Hey guys. Guess what? I think I'm actually going to stick with this story. By the way, if you want to use my characters in spin off stories or something of that sort, go ahead. Just make sure you give me credit for my characters and Shadow Humans (Which you can also use). Believe me, if one of you can come up with a really good Dark Hermes story, you'll be my best friend, and you'll get a shout out. Don't know who Hermes is? You'll find out. Muahahaha.

I awoke in the morning feeling briefly confused. Why was I in a dirty motel room with a bundle of brown fur dancing on top of me? Then I remembered the previous days events. I stretched and put on a clean pair of clothes. Today I was wearing a pair of jeans and a black band t-shirt. I slipped on a pair of scuffed up sneakers, grabbed my bag, and whistled for Bandit, my Zigzagoon, to follow me out of the room. Once outside the Motel 6, I realized that it was going to be a very warm day. It was only 7:30 in the morning and the sun was already burning away the damp mist that seemed to cover the Californian farmland every night after everyone went to sleep. I stretched and began walking west along the road like I had the day before. The only difference was today I had my thumb out. A trainer was traditionally supposed to walk the first day of their journey, but after that, they could get around however they wanted which included hitchhiking. Bandit happily nipped at my heels as we walked. Occasionally, he would wander a few feet off the road into a grove of trees to sniff the scent trails of other Pokemon. After a few hours of walking, a beat up blue Ford pickup pulled over. The man in the driver seat leaned over and rolled down the window.

"Need a ride?" he asked.

I couldn't see much of what he looked like, but I assumed he wasn't a serial killer. "Yeah," I answered his question. Suddenly, I heard a car door open and bang closed and I realized the man must have gotten out of the car. Great, I thought, I'm going to be murdered less than ten miles into my journey.

"If you want a ride," the man called from the other side of the truck, "You'll have to earn it."

"This just keeps getting better," I muttered to myself. To my great relief, when the man got around his truck, I realized he wasn't a man. He was a boy only a few years older than me. Still, he could possibly be a crazed ax murderer. I whistled to Bandit, but my hopes of him turning into an attack Pokemon disappeared when he ran forward and began licking the kid's shoes. I looked up and said, "What exactly do you have in mind?"

He smirked and tossed his head, trying and failing to get his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes. Immediately, I noticed he was wearing black sunglasses, a good way to avoid being recognized after committing a crime. That was an odd thought, I reprimanded myself. I realized I was being paranoid, which was...strange. Usually I was pretty cool, calm, and collected. Yet somehow I felt uneasy around this stranger. Somewhere deep inside of myself, I already realized something was wrong. "I was hoping for a Pokemon battle," the kid said.

I sighed and visibly relaxed. The kid raised an eyebrow. "Sure thing," I said, "If I can get my Zigzagoon to stop licking your shoes."

The kid smiled and said, "If we're going to battle, I'd like to know your name."

"My name's Alaska. What's yours?"

He smiled again. "I never agreed to tell you."

"No fair," I complained.

"Fine," he said, "I'll tell you if you beat me. One versus one?"

I nodded. The mystery trainer reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a Pokeball. He pushed the button in the middle of the ball, causing it to grow from the size of a grape to the size of an orange. He threw the ball to the ground and said, "Go, Hades." From the ball came a small black Pokemon the size and shape of a small Scottish terrier. It glared at me with deep amber eyes and growled.

"Come here, Bandit," I called. My fuzzy ball of brown and cream fur ran over to me and started barking excitedly. The Poochyena growled again and Bandit started whimpering. He shrunk down and looked fairly weaker than he had a moment before. I had a brief stand off with the mystery trainer before saying, "Bandit, Tackle!"

"Poochyena, Howl!"

The Poochyena took a deep breath and stared at the sky before letting out a long, mournful Howl. Its muscles tensed and I sensed that it had grown more powerful. Meanwhile, my Zigzagoon was tripping over its own feet as it ran forward. Finally, it collided with the Poochyena, knocking it to the ground.

"Get back up and use Tackle, Hades," the kid called. I noticed he was also wearing a black t-shirt, though his had an Atari logo on it rather than a band name.

"Dodge it and use Tail Whip," I responded. The black lap dog Pokemon ran towards Bandit and knocked him over before he could dodge. In response, Bandit whipped the Poochyena furiously with his tail. Suddenly, Hades didn't seem so tough anymore.

Both Pokemon seemed equally worn out and I got the feeling that the battle would be over soon. "Tackle!" Both the mystery trainer and I called at the same time.

Both Pokemon ran forward and collided with each other halfway across the battlefield. We waited for several seconds, but neither of them got up. The mystery trainer smiled and declared, "It's a draw." He silently withdrew his Poochyena into its Pokeball.

