Gently, Feeny put her trainers body on the ground, before she herself collapsed. Her, Venus, and Drake managed to make it out of the cave after around two hours. The trek to the surface was not a good one, to say the least. With the recent death of their trainer, all the pokemon were in no mood to do anything. Everybody was sullen, and in disbelief. After they had made it out of the large open area, they were attacked by three geodudes, and a diglett. They quickly dispatched them, but not before they got a few good hits in. By the end of the fight, Venus was bleeding in her left arm, and Feeny couldn't put too much pressure on her legs. Drake got hit hard in both of his wings, which forced him to walk on the ground, lest he feel too much pain. The wounds to their bodies would heal in a day or two, even less with one of Lucas' potions, but their mental state was another story.

The sun was just slightly past dawn, painting the sky a beautiful orange, with splatters of white clouds adorning the upper atmosphere. Feeny opted to keep looking at the sky, instead of her friends or her now-deceased trainer. If she kept looking up like this, she could have sworn it was like nothing changed.

"That one looks sorta like a pancham, right?" Lucas pointed out.

"Yeah. I could," Feeny paused as she looked to see her trainer still on the ground with his eyes closed, "see that…" Was she going crazy? Did she miss him so much that her mind was playing tricks on her? Or was it the fact that she and him used to do this in the early mornings, so she instinctively thought he would be the first to start a conversation.

A few stray tears came out. I can't do it… I don't know how I can keep going. But before she could do anything, she needed to get her friends back to her team. Are they okay as well? I can't deal with another death… How are we going to tell them?

Venus' sobs were heard as she fell down to her knees. Poor girl, she's the youngest here, and she's been through so much today. Surprisingly, Drake was the one to comfort her. He wrapped his green body around her, and she embraced it. "We're gonna be okay. We'll pull through," Drake whispered, his voice cracking near the end. The blaziken could see the flygon wipe away a few tears of his own. "Lucas wouldn't want us to be sad."

"I-I-I…." Venus stuttered. "I-I wanna g-go home. I w-want Lucas h-here." She sobbed.

Drake wasn't wrong. The human always had a knack for trying to keep an uplifting spirit. He wasn't ever really mad, and usually kept a carefree attitude about his journey. Not even his colorblindness kept him down. Feeny smiled slightly as she remembered the stupid saying he always said. 'I was dealt this hand, and I have to play it' or something along those lines. You may have been dealt that hand, but that didn't stop you from being the best trainer I've ever seen… I love you Lucas. I hope you knew that.

"What is it humans do with their dead, traditionally? I want to do whatever they did. Do we… Do we bury the body? Is that what we do?" Feeny spoke up. Venus sobbed harder in reply.

"Is now really the best time to ask something like that? We're hurt, I don't think we could do that if we wanted to right now," Drake responded.

Feeny sighed, shaking her head. I'm so tired, and in so much pain… But I won't rest until he gets a proper burial… Feeny let out another sigh as she got ready to stand up. Pain flared in her feet, but she ignored it for now. She would let herself succumb to her wounds and emotions when she was safe to. Without saying another word, she walked out of the area and into a spot with much denser trees. After surveying the area, Feeny found a small spot of land that was on even ground, and in a slightly open area. Feeny knelt down to feel the ground. It was rough, but still soft enough to where she could dig a hole. Without another thought, Feeny began to dig.

Slowly but surely, the hole became ankle to shin deep. This would be a lot easier if I knew dig. Damn… I think I might need to take a breather already. Feeny managed to get her hole knee deep, but had to stop there, falling down into a sitting position. "This is…Harder than I thought," She breathed. The blaziken's stomach rumbled, and she remembered she hadn't eaten in a decent amount of time.

"What are you doing?" She heard a familiar voice. Feeny turned around to see that her friend Drake walking towards her, with Venus not far behind. "Are you seriously going to do that now?"

"This is something humans do to their dead, and I intend to give Lucas the proper burial he deserves."

"But… Right now?"

"Do you intend to keep carrying him around everywhere we go? I don't think that would be such a good idea."

