once we received our payment—just enough to buy enough food for the three of us, as usual—Sarge told us to go on home while he did the shopping, as the two of us were both rather tired out, and not to mention freezing from slogging through the snow all day. Normally, it only took three hours, tops, for Sarge to finish shopping, because he went to whichever Market was closest to our current location. However, apparently Kecleon's Market had been having a sale that day, so Sarge decided to make the most of it. Unfortunately, the Kecleon Market was literally on the other side of town from the A. A. Center and from our house, so not only was it a two-hour trek to the market, but the same lengthy walk back home.
"I dunno, it's a long way back," I shrugged as I lay in front of the door, as bored as Dusk was. I was getting pretty hungry, but I wasn't about to go and eat the stuff in the sack that Chuck had given me just yet. I had stuffed the sack under my bed, deciding to save it for when it was needed. Getting up, I stretched a little. "You know what? I'm gonna go take a little walk. If Sarge gets back before me, just tell him I went down by the riverbed, okay?"
I heard Dusk give a little snort, notifying me that he understood. With that, I pushed the door open, bracing myself once again for the freezing, icy winds outside. Don't get me wrong; I wasn't eager to go back out in the cold, but I was going to go out of my mind without anything to do for any longer. Plus, I had never gotten the chance to ask Sarge how he managed to resist the cold for so long. I was admittedly jealous of his endurance, so I figured it couldn't hurt to see how long I could actually last out there in the cold.
"Be careful not to fall in and drown," Dusk called jokingly before I closed the door behind me.
"Ha-ha," I laughed sarcastically to myself. Briefly, I was still and unmoving as I tried hard to adjust myself to the shiver-inducing slush. Once I shook it off, I started running to keep my temperature regulating. I took off behind the house, running along the frosted path that eventually would go alongside the small river that cut erratically throughout the town.
As I kept along the path, I slowed down a little bit. I knew I was getting close to the river soon, and I didn't want to risk slipping and falling in. As I walked, I could hear the calm waters of the relatively tame river, the sounds automatically calming my nerves.
No longer worried about falling in, I began thinking again about how Sarge seemed to be completely unbothered by the cold weather, and how it made no sense whatsoever. He was the same type as me; by all accounts, he should have had as much of a problem with the cold as I did. I shook my head in annoyance that I just couldn't figure it out. I sighed a little, noticing that I was quite a bit far up the river by then.
Shivering a little, and noticing the sun beginning to set, I decided it would be a good idea to head back home so I wouldn't be outside in the dark. Trying to ignore the freezing, impending agony, I turned around and started quick-walking back towards the house.
As I tried hard not to lose my footing, I kept a close eye on the rushing river, making sure I wasn't close enough to fall in. For a while, the walk was nothing troubling, and it seemed that everything was absolutely normal. However, as I was getting close to the house, I caught sight of something unusual in the water out of the corner of my eye.
I stopped and looked directly into the river, only to discover an unclear bundle of red that seemed to be caught on the edge of the river near me. Curious, I cautiously stepped closer to the river to get a better view of the unknown object. My jaw dropped when I realized what it was; a Pokémon. An unconscious Pokémon.
"What the—?!" I didn't even bother finishing that sentence. As fast as I could, I rushed to the edge of the river, reached as far in as I could, and grabbed the Pokémon by the scruff of its neck. Summoning panicked strength, I quickly yanked it out of the water and dragged it a good distance away from the riverbank. Up close, I could see that it was a Vulpix.
For a moment, my eyes widened in surprise. I had never seen a Vulpix before, since the only known one that lived anywhere near Emerald Town was in the capitol city, although this one didn't seem likely to be the same one. Its fur was all mussed and muddy, with several scratches and teeth marks, indicating that it had been in a tussle earlier.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when the Vulpix gave a weak cough and began to wake up. I sighed in relief at the fact that it was okay. It slowly opened its eyes, seemingly in a daze. It didn't take long for it to notice I was there.
"…Wh …Who are you…?" it asked in a hoarse, raspy, yet clearly feminine voice. "What happened…?"
"My name's Flint," I answered gently and quietly, careful not to scare her. It was pretty obvious that she had been through something awful. "I found you unconscious in the river."