I pulled one of the potions out of my pack and sprayed Bandit with it. He began to stir and unsteadily got to his feet. I picked him up in my arms, which caused him to lick my face incessantly, before asking, "So are you going to tell me your name?"

The kid smiled and said, "My name isn't important, but you can call me Hermes."

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "Into mythology much?"

Hermes smiled. "Wait until you meet the rest of my team." Without another word, he climbed into the cab of his truck and motioned for me to follow. I sighed and nervously climbed into the passenger seat. I slammed the door closed.

"Where are the rest of your Pokemon?" I asked.

"I don't let them out when I'm driving," he answered, "There's not enough room in the truck."

"That makes sense. Do you let them out when your walking?"

"Of course," he said, "It's good for them."

I winced as the blue pick up roared to life. That's not an exaggeration. It roared like a Persian. Once my hearing returned, I realized that I was in for a bumpy ride. Hermes was the worst driver I had ever seen in my life. Once or twice, he swerved into oncoming traffic. Bandit cowered in my lap for the first hour and a half. After that, he finally got the courage to watch the landscape flying by outside of the window as we drove down the highway at 80 mph. The miles of farmland were quickly turning into rolling hills which in turn gave birth to groves of forest. I understood why you were supposed to walk the first day of your journey. It gave you an appreciation for the effort it took to follow your dreams all the way across the United States and then back to Washington DC. It would have taken me four or more days to walk to San Francisco. In Hermes truck, it took three hours.

I had been to San Francisco before, but this time it seemed different...more exciting maybe. Even the damp fog that hung over the city couldn't dim my spirits. Out of the mist rose buildings, though that word doesn't do them justice. They seemed more like towering sentinels rising above the city. Thousands of people and Pokemon swarmed through the streets causing traffic to be at almost a stand still.

"I'll find a parking garage to dump my car at for a few days," Hermes said. He seemed nervous about something, but I couldn't figure out what.

"You're staying in the city that long?" I asked.

"Well," he said, "I have some business to take care of, but I was hoping to stay with you most of the time."

"Really?" I was surprised. I barely knew him.

"I know we don't know each other that well," he began, "But I'm on my own journey. I'm less of a battler and more of a coordinator. I've been meaning to enter the US Contest Championships for a long time and I was hoping to find someone to travel with."

"Well I'd love to travel with you," I said probably a little too quickly. I was excited to have a traveling partner, even if he was somewhat weird. "Where are the four contest halls?"

"The normal contest hall is in Las Vegas, the super contest hall is in Houston, the hyper contest hall is in Boston, and the master contest hall is in Portland."

"That's good," I told him, "Those are all near gym towns."

"That's why I was looking for a trainer to go with," Hermes answered, "We could travel together without being rivals."

The car jolted to a stop and I looked around to see that we were in a dark parking garage. The floor we were on was mostly deserted except for a black Mercedes across the garage. A couple men in black suits were standing next to the car, whispering rapidly and occasionally looking at us. I hopped out of the car with Bandit and Hermes followed close behind.

"Are those guys looking at us?" I asked him under my breath.

"Of course not," he said, but just the same, he reached into his pocket and pulled out six Pokeballs. He dropped the Pokeballs to the floor where they opened and bounced back into his hand. Six Pokemon appeared where Hermes had dropped the Pokeballs. I recognized Hades, but the rest of the Pokemon were new to me. Aside from the tiny black Poochyena, the rest of Hermes' Pokemon looked extremely powerful. He had a Salamence, an Aggron, a Charizard, a Feraligatr, and a Torterra. All of his Pokemon had violet eyes other than his Poochyena.

"What's up with their eyes?" I asked.

Hermes shrugged casually, though I saw surprise flash across his face. "They have contacts."

I looked at him in disbelief, one eyebrow raised.

"What? I think they look cool. I haven't had the time to buy 'em for Hades yet." I had never been good at spotting lies, but this one was obvious.

By this time, the men in the black suits were aggressively walking towards us. Hermes snapped his fingers and his Pokemon moved into a defensive position around us. Hades and Bandit didn't join in, instead staying in the middle. The men in black suits were getting closer and I could now see details about their outfits. They were completely black and seemed to be made out of a skin tight fabric. They were wearing black pants and their shirts were black with long sleeves. On the shirt was a strange logo that looked like a moon eclipsing a sun. They wore black leather boots and their shirts seemed to have a hood built in. The hoods were pulled forward to cover their faces. Their hands were at their sides and I realized this meant they were concealing weapons. Wait, how did I know that? I turned around to see Hermes' hand was at his side as well, though he had a smile on his face.

"How are you two doing? I haven't seen you in a while."

The men ignored his greeting and the one on the left said, "Cut the crap, Hermes. You're coming back with us right now."

