A/N: I will add this into the summary, but this will be Slash on behalf of the Sev/Siri/Remy threesome in this fic, otherwise it's Gen because Harry is 10 and oblivious to his penis. LATER, as in Four books from now, Harry will have a male partner, but otherwise its Gen on his half of things until I send him to Sinnoh. Or Unova, I can't remember (I have a shit-ton of notes somewhere but I can't find them. I may have left them up in Michigan when I moved back down to Missouri, in which case I'll have to get in contact with my aunt and ask about them….)
Anyways…
Here you go, Chapter two!
Yay!
Harry: I'm adorable, fear me.
Izzy: (Trills happily and nods, balancing a berry on her nose.)
Rage: It's true.
Wizard: All agreed?
Everyone: (Raises hand) Aye!
Wizard: All opposed? (Lifts up her trusty salmon)
Crickets: (Cricket, cricket)
Rage: Ugh, I hate it when those things get stuck in the house… Where's a frog when you need one? (Stomps out)
"Talking"
"Pokemon Talking"
'Thoughts'
Chapter Two
Home Sweet Harry
It was late afternoon by the time Pallet Town came into sight, and Harry sighed with relief, his feet aching and his sunburn hurting. Izzy had fallen asleep on his head, and, for the last hour or so, the ten-year-old had found himself nibbling on Oran berries to keep himself going. Sighing in relief, he carefully reached upward, patting around until he felt the strange antenna on Izzy's head beneath his palm, and he patted her head firmly, but gently.
"Look where we are, Izzy," He called gently, listening to the sleepy trills and odd not-yawns. After a few moments, however, she trilled rather loudly, more of a squeal, really, and Harry laughed as he was forced to catch her when she lunged off of his head, eyes starry with joy as she wriggled in the air, leaning her head forward, obviously knowing where to go from where the stood at the edge of the town.
"Alright, alright!" he laughed. "Calm down, you silly thing!" Reluctantly, she did, all but vibrating in place as he firmly held her close, walking through the town, eyeing street signs and smiling awkwardly at the friendly-looking townsfolk. As they walked, Harry noticed a pattern with the street names, most of them having to do something with resting, beds, and times people tended to nap*. So, finding Night Street was relatively easy. Walking down it, eying all the nice houses, some with gardens some without, Harry felt something uncomfortable relax in his gut. This was no Private Drive and, while all the houses were different, each one was unique to the family living in them.
And 315 Night Street was just as unique. It was one of the houses whose yard boasted a fine garden, flowers blooming in bright, colorful blossoms. Black-eyed Sarahs, lilies, dragon snaps, and marigolds, as well as flowers that looked similar to the berry bush in different colors, burst from their green bushes and beds, filling the air with a faintly sweet fragrance that had his shoulders relaxing even more as he smiled and opened the gate of the white picket fence that protected the yard.
"This is?" He asked Izzy, who nodded rapidly, trilling at him and leaning forward in excitement, making Harry grin. "Well, let's go then!" He declared, stepping through the yard and up to the door, pushing the butterfly-shaped doorbell (The actual button was the butterfly's body, the wings holding it to the wall).
"Coming!" A muffled, male voice called through the door, and Harry distracted himself but wiggling his fingers against Izzy's underbelly, grinning as she began to squeal and make odd giggling noises as she squirmed happily in his arms, trying to pull away from his tickling. She really was a cute little thing, whatever she was, and, idly, he wondered if more animals like her were common. He could have sworn he saw some sort of blue-turtle thing in someone's backyard while wandering through town earlier, so he guessed so.
The door opened, however, stopping their play and interrupting Harry's musings. The man standing in the doorway was about five-foot-ten, with light brown hair and warm, curious blue eyes. His jaw was sharp, his nose a little crooked, and his skin lightly tanned.
"Hello," the man greeted, before Izzy trilling and all but throwing herself at him made him make a startled noise, instinctively catching her.
"I think she's yours?" Harry offered with a grin as the man let out a surprised, happy laugh.
"Izzy, you scamp!" He laughed, lifting the Caterpie up with a grin. "Mary's been worried to death over you!" Izzy trilled and chirped at him in a mix of excitement and sadness.
"Sorry, sorry, Mark, Izzy sorry," she trilled in Harry's mind. "Where Mary, where?" Harry blinked.
"Yeah, where is this Mary you've told me so much about," Harry asked, peering around the tall form of Mark curiously, only to blink when the man just stared at him, bemused.
