Well, it's been way too long. I'm so glad that I'm finally done this chapter, because it's about time that Holly's opinion was expressed. The rest of the story will be told in Holly's point of view - through first-person, present-tense. I have fallen in love with present-tense, but if you have trouble adjusting, just practice, because it will grow on you (I hope.) For those of you who liked Grovyle's perspective as much as I did, don't worry. I'll be bringing him back at certain points. And, yes, this is a slow-moving story, especially at the beginning, but I'm doing my best to move it along. For now, enjoy Chapter Two.

Communication

We've been walking for a while now, but I still know nothing. You would think that, having seen how desperate I am, Grovyle might have explained something by now, but he's been silent since telling me his name. I'm going to go insane at this rate; we've been walking and walking and all I can think about is that I don't know who I am or what I'm doing here. Grovyle is the only thing that is keeping me sane because I know that he can explain all of this for me, but he may prove to be the thing that drives me to insanity if he won't give me anything to make an identity out of. He's the one with all of the power here, but he's choosing not to use it, and there's nothing I can do.

I mean, I guess I could talk to him and convince him to explain everything, but the few times I've tried it hasn't ended well. See - I can't walk and talk at the same time.

Yeah, stupid, right? But every time I manage to catch up to Grovyle, who barely walks slowly enough for me to keep up, I can't get out more than his name before I've kicked my own foot, or tangled my legs, and down I go. Then all I can do is wait for Grovyle to turn around and pull on my hands so I can stand again.

…Hands? Forefeet? Forepaws? What do I call them? I stare at them as I walk, and the first thing that comes to mind is 'feet.' But whenever Grovyle helps me up I think of it as my hand…

Oh, screw it. It doesn't even matter. I'll call them whatever comes to mind. Not like Grovyle's a mind reader.

But yeah, walking is obscenely hard. I can't quite balance on two feet yet - not with this hulking tail on my back - so I'm stuck on all fours. And while a Pokemon should have instincts and stuff, mine don't seem to exist. If they do, they're really, really deep in my mind where I have no hope of finding them. What that means is I have major coordination issues. While I've discovered how to move my limbs so I don't feel like an awkward lumbering beast, I need to concentrate to make sure that they keep moving this way. If I let my mind wander, they start to move how I think I would try to move them as a human, but this body is different and my human instincts lead me to a face plant every time.

I look up from my feet to find my head inches from a large tree trunk. I swerve madly to avoid it, and end up getting my legs crossed.

THUMP

The painful sensation of my entire body hitting the ground through the not-so-cushioning grass is something I'm used to by now, but it still draws a groan of frustration from my throat. I should be able to walk. Everyone can walk.

An exasperated sigh sounds from Grovyle's direction, another sound I've quickly gotten used to. Whenever I fall he turns, sighs, helps me up and continues walking. He doesn't seem overly concerned about me, not speaking or even making eye contact. His face is always emotionless, save for a few hints of annoyance. I can't imagine that he isn't slightly upset about all of this, given the way he's acting; maybe the blank slate is all an act. A mask.

I grab his offered hand, avoiding his claws - last time I got lazy and got a scratch on one of my stubby, useless fingers. He pulls, and as I return to my feet I do my best to find my balance.

Grovyle starts walking again.

I follow as best I can, soon falling back into the rhythm of walking, one step at a time. Though I'm concentrating on my feet, my mind is beginning to wander and, deciding that I can walk without staring at the ground, I allow all of the previous, confusing paths of my thoughts to be replaced by the first thing I see: My surroundings. They are somehow different that they should be, but I have no idea why. It is disorienting, but I suppose the fact that the colours are like that at all means that they are supposed to be. Something nags at me, but I can't understand it, so I dismiss my confusion. At least I know what everything is - trees are trees and grass is grass. I have no doubts about that.

Stumbling slightly, I immediately return my focus to my feet and walking. Staring at my hands - feet? - paws? Staring at my…whatevers against the grass, something occurs to me. I don't blend in at all. I dismiss the thought as soon as it comes, letting my mind wander idly.

The next time I look up and see Grovyle, though, it occurs to me again. Grovyle's muted green and red skin would enable him to hide in the greenery of the forest easily, but the green of my skin is bright and has a bit of yellow to it. It comes closest to the shade of the grass beneath it, but even that has a darker, more pure colour.