The man reached for his pocket, but Hermes was faster. Before I could blink, he had pulled a small black handgun out of his pocket. BANG! BANG! Two bullet holes appeared in the chests of the black-suited men, but they kept walking. They hadn't even flinched in pain. Now they both had guns out. Hermes dropped his gun to the ground and put his hands in the air.

"No need to get violent, boys." Hermes' smile turned grim.

"Too late for that," the one on the right said. "We'll get to you later, but first, we should take care of your friend. You know these shields don't work, Hermes. They aren't powerful enough to stop us." He turned the gun on me. Now I had my hands in the air. I was a pretty calm person, but I was on the verge of screaming, when Hermes let out a long, low whistle. Suddenly, his Pokemon went nuts. I heard one of the guns go off and I hit the ground. Hermes' Charizard roared in pain and then I heard screaming. After that, there was silence. I got up off the ground and looked to see who was still standing. Body parts were scattered all over the ground. The floor was slippery with blood. In the middle of the mess, sat Hermes' Pokemon, though I didn't see Hades or Bandit with them. Then it hit me.

"Bandit?" I called on the verge of tears.

I heard whining and felt a cold nose being pushed into my side. I sighed in relief. Now the only ones missing were Hermes and Hades. I felt a hand grab me around my neck and screamed.

"Shut up," Hermes whispered urgently. He picked me up carefully and set me on my feet. "I was just trying to make sure you weren't shot. I think the only ones who were hit were Ares and Zeus."

"Who?" I asked.

"My Charizard and Aggron," he explained.

"They aren't hurt are they?"

"They're fine. The bullets didn't hurt Zeus at all and Ares took the shot in his tail. They'll be okay." I noticed Ares was chewing at his tail as if trying to remove something. I looked away and finally got a glimpse of Hermes. He was examining what was left of the corpses. There was a strange look on his face. Desire or longing...maybe pain. I didn't get it. He found the torsos of the men and looted their Pokeballs. They each had one.

"Here," he said and tossed me both of them.

I held them gingerly, trying to touch the blood-stained Pokeballs as little as possible. "I don't want these," I whined, "They belong to dead people."

"If you don't want them, leave them here to rot. I don't have room for them on my team." Hermes shrugged. "Either way, we should probably get the hell out of here."

"Um, excuse me," I said, "But I have no idea who the hell you are, other than that somebody is looking for you. Somebody dangerous. I'm just going to walk away and pretend I never met you." I started to back away, but he grabbed my shoulder tightly and started pulling me towards the elevator at the other end of the garage. I looked down and saw the decapitated head of one of the black-suited men. The hood was pulled back and I could see that it had bright violet eyes.

"Sorry," he said to me, "But if I leave you on your own, you'll be killed."

"Can we at least take your car?" I asked when I realized I couldn't get away.

"Apparently, it's being tracked." He seemed to remember his Pokemon standing behind us and called all of them back except for Hades. "They're too conspicuous," he explained.

I rubbed my fingers against the Pokeballs in my pocket. "Should I check to see what their Pokemon are?" I asked.

"A Mantyke and a Bellsprout," he answered.

My mouth fell open. "How did you know that?" I asked as he pressed the down button on the elevator.

"I've known those guys for a while. They were never any good at raising Pokemon, so their Pokemon never evolved."

Ding. The elevator doors opened up. Hermes dragged me inside and Hades and Bandit followed us. The elevator seemed to be going exceptionally slow and I felt awkward.

"So, er...Do your Pokemon kill people often?"

"Occasionally," he answered with no emotion on his face.

"And you name them all after Greek gods, why?"

He shrugged. "Their names are personal."

The doors opened again with a ding and Hermes pulled me out into a crowded street.

"Look natural," he told me, "We have to go buy some new clothes."

"How can I act natural?" I shrieked. "There are two dead people up there," I said pointing to the top of the parking garage.

"Don't attract attention to yourself," he muttered angrily. I looked up to see a black helicopter flying over head and immediately felt paranoid.

Hermes pulled me through the throngs of people and into a mall. I had been to this mall once or twice before, but I didn't really know my way around.

"Follow me," he said and lead me into a fancy looking store. "Go pick out an outfit quickly, then meet me at the counter." He took off towards the men's department leaving me with my mouth hanging open. I heard whining by my feet and bent down to stroke Bandit. He nudged me with his wet, black nose and took off towards a rack of t-shirts. I picked out a black sweater and some nice jeans and headed towards the counter. Hermes was already there with a black dress shirt and black pants.

"What took you so long?" he whispered as he swiped a black credit card.

"That took me less than three minutes," I whispered back furiously.

"You'll have to get faster than that." He smiled winningly at the female clerk who swooned and handed him the bag with our purchases. He grabbed my shoulder and dragged me out of the mall through a different exit and into a parking lot. "Pick a car," he said.

"You're joking." He looked at me expectantly and I sighed. "How about the Volkswagen Bug?"