"Don't you think we should figure out where to find the rest of our team, or better yet, figure out how to tell them?"

"What do you want to tell them? 'We couldn't protect Lucas and because of that he died', or 'Hey we made it out but our trainer didn't, would you like to see the dead body?' Just tell them exactly like it is. He's-" Feeny choked down a sob, not realizing she started to cry again, "He's… Dead."

Feeny covered her eyes, not wanting to let Venus and Drake see her so vulnerable. However, she felt Venus wrap her arms around her. "I miss him too," was all she said before she put her head on the flaafy's shoulder.

"Feeny, it's not a good idea to dig this right now, especially in our condition. We should just try and find James, Foley, and Julia first. Then, we can figure out our next course of action." Drake stated. After thinking it over, Feeny nodded. I should have done that in the first place. Lucas always said I was too stubborn, and I finally believe him.

Drake and Venus helped Feeny up, and together they walked the distance back to the entrance of the cave. It wasn't too long, about a 7 minute walk. Feeny wanted to find the best spot for the burial of her best friend, and that happened to be the best spot. She shook her head, unsure why she didn't just listen to her friends. Nothing could be done about it now though, so she just walked to the entrance of the cave. As they neared the cave, she noticed something.

"W-Where's Lucas' body? You moved it?" the blaziken asked.

Venus shook her head. "No, he was right there when we left," She responded. Panic flared up in Feeny's chest. No! She quickly picked up the pace, and ran past the trees, finding nothing where her dead trainer was. The only indication that there was something even there was a small puddle of blood, and paw prints soaked in the blood.

"Oh Arceus, a feral took him!" Feeny shouted. Drake ran up next to her.

"Oh no…" He trailed off. "Feeny, we have to find his body. We can't let anything happen to it!" Feeny nodded in response, and he continued. "Let's follow these paw prints. They don't look like they went too far!"

Drake led the way before Feeny even had a chance to walk forward. He followed the blood covered paw-prints, being careful not to step on the blood himself. Feeny and Venus followed close behind, looking around to see if they could find the body. Nothing was out of the ordinary, not even the grass was bent in a way to suggest someone dragged a human body through the grass.

The bloody paw-prints led to the base of a big tree, but not the biggest in the area. The trail ended at the tree, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Drake looked around, trying to see where they could have hidden the body. Feeny checked the right, and the other trees around it. "I-I'm gonna look over here," Venus stated before checking behind them. Drake nodded before closely looking at the trail.

The trail ends here, but… Drake was lost in thought. There's no blood on the tree, so it wasn't something that climbed up. And something with these small paw prints couldn't carry a body… So why does it end here? And… How? The flygon inspected the base of the tree. "Could it have gone inside the tree?" He talked to himself.

With that thought in his mind, he put his claws on the tree, feeling the bark. Clearly, he was missing something. He felt around the tree, looking for any sort of clue. The flygon's claws found itself lower down the tree near the base. Disappointed, the flygon pushed his claws at the base of the tree, getting ready to-

Creeeak

The faintest sound of a the wood moving could be heard when Drake touched the base. Without missing a beat, he began to pry the wood around that spot. He was surprised to find the bark held no resistance. So surprised, that he fell backwards, expecting more resistance. He shook his head, and walked back to where he pulled out the fake tree bark. There was a hole in the base.

Drake looked into it, and reached into it. Immediately, he felt cloth. He pulled out the cloth, and along with it pulled out jeans. These are… Lucas' clothes! Drake quickly clawed out whatever he could. Sure enough, they were his trainers clothes. Was he… inside? He reached inside, trying to grab anything else. There was something else in there, a much bigger object.

Reaching inside as far as he could, he grabbed it. Whatever it was had a shape like an oval. Pulling it out, he could see what it was. The oval object was white, with splotches of green adorning the outside.

"An egg!?" Drake said, surprised. He set it down slightly before he looked inside the tree again, only to find nothing. Lucas' clothes were in here, next to an egg. What the hell is going on? "Hey uh, Feeny… You find anything?" The flygon called out to his friend.

