"Charlie! Come on, let's go!" Master spoke aloud; a bit enthusiastic about the journey ahead. Her goggles hung from her neck as she shaded her eyes with her hand overlooking the valley below. Her long, brown hair swayed with the wind as she sighed. As usual, we were once again, lost.

Charlie is a fair sized Khangaskhan; green eyes with a handkerchief around her neck. She glances over at me, a drop of sweat coming from her face. I look over towards her as she struggles to keep up.

I notice something rather odd about her. She has no baby in her pouch. I try to get a better look to make sure my eyes do not deceives me, but alas, I was right. Nothing is there…

"Charlie… how come you don't have a baby?" I asked. She just turns to me and sighs.

"It's a long story, hun… let's just get down the mountain, ok?" she runs up ahead leaving me trailing behind. I run to catch up with Master and Charlie. Master is holding tightly onto the egg; my egg to be exact. It was her greatest dream come true- a baby with extraordinary moves from birth. I didn't quite understand why; I mean, she had me. I would probably be replaced eventually. It was only a matter of time before it would hatch.

I didn't seem to understand why breed me. Master refused to let me evolve; she kept me in this middle phase because she found me cute; she found me as her little baby of the team. Everything was just handed to me. I have been ready to evolve for ages; but this everstone hung around my neck prevents me from such. I often feel like I am being held back from becoming something extraordinary- even perhaps one of the strongest on the team.

The team was great. Skye, the Feraligatr, was Master's first companion on the journey. Then came Roxie, the Tyranitar with her brute strength and tactic. Felix the Umbreon was a gift. Asher the unusually black Charizard then followed. Vatani the Luxray soon came after, however was currently replaced by a Kabuto which was resurrected from a fossil. Then I came along.

Here and there it was all switched up. Our team was never stable. Asher, Skye and Roxie were usually always on the team together, with me included. Asher and Skye were close while Roxie became my best friend. Poor Charlie here is only attending such a journey to keep the egg warm and safe from danger. I guess it makes her happy when it is in her pouch; it must remind her that all hope isn't failed or lost at times.

Asher had always been my dream, ever since he had been a Charmelon when I had first met him. He always had this mystery about him, something I never really understood. He always seemed to look down at me; as if I were a nuisance and pest. Master bred us hoping that with his incredible move set, our offspring would carry the traits as well.

I figured it would bring us closer. It only seemed to make us drift apart even more. He never acknowledged me or the egg, in fact. He ignored it completely.

We made it into the valley; Master stopping for the night to set up a campfire. Asher's dazzling fire show lit up the surroundings with wonder; Skye taking a seat next to Roxie while Kabuto just sat there. Charlie kept the egg tucked away in her pouch as she looked down examining it as if it were her own. Asher paid no attention to it; he just sat there beside Skye watched the fire blaze.

It wasn't long before everyone was asleep; everyone except Charlie and myself. I looked over to her, just watching her stare at the egg with no expression on her face.

"Alls I want is to be a happy family… to be together…" I looked over at Asher who was now sleeping alone. Charlie shook her head as she then looked up towards the starry night sky.

"There is no happy family when you are like this…" Charlie moved the egg in her pouch to a different position, a calm, gentle touch as she did so. I stared blankly at her.

"What do you mean?" I asked with curiosity. Alls she did was sigh.

"When you travel like this, that family… is all of us. When you say family; you are referring to the family in the wild… that is, if you had no master… if you had freedom…" Charlie looked my way, a tint of sorrow in her eyes as she tried to smile.

"-I used to have a family. I used to have everything that you speak of. But then… poachers stole my baby from me right before me, and I couldn't do a darned thing about it. She was gone…" Charlie turned the egg over again as she smiled.

"-I once met Rhydon; thought we would be together forever. Freedom- the wild… gets old after awhile. Here- traveling with Kris… you get to see the world. You get to meet new people, new friends. You wonder why Kris won't evolve you; she loves you the way that you are. You don't need to pretend to be something, Jax… Just be yourself." Charlie smiled at me now rubbing my head in a friendly tone.

I laughed for a moment. Master… Kris. She was quite the character herself. It took her forever to realize that I was a female. She was crazy. Yet, I loved her. She was honest; sincere. I just wish her friends saw what we did.

That's why she left. Nate, Kyle… all of them. She couldn't take the pain or heartache anymore. She would often tell us how the hardest thing in life would be loving somebody who could be right next to you, but know they are not yours. Everybody always thought she was so strong; that she trained hard and battled hard. In reality, she was a lost romantic at heart.

I remember her saying to us, "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?". She kept us all on edge; she made us think. She made us understand that battling- that everything in life is art. That we should move as if we were in a show; every battle was a piece and work of art.