"A Bug? Really? Out of every car in the lot..." Without another word he pulled a lock picking device from his pocket and shoved it into the lock of the sea green Bug. The lock popped open and he shoved me through the driver's door into the passenger seat. He threw Bandit and Hades in after me, then knelt on the floor and stuck his hands under the dashboard. Within a minute, I heard the car start. He climbed into the driver's seat, closed the door, and drove wildly out of the parking lot. "That was easy," he said as he narrowly avoided colliding with a black mini van. The other driver honked angrily.

"Are you for real?" I asked as Bandit whined in my arms. He sounded confused. So was I.

Instead of responding to my question, Hermes said, "Take your clothes off."

"What!"

He shoved the bag of clothes at me and said, "Put on your new outfit."

"I don't want to get undressed-"

"You won't be naked," he said and nearly had a head-on collision with a semi truck in the other lane, "You have to be in your new clothes by the time we get to the Travelodge in approximately..." He looked at his watch. "...Three and a half minutes."

I was about to question his sanity, before I realized it wouldn't do any good and pulled off my shirt. I put on the sweater as quickly as I could. Then I replaced my old jeans with the new ones and shoved my old pair of clothes into the bag. I looked over and saw Hermes was already in his new outfit.

"How did you get dressed that quickly?" I asked stunned.

He shrugged. "You get used to it."

I sat shell shocked in the passenger seat until exactly three and a half minutes later when we came to a jarring halt in the Travelodge parking lot. It was almost empty and I looked around nervously for another black Mercedes, but I didn't see one. Hermes pulled me out of the car and into the motel lobby. Bandit and Hades must have followed us, though I didn't notice them.

"I have a room under Jack Turner," he told the receptionist.

"One moment please," she said and typed something into her computer rapidly. "Here you go," she said and handed him a room key. I followed Hermes up the stairs and into a room with two twin beds before he said, "I have some explaining to do."

"Damn right," I said and Bandit punctuated my answer with a growl.

"Okay." He sighed and looked intensely depressed for a moment. He got up and went to the window where he shut the blinds. He quickly walked around the room and started throwing open drawers and closets.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Looking for bugs," he responded. When he finished trashing the room, he sat down on the end of one bed and said happily, "No bugs." I glared at him and he sighed again. "Instead of trying to tell you everything, why don't you just ask a question."

My thoughts were racing a mile a minute and I couldn't decide what to ask first, so I settled on, "Why are you wearing your sun glasses inside in a dark motel room?"

He smiled and said, "I'm not willing to answer that question directly."

I scowled and said, "Fine. Then here's my next one: Who in the hell is chasing us?"

His face darkened and he said, "This is going to be a long answer, so get comfortable." He kicked off his sneakers and stretched back. "In fact, why don't you let your Pokemon out and I'll do the same."

I almost asked "What Pokemon?" when I remembered the ones I had gotten in the parking garage. I reached into my pocket and pulled the tiny red and white balls out. I took one in each hand and pressed the buttons in the middle before throwing them to the floor. In a flash of red light, a strange weed-like creature and a manta ray popped out. Both looked at me quizzically and I noticed they had violet eyes that were the same color as Hermes' Pokemon's and the dead black-suited men's. Across the room, Hermes let his Pokemon out, though I didn't see Zeus, his Aggron.

"Where's Zeus?" I asked.

Hermes smiled again. "One question at a time." He pretended like he wouldn't answer me for a second before saying, "If I let him out he would fall through the floor. He's too heavy. Besides, the room is crowded enough." That was certainly true. Except for Hades, all of his Pokemon were very large. Hermes stretched back and said, "Now I guess I should tell you my story." His eyes seemed to glaze over with the past and he said, "You may have heard of Team Rocket, Team Aqua, or Team Magma. They were all disbanded about twenty years ago and none of them ever achieved their missions of destruction. Since then, there have been many Teams that have arose from their ashes and then fallen again. One of these teams was Team Shadow. You may have heard of Shadow Pokemon. They were the inspiration for Team Shadow, though what Team Shadow did was much worse."

I opened my mouth to ask a question, but Hermes held a finger up to his lips before continuing.

"When I was young and stupid, I joined Team Shadow. I didn't know what they were really up to. I just wanted to belong to something. Something bigger than my self." He laughed. "I got my wish. You may be familiar with the creation of Shadow Pokemon. They are Pokemon whose hearts have been artificially closed. Not their actual hearts in their chests, but the section of the brain that controls the emotions we normally associate with the heart: Love, mercy, etcetera. The procedure is complicated, but it's not that different than a lobotomy. Anyway, the procedure made the Pokemon stronger, though it also made them harder to control and they had a more limited move range. Team Shadow decided the pros outweighed the cons and started manufacturing Shadow Pokemon. They stole their first Shadow Pokemon from the ruins of Team Cipher's labs, but after a while they learned to create their own. Eventually, the boss of Team Shadow decided to do something risky. He decided to create Shadow Humans. No one had any idea what would happen, and even the mad scientists that worked for Team Cipher were too afraid to try it out. However, Team Cipher's boss was ruthless. He recruited a batch of kids off the street to experiment on. They didn't know what would happen to them. They thought they signed up for a benign medical experiment. Just another way to earn money for their drugs. If they knew what would happen to them, they never would have done it. Not for a million dollars." He paused to take a breath. "Are you still with me?"

