A/N: My author notes have a tendency of being either too long or too short. I will try to condense them so that the bulk of the document is the story proper.

Thank you, the five of you that have reviewed so far, at least at the time this was written.

Onward.

Chapter II: Forlorn

Before we get back to the story proper, I guess I should explain how I felt, at the time, about Chikorita. They were cute, yes; and I'd done my research, and decided I liked it best of the starters in all four mainstream regions, aesthetically anyway. The trouble was that they were the only Grass starter that never gained a second type. It remained weak to the variety of types, most of them common, that Grass types traditionally faced--Fire, Ice, Bug, Flying, and Poison.

In short, they were cute, but in battle, they were crap.

Of course, that was before I became biased.

Karen held me in front of her for another moment as I tried in vain to actually focus on her entire face. Then I was back on her shoulder. I attempted to pet her shoulder with one of my arms--forelegs--but I still couldn't control them well enough to do so.

She was no longer crying, but I could feel her shaking, and more than that I could feel her fear. They say a Pokémon bonds with the first being they see--human or otherwise. This is absolutely true. Had I been human, I would have felt bad, comforted her, maybe sung a song or two to cheer her up. As a Pokémon, I didn't just feel bad for her, her despair was a black weight crushing my weak little body.

"Karen," came the man's voice again. Now that I knew where I was, I recognized Uncle Ren's voice. "You're scaring him..."

'N-n-no,' I stammered weakly. 'I don't w-want y-y-you r-right now...' I tried to shake my head side to side and found I couldn't, but I felt Karen lean away from Ren as her father tried to take me back.

"Please, Daddy..."

'P-please, U-uncle...' I pawed at Karen's shoulder weakly.

Karen stroked my leaf gently, still shaking.

"I...I was the one who asked him to come..."

"Karen," started Ren, but my voice, feeble as it was, cut him off.

'No,' I insisted, unable to move my head to look at her. 'Don't feel bad. Not your fault. You couldn't have known...'

There was a padding sound and I became aware of a Pokémon behind me as a sigh that sounded alot like "Nine!" was given off.

At that moment, there was a sound like a baby Growlithe growling. I realized I was hungry.

"B-better feed you, huh..." said Karen, and somehow her fear shrank. This was a task; she could use it to block the pain for a little while. I was shifted to her lap, and my hind legs draped off of her leg and onto some soft fabric. Probably the ridiculously comfortable lounge chair.

A bottle, which looked like it was just about half as big as I was, hove into view in the grip of Karen's suddenly rediculously large hand. Reflexively I latched onto it, and was merrily sucking away when the absurdity of the entire situation finally hit me.

I had just been hit by a car, less than ten minutes ago. I had died. I had talked to a Mew. I had been born the Pokémon I'd been coming to see be born, and now I was drinking baby-Pokémon formula from a bottle.

Yeah. Right. This was a dream, an hallucination. I was still lying on the ground in front of that car. If only I could pinch myself...

"There, better?" said Karen after a moment. I felt myself nodding. The bottle was removed, and I, finally feeling like I could move my own limbs, dropped the rest of my body off of her leg and looked out at what I could see of the rest of the room.

Or, I tried to. What actually happened was that I found myself staring down the muzzle of a Ninetales. A very, very large Ninetales, or so it seemed. Chikorita are the tallest of the starters, but next to this Ninetales I felt tiny. But Ninetales can do that to you no matter how big you are.

She growled.

'Bad dream now,' I squeaked, backing away.

"Myst!" said Karen and Ren sharply, in unison.

"Don't scare him, alright?" Ren continued, reaching forward and putting a hand on Myst's back.

'This is not a dream,' she said after a moment, her ruby eyes boring into mine almost like Giratina's had.

I tried to say something and managed to squeak "Chiko..."

"Myst!" said Ren forcefully.

'...What are you?' she asked quietly, her breath almost unbearably hot. Then she blinked and walked away, leaving me dazed. Ren, looking irritated, got up and went after her.

Karen reached down and absently began to stroke my leaf again. Her sadness jumped up in notches as Ren snapped at Myst from another room, obviously thinking the two of us couldn't hear.

"I know you can understand me. You're the cleverest Pokémon I've ever seen, and I know you're gentle, you always have been. Don't go up to babies like that--especially Grass types. Now's not a good time, alright?"

'Do not lose yourself in the grief,' muttered Myst.

"My nephew's just died. Karen's cousin. She's feeling bad enough as it is, and that's making the Chikorita feel uneasy. The last thing he needs is to have a heart attack ten minutes after his birth."

'I do not trust him.'

"You deal with little Pokémon all the time, and you've never done anything like that. Don't do it again, alright?"

I realized for the first time in this life that Ren couldn't understand her, and that I could. It was unnerving.

'...As you wish, Raymond-sama.'

There was a knock at the door. Ren stomped past the lounge chair, stress radiating from him like heat. I could not see clearly to the door, but I realized who it was anyway when Ren exclaimed "Kyra!"

Karen gasped, "Mother," and stood up, rushing to the door. I was left alone.