"…Wh-where am I?" she asked nervously. Her bright, red eyes were filled with fear, practically tugging on my heart. In the back of my head, I considered the possibility that this could be a trick, but then quickly discarded it; she had been unconscious, and she was clearly injured and weak.
"Emerald Town," I answered as a thought occurred to me. What was I going to do with her? She clearly wasn't from anywhere nearby, and there wasn't time to take her to the hotel or the hospital. Giving it a little thought, I came to a decision. "Listen, my house isn't too far from here. I can tell you've been through a lot, so I'll tell you what; you can stay with me and my friends for the night, and tomorrow we can work out the rest. Alright?"
"Wh-why? Why help me?" she asked, clearly taken aback.
"I can't just turn my back on someone in need," I answered, looking straight into her eyes to make sure she could see that I was being sincere. "Now, come on. Can you stand?"
"I-I think so," she hesitantly answered, carefully getting up on wobbly legs. Sensing that she was still very weak, I quickly went right to her side, allowing her to lean against me. It took me a second to get used to the feeling of her still freezing, wet fur, but I managed to keep my instincts in check out of my desire to help her.
"Alright, let's go," I said with a gentle smile, to which she responded with a weak smile of her own. Very carefully and very slowly, I helped her down the path that lead back to my home. For the most part, there was no talking, and I expect it was because of how tired she must've been. I was, of course, curious about what had happened to her and where she had come from, but I wasn't going to ask until after I knew she was going to be okay.
"Um, Flint, was it?" she spoke up after a while. She was quiet and soft-spoken. If she hadn't been standing right next to me, I doubt I would have heard her.
"Yes?" I whispered back.
"You're very kind. Thank you for all your help," she said, practically beaming at me with one of the sweetest smiles I had ever seen. Suddenly a little nervous, I tried to hide the blush creeping onto my face. Wh-what the…? Why is this making me nervous?
"Oh, don't even worry about it," I chuckled, trying to calm down before my heart sped up anymore. "Never got your name, by the way."
"Ah, that's right," she said. "My name is Flare."
"Flare," I repeated, getting a feel for the name. "That's a nice name. It suits you." Becoming nervous herself, Flare looked away from me and focused instead on the road in front of her. Feeling a little uncomfortable, I did the same, only to notice that we were quickly approaching my home. "Oh, look, we're here." Flare seemed to be observing the structure of the small shack rather curiously as we carefully made our way around to the front door.
"Rustic," she commented.
"Yeah, I know it's not much, but it's home," I replied. I wasn't surprised; after all, it was very modest compared to other homes in the village. As I pulled the door open, the first thing I saw was Sarge sitting next to Dusk with a large sack of food, his back facing the door. I was glad he had made it back before me. I would have been worried if he hadn't.
"Ah, good, there you are," Sarge began speaking, as he had heard the door open and probably caught my scent, getting up to turn around. "I was just about to go out looking for—" When he was finally facing me, he stopped mid-sentence the moment he saw Flare. "What in the name of Entei?!" He was understandably shocked by Flare's appearance.
"What the—" Dusk started, but didn't finish his sentence, equally surprised as he came to Sarge's side.
"Uh, yeah," was the only thing I could think of to say. As I tried to think of how to explain this to the guys, I carefully guided Flare over to my straw bed, finally allowing her to rest warmly. Thinking she might be hungry, and we might not have enough food for four Pokémon, I dug out the sack that Chuck had given to me earlier, and told Flare to help herself to whatever she wanted in there. She did so, seemingly giving the most attention to the Cheri and Pecha berries. With her occupied, I went back to explaining the situation to the guys. Once I finished telling them what had happened, we came to an agreement; Flare could stay the night, and in the morning, we would consult the A. A. for help. Surely, they would know what to do. Satisfied with the plan, Sarge gave me my share of the food he brought back and decided to turn in. Dusk did the same, having already eaten his share. I quickly finished mine, eager to go to sleep. With Flare already asleep in my bed, I carefully lay down between Dusk and Sarge, falling asleep with a thousand thoughts rushing through my mind.