I nodded.

"Good. Anyway, the procedure didn't work the same on humans as it did on Pokemon. It did make people more powerful and harder to kill and it also made them harder control. Shadow Humans had the same violet eyes that Shadow Pokemon had, and for a while, it was believed that they were the same. However, after a few weeks, Team Shadow began noticing that their human test subjects weren't reacting the way they thought. Specifically, they couldn't eat. No matter what food they tried, the Shadow Humans would vomit it up after a few hours. Several of their test subjects died of starvation. Eventually, some of the remaining Shadow Humans went crazy with hunger and killed one of the scientists examining them. Do you know what they did next?"

"What?" I asked with wide eyes. Even the Pokemon were listening carefully, though Hermes' Pokemon probably knew the story.

"They ate it. An hour passed, then another, then another. They didn't vomit it back up. It turns out that Shadow Humans can't survive on the flesh of animals. They can only survive on the flesh of other humans and Pokemon."

I felt bile rising in my throat. "So how did they feed them?" I asked, though I didn't really want to know.

"They started taking people off the streets. Mostly people they knew no one would miss. Homeless people and stuff like that. It all worked fine for a while. Team Shadow had their super soldiers, no one 'important' was getting hurt, everything was peachy. Then, there was a breakout. About ten Shadow Humans escaped."

I stared at him in horror. "What happened?"

"Well, for a while, the Shadow Humans were able to keep their hunger in check, but when they went into Hyper Mode...Well, random murders started happening. You might remember an outbreak of murders five years ago. The bodies were all mutilated and they thought one guy was doing it." I did. "That was the Shadow Humans. Team Shadow realized they had to hunt down and kill the ten escaped Shadow Humans. They managed to kill nine, but there's still one on the loose."

I leaned in close. "Where is he?"

Hermes face grew intense and he sighed. "I didn't want to move this fast, but...He's right here." He removed his glasses and looked at me with shockingly bright violet eyes. They seemed far brighter than his Pokemon's or the dark-suited men's. I gasped and backed towards the door. Before I could even take two steps back, Hermes whistled and his Feraligatr blocked the door. Hermes eyes grew desperate. "You can't run away," he said, "They'll find you." He tried to grab my arm, but I recoiled in horror. Bandit stood by my feet and growled. My new Bellsprout and Mantyke came over to me and tried to look threatening as well. It would have been touching had I not been terrified out of my mind.

"Whose to say being caught by them isn't better than being caught by you?"

"Because..." Hermes seemed to hesitate. "They'll change you into a Shadow Human."

"Why? I haven't done anything wrong!" I nearly shouted.

"Well, first of all, you know too much at this point."

"And whose fault is that?" I countered.

He ignored me and continued, "Secondly, you're special."

That made me pause. "Special, how exactly?"

"You can see our eyes."

"Why does that make me special?" I asked.

"Most people can't. Most people think we have normal colored eyes when they look at us, or they can't look us directly in the eyes at all. In fact, er...it's rather embarrassing to admit, but when I picked you up, I was planning on killing and eating you."

I stared before saying, "What in the f-"

Hermes quickly cut me off, "But, I noticed I was being tracked so I decided to drive you to San Francisco like I told you I would. I thought I could find a safe place to hide out there. I tried to lose the guys tailing me in that parking garage and when I sent my Pokemon out, you asked why their eyes were violet. That's when I knew."

I paused and tried to think of a question to ask. One horrifying one stuck out in my mind. "How often do you eat people?"

He looked ashamed. "I try not to. I only picked you up, because I need to eat right now. The urge to feed was, and is, incredibly strong, and I didn't see any nearby Pokemon. Aside from that, humans are more satisfying than Pokemon. I couldn't help it. Usually, I have my Pokemon bring me back a Pidgey or some other common wild Pokemon. That's how I got Hades. I decided not to eat him when I realized he could see our eyes too."

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"Apollo told me."

"Who?"

"Oh. My Salamence. He can talk to me through a mind link. He mentioned that my dinner was yelling about odd violet-eyed Pokemon, so I didn't eat him."

I looked at the door where the Feraligatr was still standing. Then I looked to the window. "What's to keep me from jumping through that window right now?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Nothing, other than that a fall from two stories won't kill you and I'll just send Ares to pick you up. We wouldn't be able to take you to a hospital, so I'd have to try and fix any broken bones myself, which would be very, very painful for you. Also, your Pokemon might follow you."

