Tamah: Well, here's the next chapter~


It was official, Rebekah thought, mud sucked.

Rebekah had been wading through the thick, sticky crud for who knew how long, and she wasn't even close to being out of the marsh yet. "Can't I just fly on you, Jubilee?" she groaned. Her legs felt like they were about to fall off.

But you're so dirty! the togekiss protested, Besides, you'll never get strong by being so lazy~!

Strength is a powerful asset, Swift added.

"Shut up, both of you. I feel like I'm about to keel over," she complained.

You're building muscle. Take it like a champ. That damn lucario was messing with her! She cast an irritated glare at the aura pokémon.

Wait a minute, both pokémon can use Aura. Is that how they can do their mind-speak thing? she wondered.

"Where are my other pokémon? I bet Joy would fly me anywhere," she grumbled under her breath.

The pair of pokémon were silent for a moment.

They're somewhere else, Jubilee reluctantly said.

Rebekah could almost feel the sadness lacing their thoughts, so she didn't ask anything else, she just 'took it like a champ.'

A few hours later, she was finally able to pull herself out of the mire and onto dry land. She collapsed on the wonderfully solid earth and passed out, right there. The two pokémon exchanged worried glances before the lucario picked up the woman and began to carry her.

Rain began to pour. If Rebekah wasn't too busy sleeping, she probably would have complained at the lack of visibility, but since both Swift and Jubilee had the wonderful gift of Aura, they could navigate through the rain just fine.

It's probably better this way, Swift remarked.

The togekiss let out a sad note. Perhaps.

The silence stretched out uncomfortably between the pair, both feeling guilty.

It's what has to be done, Jubilee said, trying to assure herself. We both know that.

The lucario nodded, but remained silent. They reached a small house, with the door torn wide open. They decided to ignore the implications of that and went inside anyway. Swift carefully set Rebekah on the bed in the back room, and went to the table in the living room.

Jubilee was whiling the time away by preening herself, to get at least some of the mud off of her feathers. You know, they say mud is good for the human skin, Jubilee said, It's supposed to moisturize it or something.

The lucario chuckled. Well, I'm willing to bet that she has enough moisture to last a long while. He noticed a television in the corner and tried to find the device to turn it on with.

He eventually found it, thrown into some corner because of a struggle, no doubt. He awkwardly mashed a few buttons, trying to get the television to activate. One day, one day, he would learn to read the moonspeak that was the human alphabet.

The lucario finally managed to find the right button. Now, to only hope it was on a useful channel. Luckily, it did seem to be the news channel.

He watched it absentmindedly, letting his ears listen for any important information. All the humans could talk about was whatever was happening at the Mountain. Being a steel-type, like every steel-type, he could normally feel the calming magnetism of Mt. Coronet.

Lately, though, the magnetism took on a strange, alien feeling, one he did not like at all. His fears were confirmed when the humans began to panic about some type of disturbance at the top. He did not need to see it to know it to be there.

Jubilee, not being a steel-type, but having the extra aura abilities, could feel it in a different way. When she was flying in the sky, she told him that she could see it as well, before the humans did.

It was troubling, to say the least. Swift sighed in frustration. It wasn't like a pokémon to have to think this way. It was normally a job for humans to constantly worry about things. Other pokémon didn't seem to care about the implications of the mountain, well, other than Jubilee. Even other lucario seemed blissfully uncaring.

He was sure that it wasn't a coincidence. Nothing was ever a coincidence. Swift's gaze rested on the mud-caked woman who was currently snoring loudly in the other room. Like most humans she appeared powerless and fragile in his eyes, but at the same time a valued ally.

You can go to sleep, Swift. Jubilee told him, I don't think I can sleep tonight.

I doubt anyone will find us here, he said. You shouldn't worry.

She let out a sound of discontent. I know.

He felt a pang of pity for his companion. By nature, she should be forever cheerful and kind-hearted. Every movement she made exuded hopelessness and depression. Well, that wasn't entirely true, he thought. When the girl is around, the togekiss radiated with glee that he knows is more than a shell.

If only he could feel the same way.

Rebekah woke with a start. She glanced around the room in a panic, frantically wondering where she was. In the dim light, she saw the sleeping form of Jubilee and calmed down slightly.

So it wasn't a dream, or some crazy delusion. Rebekah was actually inside of a video game. She chuckled quietly, careful not to wake the two. Of all the strange things that could happen to someone, this ranked up in the impossible. Obviously.

She pulled herself up out of bed and immediately wished she didn't. Her entire body was aching and sore. She allowed herself to fall back onto the bed with a groan. Stupid exercise.

Stupid muscles.

Stupid everything.

Reaching out to turn on a small lamp, she almost knocked it over. But she did manage to turn it on.

The sudden light caught the lucario's attention, and Swift sat up quickly. It took you long enough to wake up, he reprimanded.

Rebekah made a face. "I'm not used to tromping all over creation, okay?" And in mud, no less. Speaking of mud, she felt gritty and disgusting all over. "Does this place have a shower or something?"

I didn't check, he told her dryly, I'm sure it does, though.

"How do you do that?" she asked, "I mean, how do you even have a tone of voice?"

Swift found himself chucking. Magic.

The woman lifted up her head and stuck her tongue out at him. She then dragged herself out of the filthy bed and shuffled to the hallway. Rebekah saw two doors. One, she discovered, was a closet, the other, to her supreme delight, was a bathroom. The hallway itself led to a living room, where a television was on.

Her aches suddenly forgotten, she scrambled into the bathroom and began to shower. Whoever owned the house has some fancy soaps, she thought to herself.

Speaking of, where are the owners? she wondered, I'll have to ask Jubilee and Swift later.

Rebekah hoped that whoever owned the house didn't mind her borrowing some of their clothes (if they even fit, of course) because there was no way she was going to change back into her icky, filthy clothes.

Grabbing a towel, she went back into the bedroom to rummage through the lonely-looking dresser. She glanced around after a second, looking for the two pokémon, but they weren't in the small room. Rebekah closed the door and changed, noting that the clothes were a little big. It's better than them being too small, she mused.

Are you done in there? The lucario asked, We need to leave.

"Yeah. Let me grab a bag to hold my old clothes." And some food wouldn't hurt, she thought. She was really hungry.