Take Roxie. She could create rock sculptures out of stones with the use of Earthquake. Skye could create figures out of ice and moving water. Asher could spark illusions with his flame and smoke. What could I do? I could dig really big holes. When I battled; it was all or nothing. Send me in, and everything goes out with a boom. I was cute and cuddly; squishy and fun to poke at. I didn't mind at all- I loved nothing more that cuddling up to Master or sitting on her lap, even if I was as big as she was.

Truth be told; we were one in the same. Lost. Lost in friendship, in battle and in love. She had loved that boy- despite all his flaws, she saw right through him. I can't remember how many nights she would stay up and pray; pray he would just understand her. She used to cry her heart out for him.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. He got himself a girlfriend. Once she tagged along, Kris couldn't bare it any longer. She said that she was growing weak; that she needed alone time. We all knew it was a lie. Especially Nate…

Nate had been Kris's friend for ages. They always fought; but in the end- they were really the best of friends and team that anyone could be. He knew the reason why she left. Yet that boy whom she loved did not. He could never seem to figure it out. All the gifts she would buy him; all the support in his contests. She would purposely lose to him because she could never bring herself to beat him.

And yet, that boy… whom she loved ever so much… used to be her best friend. If it is anyone who deserves a chance, first or second, it would and should be Kris. She may act so strong, but being strong is alls she can be. Build up walls to keep feelings in and people out. That boy seemed to break through them.

The day she left, I saw the look in his eyes. The look of sorrow, the look that goodbyes shouldn't be real; and that friends should always stay together. His soft brown eyes; his pupils reflecting such sorrows. His Typhlosion even respected Kris, for she taught him so much. Rocky was his name; and more than anything he used to hate her. That didn't last too long; she eventually trained him with Asher, who taught him a whole new battle style for contests. Truth be told, Rocky never wanted contests. He wanted the victory of battle.

I guess I shouldn't complain. Asher never liked me; he never looked at me. Kris had a bond; and that love she had doesn't seem to ever die nor fade. I don't have that. I have a crush; a stupid little crush on a know it all elitist of the team. When I sit here and listen to myself complain, I always say… theres someone worse off than you.

I walk over to Kris; sleeping sound in her sleeping bag. She looks so happy in her sleep. I guess that's the only time she can be happy. The happiest time I think I had ever seen her was when she used to watch the sunset with that boy. They would just sit there. It was like, everything was so perfect; time stood still. Now she dreads the sunset; yet welcomes the new day. She now thrives on the wonderance of what tomorrow may bring; that something incredible could be in store. Even though day after day, she has been let down, she somehow manages to stay strong…

I think that's why we are the way we are. We respect her; we adore her with ever bone- every fiber in our body. Just to think that her meeting me was an accident…

Back when her friends and herself decided on passing through a cave; angering the tribe of Garchomp and their young. I was lucky to have come in contact with her; I was lucky that I was able to tag along. Those Garchomp and my peers would no longer laugh at me for my slightly unusual color. I attached myself to Kris's head, and only until she got to the nearest Pokemon Center and sat down to eat, did anyone notice I was there.

She saved me. She saved me from who I was; and who I could have been. Living in darkness, in a cave where your own kind even hate you. I could not have asked for anything more. For I was abandoned; orphaned by whoever my parents were. All because I am one shade of color off.

Kris never discriminated me. She would always tell me, why be the same? That if we were all the same- life would be boring.

Hearing a rustling coming from her bag, I look over only to find that the Kabuto is no longer a Kabuto, but in fact a very curious Kabutops which has somehow gotten a hold of her rare candy stash. Both Charlie and I look over; the Kabutops pushing away the bag as if trying to hide it all up.

"Seriously, those candies are really good…" she spoke now making her way over towards us. She was kind of hideous; scary looking with those scythes. She yawned then hiccupped, scratching her head with her feet as both Charlie and I looked at her.

"Back where I am from, species like you never existed…" She continued, pointing her scythes at both Charlie and myself. She seemed rather harmless; a bit odd, but harmless.

"I must admit- that Feraligatr is kind of cute… I wonder if he is single?" She put her scythes to her mouth tilting her head as she watched Skye sleep. She was an odd one indeed…

"Well then. I think we should all be getting to sleep…" Charlie yawned, trying to get the Kabutops to do the same.

"Roger!" I pretend yawned as well, the Kabutops looking at us with curiosity.

"Oh! My name is Roger?" She jumped up and down, Charlie looking at me sighing.

"If you want. Get to sleep. Tomorrow we need to wake up bright and early to find food…" Charlie closed her eyes while standing, as if trying to sleep. I never seen anything like it before; sleeping while standing?

I will refer to the Kabutops as Roger. Roger just looked at us blankly as she then bolted away.

"No worries! I'll get a head start on the food gathering!" she left for the woods, Charlie now sleeping beside of Kris. I laid myself down beside of Kris, cuddling up to her now ready to sleep. Roger's odd humor broke all the thoughts and sorrows of the night, which I didn't mind. We needed somebody who we could laugh at, or with.

Tomorrow… another day filled with false hopes and dreams. I wonder when it will all just work out…