"No, and I'm getting kinda scared. Please tell me you found something," Her voice reached his ears.

"I uh… I found Lucas' clothes… And an egg…" Drake responded. He could almost feel the ground shake as Feeny ran back to him right after he finished his sentence.

"Clothes? Did you find anything else?"

"Uh," Drake hesitated as he reached in for something else. "His shoes? That's all though. The clothes are still bloodied though, but I haven't found anything else."

"Well put the egg back! We gotta find his body!" Feeny ordered.

Venus continued to look around for anything that would show clues as to the whereabouts of her trainers body. There was nothing around her though, at least, nothing out of the ordinary. She checked behind another tree and another bush, but became discouraged every time she found nothing. Why would a wild pokemon just take a body? It doesn't make sense… That's really mean!

The sound of a twig being snapped knocked Venus out of her thoughts. "W-who's there," She called out. "Feeny? Drake?" Silence was her only response. Please no more wild pokemon, I don't think I can take anymore on my own. I'm so tired… She asked again whoever was there to show itself, but again, all she heard was silence.

Venus decided it wasn't worth it to stay around, and turned her back to the noise, getting ready to walk away and back to Feeny and Drake. It was clear Lucas wasn't over here, and she was getting really tired, emotionally and physically. She wasn't even sure how she kept herself from crying these last 15 minutes. Maybe focusing on something is keeping my mind off it? But how long can I keep my mind off it?

Just as Venus was about to walk away, the bush rustled, and something lept out. Venus turned around to see what it was, but was immediately pushed to the ground. She let out a squeal as she landed on her stomach, unsure who her assailant was. "I finally got you…" Venus heard a male voice growl at her. She started bawling, trying to get out from under him.

"P-Please, let m-me go," Venus sobbed.

"Never!" He laughed maniacally.

"Knock it off, Foley, you're scaring her," Another male voice said.

"Fine, fine," Foley said, before getting off of Venus. After Foley got off her, Venus stood up quickly and looked to where Foley went. She could see the breloom, along with James (who was carrying Lucas' backpack) and coming up on the rear was Julia.

"That wasn't funny, Foley!" Venus barked at Foley before pushing him down. He quickly got up and soon the two were wrestling each other, trying to pin the other down.

"Children, calm down," Julia cooed. Even though she was angry at Foley for scaring her, she was happy to see them. She wiped her eyes, letting a small smile form, before frowning again. Something was at the front of her mind, and she didn't know how to deal with it.

They don't know…

She started crying again, trying to cover her face. She caught a glimpse of James looking at her with a quizzical look, no doubt because he just read her thoughts right there. "Hey, what's wrong? I'm sorry, okay? Please stop crying," Foley pleaded

Venus shook her head. "It's not that."

"What is it? Is everyone okay?" Julia asked as she stood by the flaaffy and nuzzled her.

"It's… Lucas. He's-" She hiccuped, "He's d-d-dead."

Drake shook his head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. The paw prints led us here, and Lucas' clothes were here. Something led us here."

"Or, or, and hear me out: Nothing led us here. They took Lucas' clothes, and put them around the egg for warmth while it went out to hunt."

"Then where's his body? And why isn't the shirt ripped?"

"If I knew that, we wouldn't be standing here."

"It's late november. It's too cold to leave an egg alone like that."

"This is someone's child, and you're just going to steal it!?"

"No parent would just leave their child like that, and no wild pokemon is smart enough to make a hole in the tree, keep the bark, and use the bark to hide the hole."

"How do you know?"

"You weren't raised in the wild, I was. I know how these things are. Even though I was young, my parents never let me out of their sight until I was old enough to defend myself."

Feeny was about to reply when she heard the sound of someone near them. Looking over, she noticed her missing allies were coming up. She could see Julia and Venus were crying. Foley looked down, so Feeny couldn't see his face, but he stayed right next to James. The meowstic had a somber expression on his face, but held no other emotion besides that.