I pause. The grass in front of me, covering the clearing - it isn't the same. It's still grass, but somehow the colour seems lighter than the rest of my surroundings - and a little brighter, too. It's like light is shining on it - but there's nothing around that could possibly do that. I glance around to be sure, but there's nothing out of the ordinary in the small clearing I've just entered. Realizing that I'm in a clearing, I look straight up. The sky is - blue? What? Something about that strikes me as odd, but just like all of the other odd things I've seen, I can't consciously think of anything wrong with it, so I continue walking, contenting myself with looking ahead, through the gaps between sparsely-distributed trees-

Something glints, but it's so bright that I swear I'm blinded for a moment. I yell, lose focus, tangle my feet and plummet to the ground.

Grovyle's exhausted sigh and the crunching of leaves under his feet confirm my failure at walking, but I can't focus on anything other than what has just happened. Ignoring his offered hand, I carefully get to my feet and look upward, near the tops of the trees. Again, a bright white light in between the needles of the pines draws in my gaze, and just as quickly causes my eyes to sting and become momentarily useless. My eyes squeeze together tightly as I shuffle backwards, wincing all the way. Finally, when I think I'm back in the forest, I let my eyes open again.

The first thing I notice is Grovyle, staring at me like I'm insane. I vaguely wonder if he's right. I don't know how light can appear in the trees - or in the sky, if that was where it came from - but it's something else to add to the list of things that I don't understand. It's turning into a very long mental list, one I wish didn't exist. I also notice that parts of my vision are obscured with bright colour, and it stays no matter where I look. Wonderful.

He's still staring at me. I stare back for a moment. On the plus side, he's meeting my eyes for the first time in a while. The downside...his gaze is skeptical and dumbfounded. A little rueful, which isn't good. "I'm not crazy," I say thickly, still a little dazed. "In case you were wondering."

After a moment he seems to believe me, and now that I'm looking at him his eyes are looking everywhere but at mine. "You're not hurt?"

I'm surprised by his concern. It's the first time all day he's asked me if I'm okay - despite my many tumbles. I'm relieved that he actually cares. "My eyes sting. My vision's kind of...spotty. I'm mostly, you know..." I trail off, noticing his blank face. "Take a step closer," I order.

After a moment of hesitation, he complies. Now he's casting a fuzzy shadow on the spot where I was standing. "Turn around and look up near the tops of the trees, and you'll get what I mean."

Grovyle complies, but I regret my request as soon as I hear his surprised grunt and watch his entire body tense up. His hands shield his eyes as he takes a few steps to the side. Then he's looking back, eyes slightly unfocused and blinking rapidly, but meeting my own. I almost apologize, but I shut my mouth in awe as I watch his mind work. That's what it's like, looking into his eyes - he's an open book as long as he's meeting my gaze. He's thinking - he has an inkling of what this is - and he looks up to the trees again.

I follow his gaze. There's nothing really special about the trees, really; they're dark and tall and full of needles. Exciting. You can barely see the sky through all of the branches, but if I shift my gaze forward I can see it due to the lack of trees in the clearing. It's still blue.

After another moment, I give up on trying to see and look to Grovyle, to see if he has any ideas.

Or, rather, I look to where he should be.

My senses are already on overdrive as I frantically look around. He's not here any more. He can't have abandoned me - not now. He could have been attacked, or-

I catch a sound from high above, and my head whips in its direction. It takes me a moment to find the source, but when I do I'm able to relax a little. The green of Grovyle's skin makes him hard to see, especially when he's moving as fast as he is. He jumps nimbly from branch to branch, quickly and powerfully scaling a tall pine as if the tree has given him wings. I watch him in awe for a few moment before I realize that we have a problem.

"Hey!"

He doesn't seem to hear, so I stand on two feet and yell again, louder. "Hey!"

He slows, stops, then starts descending quickly. When he's within audible distance, he calls back, "If you want to follow, you can!"

"Excuse me, but I can barely walk! What makes you think that I can do - that?" I ask, gesturing vaguely at him. Suddenly I'm set off-balance, and I crash to the ground a moment later, as if to prove my point.

I'm getting better at standing up, but I'm only halfway there when Grovyle reaches me. He grabs my arm and hauls my to my feet. He doesn't release my arm, considering me for a few seconds. I hear him mumble something, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe no time?

Without warning I'm whisked off my feet and immobilized. By the time I've gained an understanding of what just happened we're already far off the ground, Grovyle carrying me securely against his chest with one arm. His grip is tight, and I'm not scared of falling, but I can't help feeling a bit helpless.

"What was that for?" I ask. "I mean...you could have warned me!"

"Do you want to go down?" he replies flatly.

"...No."

"Then stop complaining. You're coming up. It doesn't matter how."

I sigh and try to concentrate on watching the tree's trunk speed by. Grovyle's...harsh. I don't understand it. But I have to trust him, I remind myself. He knows who I am.

