Chapter 03 - Back Home

Nuvema Town – Laboratory Gardens – Espeon's POV

Ah the beloved gardens of… the lab, (or whatever it's called) truly a place for us Pokemon to relax on the soft grass, play with others and eat a good many variety of Pokefood and fruit to enjoy for all Pokemon… except me that is cause of one reason; it is boring here!

After years of travelling with Zackary and friends across timeline, to different cities and different regions, each one of those things had something different to them. Care to guess what that is? All of them were different. Being cooped up in this garden of endless grass, a giant lake in the center and a few dozen rocks and flowers here and there and you have clearly seen everything this garden has to offer. Maybe I had gotten used to that lifestyle; TV, movies, pizza, WC Ronalds totally original brand and not a parody, and the soft beds I liked sleeping in instead of the dang old floor. I could easily sneak out of this garden and head over to Zackary's house and crash on the couch instead of being stuck here, but I didn't. I figured Zackary just needed some time alone after what happened, so did everyone else at first.

It had been four days since Zackary was given the news that he couldn't be human again, returning home and staying in his room since then. I felt bad for the guy, life flipped turned upside down by encountering an evil coward hiding in the ruins of a failure of an evil group.

Ever since Zackary woke up and this and that happened, he had always wanted to know as to why 'Shiny Bitch' injected him with that doom stuff instead of kill him. He was wide open for an attack by her to do so, why didn't she take it?

"So uh, any word from Zack since?" Gardevoir said, still reading from her boring dictionary for like the thousandth time this week. "I'm worried about him. I don't won't to lose my friend to this state of isolation he is in."

Dewott shook his head, leaning against a tree Zackary's Pokemon liked to hang out since the other good spots of this garden were already taken by other trainer's Pokemon "He hasn't said much or left his room ever since we got back. Never seen Zack like this before…" And so we just sat there together all thinking about what we could do or say to help Zackary be his usual self again. Walking into his room and hanging out with him? Nah, he needed to get out of that room. And so I opened my mouth to speak about the amazing plan to the others…

"How about hangs out with us at the garden?" Latias spoke up from the top of a tree branch stealing my idea. Yeah, that branch would easily snap due to her weight if she wasn't assisted with levitate… ugh! "Being cooped up in that room for the past four days isn't good. He should get some fresh air and… play with us, if he wants to."

"Welp, I guess I'll go and check up on Zackary, try and get him to come over here." I sighed, standing up with a little stretch. Before I began to run towards the fence to hop over it, I looked up at Latias staring at her paw for a good while, like something was there or whatever. "Latias, you're coming too."

"I'll stay here and figure out from the help of my book here how we can help Zack." Gardevoir said, lowering her dictionary to her lap with a big smile. "With the power of the dictionary, I am certain I can find a way!"

"Yeah, don't work too hard." I sighed, rolling my eyes at how exactly a dictionary would help in this situation. Gardevoir was surly going to be there for a long time, a really long time. Well enough of that boring Pokemon, onto the more important business.

Leaving the garden with Latias levitating quickly behind me, we passed the gawking eyes of the citizens of Nuvema Town acting as though they had never seen a Latias before. Or they were so amazed by me and Latias was seen only as second prize material.

I had walked/ran through the streets of Nuvema Town many times before often going on supply runs for Zackary's family to the nearby store to pick up an item or two knowing the shortest and fastest way of traversing the streets like the back of my paw. So getting to Zackary's house knowing these streets would take about ten minutes of nonstop running. And of course nonstop questions from Latias… ugh.

"Espeon?" Latias asked levitating above me careful enough not to fly into any bystanders still standing and gawking at obviously me. "What if Zack doesn't want to come with us? What if he'll never like his usual self again? What if Zack will want to stay in his room forever, refusing to see us again? Why do you think my stupid sister did this to him? Where is the nearest bonfire to refill my flasks? Why am I asking so many questions? Why is the sky blue? Why isn't the Pokemon Regigigas in this story? Blah, blah, blah, blah!" Okay, so I obviously made that part up for comedic affect, but in truth the first question was the real one, so here is my response.

"I'm pretty sure he would love to have some company, we are his friends. Staying cooped up inside that room for the past four days eating pizza while playing video games nonstop isn't good for one's health. The sight of us with a little nudging and he'll be sighing in defeat in no time."

Zackary's Home

Opening the front door with help from Latias' paw and walking inside we saw Zackary's mom Ayaka standing there in front of us to greet us, as if she knew we were coming. "Hello you two, it's been a while since I saw you both." She smiled, stroking Latias' neck as she cooed into Ayaka's chest. "Are you here to see Zack? How about you take him with you to the lab garden and play together? He'll defiantly love to hang out with you."