"I-Is it true? Is he…" Julia trailed off, not wanting to say the word, for the fear that it might come true.

Feeny and Drake looked at each other. Drake sighed and walked towards Julia. "Yes. We were attacked by wild pokemon in the cave, and a steelix came out from under him, and knocked him into the wall."

Julia dropped to the ground and began crying, burying her head in her forelegs. Foley ran up and tried to comfort her, but he looked just as hurt as her. Still, he managed to keep his emotions in check somehow. How? he's still young like Venus. Venus herself started to tear up again, but before she could bawl again, Foley hugged her. The two of them stood there, holding each other and crying into each other's shoulders. They also tried to put Julia in the embrace, but she didn't respond. They were like brother and sister, those two.

"What the hell happened down there?" James' voice sternly invaded Feeny's head.

We were ambushed by wild pokemon. We hardly stood a chance, it was so dark there. Lucas was punctured by a stalagmite in his thigh, so we couldn't just run away. We… I tried my best to protect him. But… Feeny shook her head, and wiped away the oncoming tears.

"Where's Lucas? His body, I mean."

We… We don't know. I left to go dig a hole for the body, because humans do that for their dead, and when we returned, the body was gone. We followed some bloody pawprints, and they lead to this tree. In the tree, there was Lucas' clothes, shoes, and an egg.

"So we don't know where the body is?" Feeny shook her head. "And what have you guys decided to do? Are you gonna look for the body? What about the egg?"

We haven't decided what to do.

"Why not ask everyone else?"

It's worth a shot. Feeny cleared her throat, causing her to get the attention of the other 4 pokemon in the area. "Simply put… I'm not sure what to do next," Feeny began. "I want to keep looking for Lucas' body, but Drake seems to think there's something important with this egg. I am very against it, by the way. It's not our egg."

"No one would just leave their egg alone. And the clothes covering the egg? It's a sign."

"That's the most stupidest thing I've ever heard. Do you think the great Arceus in the sky left us a small sign? Or does it make more sense that a feral took his clothes and to keep the egg warm?"

"You can't put the possibility past it."

"This is the most dumbass thing you've ever-!"

"Please… Just stop fighting…" Julia whispered, finally bringing her head up after 15 minutes of continuous crying. Her eyes were puffy and red, and her voice cracked with emotion. "You two are friends. This isn't the time to be fighting. Lucas wouldn't want us to fight. He'd want us to work together, and make sure we stuck together. We're more than just friends, we're a family. And Lucas would want us to stay together, and figure out what our next move is together. We're still considered trainer pokemon, so we won't be caught as long as we keep the pokeballs safe."

"Where are the pokeballs now?" Drake asked.

"In Lucas' backpack. James is carrying it right now, along with Lucas' badges, wallet, and clothes," Julia explained. "We should compromise. I do want to find Lucas' body, and give it a proper burial. However, the fact that the egg was stuffed in a place with Lucas' clothes leads me to believe that it's important. I don't know how, but that's what I think." Even though Julia was filled with sadness, she still managed to keep her motherly aura about her. "I understand you want to find the body right away, Feeny. But we need to go about this the right way."

Julia paused. "He was our trainer, too, so I know how much you want to give him peace."

Feeny shook her head. "He wasn't just my trainer… He was my… My best friend."

It was dark, and I couldn't see anything. I felt the edges of the walls holding me in, and before I knew it, I was panicking. I wasn't normally claustrophobic, but I felt like I was going to be crushed to death. Oh god, oh god. Am I in a horror movie!? I can't see, it's too dark! Am I in a cage? I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

I realized I couldn't open my eyes at all. I was stuck with them shut, and for some reason, I felt like they were fused together. Thinking about it, I feel weak all over. I tried to call for help, but my mouth refused to form words. Instead, I said something along the lines of 'haaa'. I have to escape! I struggled, trying to free myself. However, nothing seemed to be working. I couldn't even tell if I was making any sort of progress.

It's no use… I can't escape. I felt myself get fatigued, unable to struggle anymore. It wasn't comfortable in here, but somehow, I managed to drift off to sleep.