"Who are you talking to?" He asked; Harry frowned, brow furrowed.
"Izzy, there," he told him, pointing at her. "She's been going on and on all day about Mary this and Mary that. I wanted to meet the girl she's so happy to know."
"Izzy has?" Mark muttered thoughtfully, those blue eyes sharp and clever, but still kind, as he smiled faintly down at Harry. "Well, then, kiddo, why don't you go ahead and come in, hmm?" he offered, opening the door wide and stepping aside. "My wife, Sarah, will just love to see you! And you look like you could use a good meal or three, anyways!" He added with a short laugh, eying Harry's ragged, too-big clothes and sunburned face. "And maybe some Burn-Heal," he muttered, before closing the door behind the hesitant boy and starting to stalk down the hallway of the nicely-decorated house.
"Mary! Sarah!" he called clearly, easily. "Guess who's home!" There was a soft gasp, before the sound of running feet and, as Harry watched, a small girl of about seven, wearing a pale pink dress that had green and yellow butterflies on it, came running out of another room, blue eyes wide and bright and her slightly-curly, shoulder-length blond hair waving wildly behind her as she squealed and dove for Mark.
Or, more accurately, for Izzy, who was just as enthusiastically lunging out of the tall man's arms and into the little girls.
"Izzy!" The girl cried happily, spinning the two of them and hugging the little caterpillar close. "Oh, how I've missed you! So, so sososososo so much!" She cried out, stopping their spinning to pull the Caterpie back and frown sternly at her. "You know better than to run away!" She scolded, sounding very much like she was copying her parents as Izzy slumped sadly and trilled, her sweet voice apologizing, before the two of them were hugging once more.
It was a very sweet scene, and Harry couldn't help smiling as Mark grinned, and a pretty blond woman stepped out of what must have been the kitchen, wiping her hands off on a cloth as her gray-blue eyes watched them with a soft, relieved smile. She was a good couple of inches shorter than her husband, but very pretty and friendly looking in a pale lavender blouse and some jeans.
"You have this young lad to thank for her safe return, Mary," Mark informed his cuddling daughter, gesturing at Harry, who abruptly found himself catching the young girl and Caterpie both when little Marry threw herself into his arms, clutching him close with a deceptively strong grip, face buried in his chest.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed earnestly into his chest, and Harry awkwardly patted her back, smiling uncertainly over at Mark as the tall man slung one arm over his wife's shoulders.
"It wasn't a problem, really," he told the girl honestly. "She was good company, and had only good things to say about you, Mary." The little girl pulled back with a bright, if confused grin.
"Really?" She asked; Mark spoke up cheerfully from the side.
"It seems our young friend here is a bit of a psychic," he announced easily. "Able to understand Pokémon as if they're human and everything." Mary gasped, eyes sparkling in awe.
"Really?!" She yipped; uncomfortable, Harry managed a half-hearted shrug and nod, deciding that letting them think that was better than them thinking he was crazy, or a freak. "So cool!" Mary squealed, hugging him again, and making Harry laugh a bit, relieved and amused by her reaction.
"And just who is our Izzy's rescuer, hmm?" Sarah asked, smiling at him, and Harry flushed a bit even as he tried to keep Mary from climbing up his shoulders like a monkey, demanding that he show her a magic trick or play with her and Izzy.
"Harry Morsinger, ma'am," he told the woman uncertainly as her daughter finally managed to climb onto his back and cling there like a limpet, giggling into his shoulder and Izzy climbed onto his head and made a triumphant trilling noise, firmly declaring herself 'Queen of the Harry Hair'.
"Well, Harry, you look like you could do with a hot meal," the older woman told him easily, smiling. "The phone's through there, if you'd like to call your parents for permission or a lift, I'm sure we could spare the couch if you can't get one until tomorrow, however, don't worry," she reassured him kindly; Harry shifted, uncomfortable.
"Erm, my parents, um, passed away," he told the two adults, changing his usual 'they're dead' to something more kid-appropriate since Mary was there. Instantly, the two grown-ups looked at him pityingly.
"My condolences," Mark told the boy quietly; Harry shook his head, absently reaching up to steady Izzy as she gave a startled trill at the movement.
"Its fine, sir," Harry told him reassuringly with a weak smile. "It happened when I was very small. I used to live with my aunt and uncle, but they… well…" He trailed off, unsure about what he should say.