"Sure, that's what we are here for." I smiled, making my way up the stairs followed by Latias who looked a lot happier than she was when we were at the garden before.

"Yep, defiantly the reason." Latias called back to Ayaka with a big smile, but unlike me and Gardevoir, Ayaka could not understand Latias' high pitch squeals and regular 'Laaa's' she makes, so it was up to us two to translate for her. But I didn't this time, not everything needs to be translated, and I am pretty sure Ayaka got what Latias was saying.

Entering Zackary's room now thanks to Latias' paws again, we saw him sitting on his desktop chair reading from a website about myths and rumors of humans turning into Pokemon. Perhaps he was trying to find out more about this Doom serum, poor guy.

"Hey." He said, his face still facing the computer screen, scrolling down the page for more information.

"Hi Zack. What are you looking at?" Latias smiled, levitating quickly up to him and giving him a quick hug.

"Stories and reports of people actually witnessing other people; friends, family, or bystanders turning into Pokemon… but all of them are fake and not a single one of them legit…" He sighed before closing the page leaving his desktop left on screen, a simple still image of a city skyline from the Johto region at night.

"Zack…" Latias said with a gentle voice, not wanting to upset Zack anymore than he was by bringing up her sister for like the hundredth time every time she comes up here with me or another to talk with him. "How about you come with us to the lab gardens? The others are waiting for you there, and I am sure we'll all have a lot of fun as long as we have our favorite trainer with us." She giggled before placing her paws on Zackary's shoulders. "Please?"

Zackary sighed, raising both of his paws up to his face. "I… ever since I turned into this, I have been anxious to go out, be seen by others.

"What do you mean?" I asked, standing beside his chair now noticing how he was sitting on his tail.

"A white Dewott, black sclera and red eyes? And to top it off, that Dewott; me was once a human? I have been anxious at how people would react at the sight of me; probably try to catch me or attract the attention of the unwanted, risking my friends and family's lives perhaps."

Leaning up at his chair and placing a paw on his lap I told him. "Zackary, fuck the gawking idiots, you shouldn't worry about them. Look, you got me; a powerful Espeon capable of ordering Pizza by phone, Dewott with an excellent mastery of the scalchops capable of taking down multiple enemies without breaking a sweat. Then there's Gardevoir with her boring as watching paint dry dictionary talk. Totodile with his water dance, Bayleef with her leaf slicing action going on, Golurk with its powerful rock hard muscles and awesome strength."

"What about me?" Latias asked pointing at herself with both of her claws. "How cool am I and what am I capable of?"

"Oh, let's not forget about you!" I said before returning my attention to Zackary. "What I am saying here Zackary is that you shouldn't worry about things like that. You got us here with you by your side, so many friends willing to stand by you and fight alongside you no matter the odds or how tough an enemy may be. If any so-called dangerous new team or annoying wannabe tough guy approaches we'll handle 'em together, and not just us Pokemon, but LisaLisa, Bent and the rest of the Savior gang."

Zackary turned to me for a while before turning to Latias in silence. He shut off his computer and just as soon as he began to smile, Latias moved in and hugged him as he laughed, something we haven't heard Zackary do in so long, it was like we got the old Zackary back. "You're right." He said, his voice slightly muffled with his face pressed against Latias' chest. "I'm sorry for worrying you guys."

"It's alright Zack." Latias smiled letting Zackary breathe. "Do you want to come outside with us to the lab garden? It'll be fun!" He smiled and got up from his seat, but before we got to the door of the room Latias scooped him off the floor and decided to carry him all the way to the garden, Zackary didn't seem to mind having to be carried all the way over there. From the way Latias was carrying him like that, it was kind've similar in a way trainers carry their Pokemon in their arms, but Latias isn't a Pokemon carrying- Whatever, I'm bad at describing examples.

We got the old Zackary again. I know I said it once before, but it was good seeing him smile again instead of seeing him all gloomy and tired looking ever since we got back home. Our plan today was to spend time with Zackary and get him up and about, smiling a lot more and probably getting out there to maybe rejoining the Savior's and find out finally what that meeting with his boss; Clark Stone was about and why it was urgent.

I guess Zackary forgot about that since he never contacted them once or brought it up ever since he woke up and while he was away from them. Or I guess this whole Dewott changing thingy and Shiny Latias' injecting him with the Doom serum was on his mind. It would probably be on my mind if I were turned into a different species or type if it were one of my enemies.

So our next destination we would be arriving soon was the beloved gardens of the lab, a place for us Pokemon to relax on the soft grass, play with others and eat a good many variety of Pokefood and fruit to enjoy for all Pokemon… but with Zackary now with us, this place wouldn't be so boring.

To be continued...

Trivia:

The story of Zack turning into a dewott was in the original version but his lifespan wasn't 200, it was a normal humans lifespan.