I looked down at Bandit who was wagging his tail as though the idea of jumping out of the window was the best he had ever heard. I sighed. "So what now?"

Hermes face brightened. "I was hoping you would ask that. I decided that the best thing to do was allow you to get your eight badges while we travel around the country. That way we could keep moving and if anyone got curious of where we were going, we could use the excuse that you're a trainer. In fact, I was hoping you could tackle the gym today."

"I'm pretty tired today, actually," I said.

"Well, we're leaving tomorrow, and since I'm not eating you, I better send one of my Pokemon out to catch me a Magikarp or something. I need to eat. I figure you don't want to be around to see that, so you might as well go challenge the gym."

"What if Team Shadow comes after me?" I asked.

Hermes shrugged. "Take Apollo with you. Don't try to use him in the gym battle, though. He won't listen to you unless it's an emergency."

I looked at the red and blue dragon Pokemon and shrugged. I started walking for the door.

"One more thing," Hermes called from behind me, "If you try to leave this city, I'll have ways of knowing and I'll just tell Apollo to bring you back. Or if I can't reach him, I'll send Ares." The orange dragon stared at me menacingly.

I left the motel as quickly as I could and threw up in the parking lot. All four Pokemon that were with me stared at me strangely.

"What?" I asked them. "You try hearing all that in under an hour and see how you take it."

Obviously, they didn't respond so I started walking. I knew the gym was on a pier next to the ocean, but I wasn't sure where it actually was, so I decided to see if I could find a map of the city. I found a convenience store and bought one. Looking at the map, I groaned.

"The gym is all the way across town. Is there anyway you could fly me there?" I asked Apollo.

In response, Apollo opened his mouth wide, revealing hundreds of sharp white teeth. He then hissed at me, filling my nose with the scent of rotting flesh.

"Lovely. I'll take that as a no."

The walk to the gym wasn't that bad, honestly. It was just tiring. I had to struggle through huge crowds of people and Pokemon uphill and downhill for what seemed like miles. Eventually, I followed the map to a building that appeared to be a giant fish tank. It was completely made of glass and I could see water Pokemon swimming back and forth. I saw a gym sign near the entrance. I read it aloud.

"San Francisco Pokemon Gym. Leader: Wesley, the Water-type master. Feel the power of the waves." I looked at my Pokemon. "Okay. This will be Bandit's second battle, and your first battles with me," I said to the Bellsprout and Mantyke, "Wait. Do you guys have names?" The Bellsprout and Mantyke shook their heads. "Who's too lazy to name their Pokemon? Okay, I'll start with Bellsprout." I studied the grass Pokemon. It had a yellow, bell-shaped head and long arms and legs. It was basically a walking daffodil. "Hmm...how about Daffodil?" I asked it. The Bellsprout nodded excitedly. I looked to the Mantyke. It looked like a manta ray or some other sea creature, and it was a deep blue color. "I'll name you Bluebelle. Are you boys or girls?" Both Pokemon shrugged and tried to pantomime answers. Apollo sighed and then I heard a voice in my head. It was very deep and sounded ancient.

They are both females said the voice.

"Who was that?" I looked around and spotted Apollo. "Did you just talk to me?"

Apollo rolled his eyes. Maybe. Do you see another Salamence capable of Psychic powers around here?

I closed my eyes for a moment and said, "My life has gotten very weird in a very short time. I will never hitchhike again." I opened my eyes and sighed. "Let's go."

The inside of the gym seemed much like the outside. The walls were made of glass and seemed to be thick and filled with water. Water Pokemon of all shapes and sizes swam around inside them.

"Hello? Is anybody home?" The whole building seemed deserted. Then I heard a buzzing mechanical noise. I turned around and saw someone standing on a platform that was rising out of the floor.

"Wesley is in the house!" Suddenly bright multicolored lights started flashing and loud music started playing. The man who had been on the platform stepped out of the shadows so I could see him better. He was wearing a blue satin shirt and tight black leather pants. He pulled a comb out of his pocket and used it to straighten his bleached blonde hair. He put the comb back in his pocket and looked at me. "Are you my challenger?"

For a moment I was speechless, but then I said, "I think so. Are you Wesley?"

The man nodded and snapped his fingers. Loud disco music started playing. "I am called Wesley. If you are my challenger, do you agree to a three versus three match?"

"Sure," I agreed, "Three versus three sounds fine. Any special rules?"

"No. Are you ready?" Wesley asked me.

"Um...okay."

"Then let's get this party started!" The multicolored lights stopped flashing and focused on Wesley. The water in the walls/fish tanks glowed different shades of blue and green. "Go, Tentacool!" Wesley pulled a blue Pokeball out of his pocket and threw it to the floor. In a flash of red light, an octopus-like Pokemon appeared. It had six black tentacles coming out of a blue squishy head with red spots on it.