We're pretty high up when I start to wonder what the point of this is. "Hey...why are you climbing this tree, anyway?"

Grovyle pauses a moment before responding coldly, "Try to have some patience. You'll see."

I scowl and stare at the trunk of the tree. He's so condescending that I wonder how we could have put up with each other before. But you did. Put up with him now…

When he slows to a stop, he makes no move to release me. Having been carried much too long for my liking, I squirm a bit, but he doesn't move, so I snap, "Put me down! You can't just-"

THUMP

Instead of putting me down carefully, he simply lets go of me, not saying anything as I hit the branch hard. I scramble to get a hold on the bark, and I take a moment to look myself over and grumble about Grovyle's lack of judgment. A few inches over, and I would have briefly met every branch in the tree by way of hitting them with my face on the way to the ground. Hundreds of complaints are already formed, and I'm in the middle of chosing one to start with-

Then I see the sky.

My first thought is that something is wrong with it, but as I watch, the feeling of how right this seems strikes me. The rare colours that melt into the slowly lightening shade of blue are impossible. I swear there's a small spot of purple amongst the light pinks and oranges. But the way it all fits together - it is too surreal to be happening, but it feels like it is supposed to be there.

The circle full of light just above the horizon, which I can't look at for more than a moment without blinding myself - impossible. But it's there. And somehow, it should be.

I want to stay, to sit here and watch this sight. It is relaxing, and calming, and somehow I feel like it's giving me energy just by shining on me.. I enjoy this.

Really, I'd rather sit here for a while than travel. The stillness and calm of the atmosphere helps me focus, and it would help me to sort Grovyle out in my head. He's a topic that is difficult to wrap my head around, between his secrecy and caring and harshness - not to mention how hasty he is. He doesn't like to slow down for anything or anyone, especially not me.

I glance at Grovyle briefly but look back to the sky quickly - and my quick peek reveals that he, too, is having trouble looking away. Perhaps I'll be able to stay for a while…

A moment later, however, I hear Grovyle's voice, soft but more determined than I've ever heard it. "This...this sight convinces me even more that we must hurry - that what we are doing will be worth everything."

"Which is what, exactly?" I ask quietly, trying not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere. "What the heck were we doing that was so important?"

He makes a small sound of what seems to be pain, but a glance in his direction reveals no physical injury. I've hit a nerve then - probably by mentioning my memory loss. He seems to hate that. His voice is controlled, but I can hear the underlying pain when he replies, "You don't understand the significance of this. This...this should shock you, be something unnatural and strange to you, but I can see that you have already accepted it as natural. I...I wish-"

Grovyle cuts himself off, but I hear the unspoken desire in my mind, as I have been for as long as I can remember. I wish you could remember. I wish you were human. I wish this had never happened.

I scowl at him, and my temper snaps. "Well, it happened, okay? I'm in a Pokemon's body and don't remember you. Get over it. What's done is done; you need to be able to leave it behind and work with what you have. That means working with me, got it?"

"Why would I want to work with you," he retorts, "when all you've done is be a nuisance and-" Grovyle stops himself once more, cringing and looking like he regrets his words. But I'm not letting him get off easy.

"Because I'm all you've got," I say, letting my words become blunt. "I'm the closest thing you have to what I was before, so I bet you're not going to let go of me too easily. So work with me."

He refuses to look at me, and I can tell that his face is masked; it's blank and unfeeling. "Stop it!" I yell, surprising myself. He winces and glances at me. "That's part of it! You won't even tell me how you feel about this mess, so what am I supposed to do about it? Why can't you just speak to me?"

"You couldn't begin to understand," he says after a pause. There's something in his voice that worries me - it wavers. Suddenly I realize that I'm yelling at my only chance of learning who I am, and I look away in apologetic silence.

It takes a few minutes for him to speak, and the words aren't what I had hoped to hear. "We need to leave. Every moment is precious. We're wasting our time."

"But…Grovyle, what if we never see it again?" Suddenly I'm reminded of my memory - how, for now, I won't be remembering things. "We might as well enjoy it while we've got it."

Grovyle looks surprised and blinks at me oddly.

It occurs to me that this is the first time I've used his name out loud.

The moment of peace disappears as he grimaces and says harshly, "Let's go. I expect you can get down by yourself, since you're so adamant about forgetting that you were human." He turns away from me, and suddenly he's gone, bounding down the tree.

I watch him, wondering for a moment if I should feel proud or ashamed of what I've done, then turning my attention to how the heck I'm supposed to climb down a fifty-foot tree.

Blazie