A/N: The first chapter talked about Diego; this one reveals how Ren got Myst. There's also more development for Diego near the end.

Oh, and plot. Did I mention plot? There's plot, too.

(This chapter's title stems from the prologue, which removed on account of it being too confusing. What the first choice was will be apparent as the story nears its end)

Chapter 2 - The First Consequence

+Diego+

I was released from my PokéBall on the other side of the Forest. I was grateful for that: those trees held no happy memories for me. The day was clear and nearly cloudless, and as we walked I was assaulted by a combination of smells--one of which was the slightly Cheri Berry-like smell of Vulpix. I wondered for a moment if Myst's family was still here, but dismissed it from my mind as she approached to inform me of the young man they'd met while I'd been inside my Ball.

'His name was... um... Nicholas, I think he said. And he was really...strange,' she finished.

'Strange?' I asked, plodding along next to Ren, who seemed not to notice our conversation.

Myst didn't answer for a moment, raising her gigantic brown eyes to the sky as if looking for words. 'There is something about him you cannot help but like, and yet in equal measure something feels... wrong, about him.' She looked sideways at me. 'Um... I don't know exactly how to say it... Maybe if you met him you'd be able to tell...'

She trailed off, perhaps noticing for the first time the scent of her own kind. She hurried forward a bit, looking left and right, but never quite losing the sad/apprehensive look she had nearly always worn as long as I'd known her.

Of course, it was much more pronounced back then...

(! ! !)

It was foggy. I mean, really foggy. The kind of fog that a Scyther could get its scythes lodged in, figuratively speaking. I clung to Ren's shoulder, feeling oppressed and nervous. I couldn't see beyond perhaps six body lengths (that's Pikachu body lengths) ahead of me, and I could smell only the damp air around us.

"It's okay, Diego," said Ren quietly as I shifted shoulders again, trying to spot, smell, or hear something that could be a threat. All the instincts of living wild, in the dead of the Cold Time, no less, after being abandoned by my original Trainer, had not died in the scant weeks I had spent with Ren. Nor could I honestly believe what Ren said--despite his assurances, I could feel his tenseness. He was no more comfortable in this oppressive fog than I.

I shook my head and then buried my face into the back of his head, shivering.

"Yes, I know, it's kinda cold, too, but it's still April." Ren reached around and rubbed me between my ears. "But it's only fog. It's not gonna hurt you."

I made a noncommital noise and switched to his right shoulder again. Whatever "April" was.

Ren walked for a few minutes in silence, transferring me to his arms, a position that I found comforting. I relaxed, at least somewhat warm, against his chest, and had nearly dropped off to sleep by the time I noticed the smell.

I jerked forward.

"Diego? What's up?"

'I smell...' I thought about it for a moment. '...Spicy.' I tried to inch forward, but as I was being restrained by Ren's arms this was difficult. 'Put me down. I smell something.'

He couldn't understand me, of course, but he seemed to get what I wanted as I began to push against his forearms with my forepaws. He set me down, and I ran forward, toward the smell.

"Diego!" cried Ren. "Wait!"

'Stay there!' I cried back, hoping he would get the idea. I slowed to a stop as the smell became stronger, then finally overwhelming, as though the source were right in front of me.

I didn't see anything for a second, and then, suddenly, out of the fog appeared two gigantic brown eyes and the tip of a just off-white muzzle.

'Mommy?' it breathed. Its voice was extremely high-pitched: it appeared to be both young and female.

As gently as I could, I said, 'No.'

The figure inched forward and revealed herself to be a Vulpix--an extremely young Vulpix whose tail was just starting to split, and whose coat was just barely off-white.

'M-Mommy?' she asked again, her eyes swimming in tears. 'Have you... seen M-Mommy?'

'No,' I said again, quietly.

'B-b-but...' The poor thing was shivering in the cold! No wonder it was stuttering. 'M-Mommy...' Then, to my dismay, it collapsed onto its knees and began wailing. 'Mommmyyyy!'

I just...sort of stood there, completely at a loss, though truth be told I wanted to cry with her. I knew what it was like to lose parents. Eventually it occured to me that I could at least try to warm her up, so I lay down next to her, trying to share my body heat.