"I'll use Bandit," I shouted. My Zigzagoon stepped forward and growled.

"Use Wrap, Tentacool!"

"Dodge and use Headbutt!"

The octopus-like Pokemon's tentacles stretched out from its body and tried to wrap around Bandit. Bandit jumped over them and ran at the Tentacool. Right before he hit it, he lowered his head and struck it hard. The Tentacool flew through the air and hit a wall.

"What powerful Pokemon you have," Wesley said, "But I can do you one better. Tentacool, use Surf!"

Suddenly, water started rising through the floor and for a moment, I thought one of the fish tanks had sprung a leak. Then the water gathered on the other side of the room and formed a large wave.

"Uh oh," I said before the seething wave came down on top of Bandit. The noise of the wave was incredible and when it sunk back down through the floor again, I thought Bandit was knocked out. Then, slowly, he got to his feet. "Yeah, Bandit!" I cheered. "Now use Tail Whip!" Bandit ran forward and hit the octopus Pokemon in the face with his bushy brown tail. "Follow that up with another Headbutt!" Bandit ran towards me, then turned around and ran back towards the Tentacool, preparing for another Headbutt.

"Hit it with Poison Sting when it gets close," Wesley yelled.

As Bandit was just about to strike the Tentacool, the Tentacool fired a tiny stinger from one of its tentacles. The stinger struck Bandit in the forehead right as he knocked the Tentacool into the wall. The Tentacool was knocked out and for a moment Bandit barked happily. Then he whined in confusion. Suddenly, he started howling in pain and twitching on the ground. I sighed and called him back into his Pokeball for the first time since I had gotten him.

"You're up next, Daffodil," I said to my Bellsprout. She nodded happily and made a tinkling sound by shaking her head up and down.

"Then I'll send out Luvdisc!" Wesley shouted. He reached into his pocket and threw another blue Pokeball. From this one came a tiny pink fish Pokemon. It seemed to be vaguely heart-shaped.

"Use Vine Whip, Daffodil!"

"Water Pulse, Luvdisc!"!

One of Daffodil's vine-like arms shot forward and started to strangle the Luvdisc. The Luvdisc's mouth fell open and a jet of water shot out at Daffodil. A wave of sound passed through the water, causing Daffodil to flinch. Her arms sucked back to her side.

"Use Growth, Daffodil!"

"Sweet Kiss, Luvdisc!"

Daffodil started to glow with a green light, and she started to grow bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Meanwhile, Luvdisc darted through the air and lightly kissed Daffodil on the side of her bell-shaped head. Daffodil made a wind chime-like sound in confusion. She stopped growing.

"Now use Water Gun!"

"Use Vine Whip again!"

Luvdisc opened its mouth and a stream of water roared forth, hitting Daffodil head on. Daffodil let out a quiet moan and tried to use Vine Whip. As her arms shot forward, they grew tangled together, but she managed to wrap them around the Luvdisc and squeeze until it fainted. Wesley withdrew his Luvdisc with a scowl on his face. Daffodil's arms shot back to her side.

"You've done well so far," Wesley said, "But I have one last Pokemon. One I think even you will find a hard time defeating. Beware, you may faint in shock." My heart pounded as he reached into his pocket for the last blue Pokeball. What kind of Pokemon could be inside? Was it a Gyarados? A Kingdra? He pressed the button in the center of the ball and dropped it to the ground. In a flash of red light, I saw...a Magikarp? The orange fish bounced around on the floor obliviously.

"Your last Pokemon is a Magikarp?" I asked in a tone that betrayed my disbelief.

"Yes. Why is that so surprising?" Wesley must have been just as oblivious as his Magikarp.

I face-palmed. "Use Vine Whip, Daffodil!"

"Splash, Magikarp!"

The Magikarp began bouncing around Daffodil harmlessly. I almost felt bad as Daffodil strangled it until it fainted. With a deep sigh, Wesley recalled his last Pokemon.

"It seems you have bested me, young trainer. In return, I award you this." Wesley walked up to me and handed me a small circular badge. There was a small picture on it showing waves moving away from the Golden Gate Bridge in four directions. "That's the Wave Badge. It will cause Pokemon of higher levels to obey you and it permits you to use the move Cut outside of battle. Here's your reward money as well." He handed me a one hundred dollar bill.

"Thanks," I told him.

He smiled as I left the gym.

"We have to find a Pokemon Center, guys," I said to Apollo, Daffodil, and Bluebelle. "Do you know where one is?" I directed the question to Apollo.

If you take a right at the end of this street, you will be right in front of one.

"Er...thanks, Apollo." It was still strange and surprising to have his voice broadcast into my head.