"You poor thing," Sarah told him, taking his silence on the matter as… well, Harry didn't know, but obviously something specific. "You can stay here as long as you need, okay, sweetie," she told him, bustling forward to hug him, making the ten-year-old squirm awkwardly as he peered over her arm at Mark, who nodded at him firmly, face serious.
"Thank you," he told the couple quietly, but sincerely, managing a hesitant smile as Sarah pulled back, blinking a little bit more than she had been before, as if something had gotten into her eye.
"It's not a problem, kiddo," Mark told him firmly, stepping forward to slap a hand onto his shoulder as Mary finally got bored and decided to rush back to the kitchen, Izzy crawling down Harry's body to happily follow after the girl, trilling excitedly in her wake.
Which reminded Harry.
"Sir?" He asked, peering up at Mark, who shook his head with a smile.
"Just Mark, Harry," he told the boy kindly. "None of this 'sir' or 'mister' stuff, alright?" Harry nodded carefully. "What did you want to know?" Harry sheepishly pointed after the disappearing Caterpie.
"What is Izzy?" He asked. "I mean, I know from her collar tag that she's a Caterpie, but what's that?" Mark blinked, bemused.
"It's a bug-type Pokémon, which will eventually evolve into a Metapod, and then a Butterfree," he explained, and Harry stared, more confused than before.
"What's a Pokémon?" He asked. When Sarah and Mark shared one of those looks that adults did when kids asked them certain questions, Harry bit back an annoyed sigh.
This was either going to end up as one of those "We'll tell you when you're older" conversations, or the very long explanation ones that have those "You must be responsible, this is serious" sort of vibes to it.
"Lets go sit down in the kitchen, and we'll explain it all to you, don't worry," Sarah told him, smiling tentatively as he nodded and the three of them moved towards the kitchen.
It looked like it was one of those Serious Discussion ones, then.
Joy.
A Few Hours Later…
Harry's head had been spinning by the time he was sent to bed, belly full from the beef stew Sarah had made and thoughts whirling. He was in the Island Region of Kanto, in a place where Pokémon, elemental creatures that worked, lived, and existed alongside humans and in the wild, were plentiful, with several hundred different species. There were other Regions, with Pokémon that were so vastly different than their neighbors, it was honestly amazing. And boys and girs from age ten and up were allowed to go on unsupervised Journey's with Pokémon as their partners, to travel and get into "battles" and try for a chance at taking on the League, where all the best "Pokémon Trainers" battled it out in order to become the Champion.
It was…
Amazing. Thrilling. Even scary.
Mark had given him his old Journey Journal, which was filled with all the information he'd learned first hand, as the man's Journey had been long before the creation of the 'PokéDex', which was a devise that Dudley no doubt would have boasted about owning, if they'd ever had it back in England, which Harry seriously doubted since the Map Mark had pulled out while explaining the Regions only had those specific areas on it, and the oceans and seas had named he'd never heard of before.
Harry didn't think he was even in his world anymore, to be honest, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Not when he learned that the Garretes had no problem welcoming him into their home, feeding him, and answering his questions. They asked some of their own, of course, but they tried to steer away from "Family" questions, sending him apologetic, pity-filled looks he could do without but, well.
At least he didn't have to explain the faded, yellowing bruises from the last game of Harry Hunting his cousin had given him a week before he "appeared".
But his lack of "common" knowledge had marked him as somehow an amnesiac, as far as the couple was concerned, and so, he found himself with a warm couch to sleep on for an indefinite amount of time, and several books to go with Mark's old Journal, so he could study and teach himself about the world at large.
Curling up beneath the quilt Sarah had given him, with the little bedside lamp in the shape of what looked like the blue turtle Pokémon only much larger and angrier looking, Harry settled in and flipped open the Journal to begin reading.
He had a lot to catch up on.
A/N: And there you go! The Garretes are back! ^-^
Thank you to all those who've favorited, followed, reviewed, or just stopped by! I appreciate it!
Also, I Will Not be pulling down the original. It is there for good.
Also, if you'd like to suggest specific scenes or cities you want in this version that wasn't in the original, please either PM or Review okay?
* - A Pallet is, by definition, "a straw mattress", as well as a platform which things can be moved with the aid of a forklift, but, yes, a mattress comes to mind, so! The Sleepy Little Town of Pallet has bedtime street-names! ^-^
R&R, guys!