A few minutes later the Vulpix had calmed to the point of hiccoughing, and though I was as close to her as I could be, she was still shivering.

'You a little better now?' I asked finally.

'Y...yes...' she responded haltingly. 'B-but I...' She broke off, inhaling. 'You... s-s-smell like flowers...'

Flowers? But I remembered that I had just left a human colony covered in flowers and had passed through the accursed Forest that, had I not been steadfastly focused on the back of Ren's head, I would have seen was full of flowers.

'I... like flowers,' said the Vulpix hesitently. 'But... but they make me...' She inhaled sharply and snapped her head away from me. She sneezed, expelling a few, quickly-dying embers into the fog. 'Dey bake be s'deeze,' she finished somewhat thickly. 'Are you okay? I didn't burn you, did I? If I did, I--'

I shushed her. 'Don't worry about that. When was the last time you saw your mother?'

Her eyes were downcast as she said, 'Last night.' Her eyes filled with tears again. 'She said... she said she didn't want a sickly daughter... I...'

What? What kind of mother would say that?

The one who doesn't want to take care of her own kits.

Anger leapt forth inside, but I subdued it. She'd been betrayed by the one person she trusted.

I knew that feeling as well, knew it all too well.

The Vulpix's eyes were closed as she pressed against me, sobbing slightly.

'Shhh...' I said again. 'It's okay.'

'Mommy...'

'I don't think we'll be able to find her.' I had thought this out: if it was true that the Vulpix's mother had not wanted her, it was likely that she and the rest of the young fox Pokémon's family had left under cover of the fog. 'And I don't know if it'll make up for it, but... You can come with me.'

'C-come...with...you?' she asked slowly. 'Where are you going?'

'You'd have to ask my Trainer that,' I admitted.

'What's a Trainer?' she asked.

'Well...' I didn't know exactly how to explain it. She'd probably never seen a human before. 'Come on, and I'll show you.'

(end)

'Big Brother?'

I snapped out of my reverie. Myst was beside me again, looking at me.

'Are you okay, Big Brother?'

I smiled at her affectionate reference. 'I'm fine, Myst.'

'Ren had that look earlier,' she explained. 'Like you were looking at somthing far away...'

'It was far away,' I assured her. In sunrises, anyway, I added silently to myself.

We walked in silence for a moment.

'Um...Thank you,' said Myst suddenly.

'For what?'

'Um... This is the place that...' She looked away, a bizarre combination of hurt and happiness appearing on her face. 'Thanks for... not going away.'

'Huh?' I smiled. 'Well, I'm not about to leave a little girl all alone, am I?'

'Still...' Myst fell back into step beside me. 'Thank you for not leaving.'

(+ + +)

It was nearing sunset, and the Big City had just appeared on the horizon. I shivered as I recalled the events of my one night in the city--events that until then I had forced out of my mind as if they had never happened.

I tore my mind away from the enchroaching madness and tugged lightly on Ren's pants.

"Huh?" He looked down. "What is it, Diego?"

I gestured vaguely in the direction of the Big City, but kept my eyes off of it.

"What? It's just Golden--Oh," he broke off, becoming pale. "...I'd nearly forgotten, myself."

'It's going to be dark soon,' I pleaded. 'Just like last time. I don't want to go...'

Ren sighed, then dropped to one knee and put an arm around me. "I know you're scared, Diego. I can't imagine what...that...was like. But I promised I'd never let anything like that happen to you again, remember? You'll be fine. You can return to your PokéBall if you want."

I opened my mouth, then shut it again, shaking my head.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded, but pressed myself against Ren, welcoming the heat of another living body.

"...Alright. I'll try and carry you as much as I can, but don't expect too much. You're heavy, now."

Ren picked me up, already straining. I didn't want to put him to the trouble; and indeed, if any of Ren's other Pokémon had been out at that point I wouldn't have wanted to appear afraid. But it was just me and him right now, and the terrible memories that lurked around the next corner.

"Poison Sting!"

Ren shouted and leapt to the side. I leapt out of his arms and felt myself being pricked with a dozen tiny spines. My attitude shifted instantly--we were being attacked! I had to protect Ren!