I found the Pokemon Center and had Daffodil and Bandit healed while Bluebelle got a check up. Apollo growled menacingly when one of the nurses tried to examine him.

"He's my friend's Pokemon. He's pretty shy," I said apologetically. The nurse backed away slowly and spent the rest of our visit hiding behind the counter.

You wish I was your Pokemon. Apollo told me.

After an hour at the Pokemon Center, we were finally able to leave. Bandit was once again nipping at my heels as we walked.

"Can we go back to the Travelodge?" I asked Apollo.

He nodded rather than answering me with his mind.

"Thank god," I said and sighed.

It took another hour to find my way back to the motel and by the time I got there, I was dead tired. My Pokemon all seemed to feel the same way, though Apollo was emotionless as usual. I climbed the stairs to the second floor and knocked on the door of our motel room.

"It's unlocked," I heard Hermes call from inside the room.

I opened the door and saw him laying on the bed watching TV. His Pokemon other than Zeus were spread across the room. Hades was laying on his lap. Ares and Hermes' Feraligatr were sitting on my bed, which was creaking dangerously. Ares was carefully holding his tail against his chest so that his tail flame didn't ignite the whole motel. Hermes' Torterra was laying on the floor in the middle of the room.

"How did it go?" Hermes asked me casually.

"Oh, fine. I won," I said and pulled out my new badge to show him.

"Good. How did Daffodil and Bluebelle do?"

That made me pause. "How did you know-"

Hermes cut me off, "Apollo told me you gave them names. By the way, have you met the rest of my team."

"Um...no. I haven't really had time to meet them, seeing as we've either been in a tiny car or being attacked since I've met you."

Hermes laughed. "Nice. Anyways, you know Apollo, Zeus, Hades, and Ares." The golden-orange Charizard looked up at his name. "And this is my Torterra, Demeter, and my Feraligatr, Poseidon. They're all male except for Demeter."

There was an awkward silence for a moment as we ran out of conversation topics. The TV seemed to be either incredibly loud or incredibly quiet.

"So, er...How was your lunch?"

Hermes looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. I didn't think he would answer, but he eventually said, "It was good. Ares caught me a Wailmer."

My mouth dropped open. I now noticed that Hermes' stomach was bulging out. "You ate an entire Wailmer?" I asked.

He laughed. "Of course not. I shared with my Pokemon. Even though Shadow Pokemon can eat normal Pokemon food, it's healthier for them to eat other Pokemon. Fun fact," he added when he saw my startled expression.

He didn't say anything after that, so I tried to climb onto the foot of my bed without upsetting Ares or Poseidon. Ares glared at me, but Poseidon looked indifferent. Daffodil and Bluebelle sat carefully on the floor next to Demeter and Bandit jumped up on the bed next to Hermes and Hades. It was only four in the afternoon, but I drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

When I woke up, no light was filtering in through the windows. The only light came from the TV that was still on. I was wondering why I was sleeping on the end of the bed before I remembered that Ares and Poseidon had claimed the rest of it as theirs. I groaned and rolled out of bed, contemplating going to find something to eat.

"Are you awake yet?" I heard Hermes voice ask me from the other side of the room.

"Yeah. I was just going to go get something to eat," I told him.

"Don't bother. I got you some McDonald's at about six. It's on the table by the door."

"Thank you." I felt touched that he had thought to do that. Then again, he was basically kidnapping me. He at least owed me some food. "What time is it now?" I asked.

"It's about two in the morning," he responded.

"Wow. I really slept a long time. Why aren't you sleeping?"

I saw some movement in the dark and realized that he had shrugged. "I don't have to sleep much. I only need an hour a day. It's no use trying to sleep on a normal schedule, it'd be like if you tried to sleep for twenty four hours after a normal night of sleep. It's just part of being a Shadow Human I suppose."

I tried to find the small table in the dark and ended up tripping over Demeter who grunted. I found the McDonald's which was now cold and ate it as quickly as possible. I wandered back to my bed, this time tripping over Daffodil who didn't make any noise.

I felt like I should do something nice for Hermes after he picked me up dinner, so I said, "I'll stay awake with you if you want."

I could see him smile through the dark, his teeth lit up by the light from the TV. "No, you need to sleep. We'll be traveling a lot tomorrow. You'll need your rest."

I tried to protest, but I cut myself off with a loud yawn. I took that as a sign that maybe he was right. I curled up at the foot of my bed and felt something nuzzle my side, though it wasn't Bandit like I expected. I opened my eyes to see Poseidon looking directly at me, his large alligator mouth pressing into my side. I smiled and patted him on the snout. He grunted in pleasure and I realized I was happy, truly happy. It was an odd feeling, one I had never before experienced. It seems odd to think that I would be happy in my current predicament, but I was. I drifted back off to sleep, scared and excited for what the next day would bring.