"I came as soon as I could, the traffic out of Goldenrod was terrible," my aunt began. "I... I haven't heard, is Joshua...?"

'You could have picked a better time,' said Myst suddenly. She had appeared without my noticing next to the chair. I set my forelegs on the arm and looked over at her.

'Tell me about it...' I responded, my leaf drooping. This was so...unreal. And awkward.

'You will forgive me, I hope...?'

'What?' My thoughts were still on Karen, and I'd been wishing she'd come back over here. 'Oh... Y-yeah...'

Myst paused, obviously feeling awkward. That was somewhat funny, I found, because I'd heard from Ren before that she hadn't been awkward at all since she evolved. 'I...am vulnerable to strange urges. I felt I had to know what you are.'

"Chikorita," I said by way of explanation.

Myst huffed. 'You look like one, anyway. But you smell...' She paused. 'The one they mourn, the boy named Joshua... You smell like him.'

'I...I do?' I smelled myself, and decided that I didn't smell any different. Then I realized that that was the problem.

She looked at me. I flinched, but there was no power in her gaze this time. 'Newborn Pokémon do not smell like humans.'

What was I supposed to say? I still wasn't sure of the situation myself. After a moment she leaned forward and gently licked my leaf.

'Your tongue's hot,' I complained, pulling away.

'An unfortunate fact,' she said gently, padding around to the front of the chair. 'But you must be cleaned. You are still covered in fluid.'

Was I? And apparently she'd decided to change the subject, too. She began to lick the rest of me, gently.

'They would have cleaned you themselves, but their shock... I am surprised they have done as much for you as they have.'

I squirmed, uncomfortable, but she was right.

'I am sure they will find out sooner or later, but in the meantime... Turn around, please.'

I complied. She began to clean my other side.

'S-so... You're Myst, right?' I didn't want to say anything about my former existence to her. I wasn't sure how she'd react, and I was uncomfortable enough around a Fire type without it actually breathing fire.

'Yes. The gir's name is Karen, and the man's is Ren. The woman coming through the door--' (This was true, as Kyra had finally passed the treshold, crying) '--her name is Kyra.'

Silence for a moment. Myst raised one of her tails and began to dry me with it.

'Of course, I do not imagine you have a name. Doubtless Karen will arrange that.'

I did. It was Joshua Card. But I wasn't going to tell her that.

'There,' she continued, lowering her tail. 'Is that any better?'

'Y-yeah, a lot,' I said, turning around to face her again. 'Th-thanks...'

"Myst?" said Karen, and I realized she'd been standing there for awhile. She reached down and picked me up, and I leaned into her shoulder again. "There. Missed me, huh?" There was a false cheeriness in her voice. Her father was a Breeder, for God's sake, you'd think she'd have known that you can't lie to a Pokémon about your emotions. She began to walk.

I murmured into her shoulder, not really saying anything, trying to reassure her. Then I remembered something else about Chikorita. I pushed myself back slightly and leaned toward her face, fanning my leaf gently. I wasn't really sure how I knew how to move it, but I did.

She inhaled. Then she exhaled.

"Thank you," she breathed. "Chikorita have such a calming scent..."

We began walking upstairs.

She began to murmer quietly, but it was mostly nonsensical baby chatter. I realized, suddenly, that she had to be exhausted. It had to be nigh on 11:30 or 11:45 by now. Karen stepped into her room, where I was assaulted by a combination of general girl-smells that I could not describe any better than that. The room was dark, and I couldn't remember anything about it from when I'd been here as a human. I wasn't sure I'd ever even come into her room before.

She flopped, or perhaps drooped, onto her bed, curling up into a fetal position.

"Don't want to think about it," she breathed. "Don't want to think about it until tomorrow..."

I nuzzled her as best I could, and she opened up slightly and drew me into a hug.

"Can I call you Josh?" she asked.

I let out a small, surprised noise. Why would she... She wasn't going to name me after myself, was she?

"I know it doesn't make sense, but... Joshua, my cousin, he died a few minutes before you were born. He didn't like being called Josh, but..." She sniffed. My heart melted. "I-I mean, I'm not trying to replace him or anything, but..."

But you couldn't feel better about something if you ignored it, could you?

'Yes,' I said quietly, fanning her with my leaf again.

"Thank you," she breathed, almost crushing me with her hug. I struggled for a moment, and she relented. "I-I'm sorry..."

'Shh...'

"G...good night, Josh. And..." She rolled over, picking me up and taking me with her. I saw a window, but nothing out of it. The sky must have been overcast. But nevertheless that was where I knew Karen to be looking when she finished. "Good-bye, Joshua..."

Almost instantly she dropped off into sleep, her arm curling around me protectively. I snuggled in as best I could without feeling awkward (she was my cousin), and stared out the window myself for a few minutes.

Red-and-blue flashes came by a few times, but I heard no sirens. I knew they were just coming back from the place where I died, and I echoed Karen's words and cast them out into the night, deciding at last that it wasn't--couldn't be--a dream.

'Good-bye... Joshua Card.'

A/N: There may or may not be an ending author's note; if there's something that needs to be explained further, I'll explain it here.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Reviews are nice.

Until next time.