I twisted around in the air, whipping my tail viciously to wipe out any further Poison Stings coming my way. I landed on my feet, and then ran to where Ren was just standing, my electrical pouches sparking.

Then the Man appeared.

The Man. Who had... who had taken me away...

A terrible pain lanced through my chest, and I whited out. The memories took hold, then, and I was swept along helpless in their wake.

+Ren+

The instant the Rocket appeared, Diego spasmed and dropped to the ground, twitching. I gasped and took a step back.

"Hey..." said the Grunt, staring at me with a look of intense focus on his face. "H'ain't I seen you before?"

I didn't respond verbally, but my hand twitched toward my belt and came away holding Fang's PokéBall.

"Ho, s'ho it's a fight you want!" The Grunt smiled. "Ekans, Wrap this poor sucker so we can steal the Raichu!"

"Ekaansss!" hissed the snake Pokémon as it leapt from the grass. I brought back my arm to throw Fang's 'Ball, and...

"Aurora Beam!"

A shimmering rainbow of ice came blasting off from the side and hit the Ekans mid-leap. It flew off to my other side, hissing madly, but being cold-blooded it lay mostly immobile and exhausted where it landed. The Grunt gasped.

"Iron Tail!"

"Glaaayce!" came a high-pitched screech as an ice-blue figure leapt past my shoulder, spun in midair, and smashed the grunt across the jaw with its tail, accenting it with a final "Eon!"

The Rocket Grunt collapsed backwards, apparently unconscious. The Glaceon stared at the prone form with distaste, then glanced at Diego, and finally at me.

"Glaceon," it said in an offhand manner, then looked in the direction it had come from. I followed its gaze and noticed none other than Nicholas Mendoza, his hand still outstretched in an attack gesture, his face contorted into an expression of loathing.

"Nicholas?"

He relaxed, but the look in his face didn't manage to disappear completely. "S-scum," he spat, seeming to have a hard time getting the words out. "Even Team Galactic wouldn't have r-resorted to r-roadside r-robberies..."

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"The question is, are you alright?" he countered instantly. "You were the one attacked."

"I am," I assured him. But my attention returned to Diego, still twitching slightly on the ground. "But Diego..." I dropped to one knee and reached out.

"Don't." Nicholas stepped up to him and knelt as I had, but made no attempt to touch him. "It's best to leave him alone."

"What!?"

"...You don't know what this is, do you?" asked Nicholas quietly, his gentle green eyes becoming intense as he stared at me.

"No--it's never happened before--"

"When was he stolen?" Nicholas asked suddenly.

I stared at him. "What? How did you--"

"He reacted this way upon seeing a Rocket, and Rockets are primarily thieves these days, since their boss vanished about seven years ago." He tapped his head. "I'm not totally ignorant of the world outside of Sinnoh, Ren."

I looked down at Diego. He was facing me, but his eyes twitched randomly, unseeing. "What's wrong with him?"

Nicholas was silent for a moment. "Some Pokémon, like Ralts, are naturally attuned to emotions. Then there are some that are simply more vulnerable to their own.

"Pokémon have stronger memories than we do, Ren, and that's because they don't rely on their brains to do all the remembering--they don't remember thoughts first, then experiences, like we do. Their actions are based entirely on instinct and their senses, where we, as humans, try to reason everything out. As we say, 'history is written by the victor,' but to them, history is remembered the way it happened. Exactly as it happened."

I frowned. "Stop spouting knowledge and tell me what's wrong!"

"Diego is going through what happened from the moment he first saw that man. Moment by moment. He's reliving it, because it must have been so traumatizing he kept it hidden even from himself."

"Can I take him to a Pokémon Center?"

"For quiet," Nicholas said. "But this is a mental injury, not a physical one. The Nurse won't be able to do anything about it. And don't," he added suddenly as I reached for Diego's Ball, "put him in a PokéBall. It'll only make it worse."

I looked down at Diego, and then, suddenly, back up at Nicholas. "What are you doing here anyway?"


A/N: What's this stolen? Details next chapter! ...Whenever I finish it.