I woke up, startled. Again, I had a panic attack in the small enclosed space. NO! I'M STILL HERE! I attempted to struggle again, trying to break free. I rocked my body against the walls, attempting to get anything to move. I seemed to move slightly, but still nothing changed. I felt myself getting scared again. What is this!? Why is this happening to me!? I felt tears prick the edges of my eyes. Was this hell? Had I done something to offend someone, and this was my punishment? I tried to be a good person! Honest! I began to try and argue with myself in my head.

"Heee...Haaa…Mmmm," I slurred, trying to call for help. Even the act of speaking guttural sounds tired me out. This is my personal hell… I felt myself crying, trying to figure out what had happened to me. Where is everyone? What about my- My thoughts instantly went to my team. I wasn't sure what happened to them. Were they okay? Actually, now that I thought about it, what happened to me? I couldn't remember too much. All I remembered was… They were hurt. I can't give up, I need to help them!

With all my strength, I pushed my arms forward, attempting to break out. I heard a small crack as I pushed, and I pushed even harder. My limbs screamed at me to stop, and I was in so much pain. So much pain, that I felt myself actually crying and hiccuping. But I didn't stop, I couldn't stop. I had to get out of here. If not for me, than for my team.

I pushed, and the crack was louder this time. The pain was almost unbearable, and I yelled as I pushed again, causing sound to come from the outside. I could hear what sounded like wind, and a few other noises that I couldn't immediately recognize. I had to stop and catch my breath, because I nearly passed out.

After a few deep breaths, I pushed with all my might. A large crack filled my ears, as I broke through whatever it was that was holding me in. I immediately fell to the ground, pain exploding in my chest. There was no light hitting my eyelids, so I was either in a cave, or it was night.

"Mmm...Aaaaaa…." I tried to speak again, but nothing but sounds came out. Wind blew through the air and hit me directly, causing me to shiver. I felt like I was freezing to death. "Aaaaa, Ehhh…" I slurred. Someone please help me! I tried to move, but pain exploded all over my body. I wailed, the pain finally causing me to yell out. I cried hard, harder than I ever thought I would. This wasn't an emotional cry, this was a painful cry. I was freezing and in so much pain, that I thought I was going to die right there. I wailed again, hoping someone would help me.

"...Did…hear that?" I heard a feminine voice in between my cries. I tried to move around again, wiggling my limbs, but more pain followed. I was still on my stomach, but somehow I couldn't stand up on my legs. Come to think of it, I can't feel my fingers or toes either. The thought went out of my mind immediately as more pain followed, followed by more of my sobbing.

"Oh Arceus, I knew it was going to come out any day now. Where's that damn flygon, I told him to watch it." I heard the voice again, this time closer. "Hey, go grab the blanket, okay? It's freezing out here at this time of night, and they're probably miserable."

I felt something brush up against me, causing me to get startled. "Hey there little…Uh," the feminine voice paused, and I felt it turn me over, causing me cry again. I felt my legs move a bit, and I attempted to kick away, but all I had were feeble shakes of the leg. "Hey little guy," She said, more confident this time, as if she confirmed my gender. Oh god, she didn't, did she? That's embarrassing. "Welcome to the world, little one," She cooed. I heard footsteps, and someone ran up next to me. "Can you wrap him up?" The voice asked.

"N-no problem Julia. Come here little guy, I got you," Another feminine voice said. Wait, Julia? They picked me up, and set me down something soft, before wrapping me up. I assumed that whatever they were wrapping me in was a blanket, because of how soft and warm I felt. It didn't even hurt when she picked me up and set me on it. I felt myself getting carried now, and I sniffled, no longer bawling as much, but still unsure of why I couldn't open my eyes, or why my body felt foreign to me. "He's so cute!" I heard.

"Venus, try and keep it down please. He's probably really scared right now. You can set him down here if you want, I'll keep him warm and safe."

"O-okay, if you say so," Venus responded. I felt myself getting placed on something that was warm. I also felt something else wrap around me, keeping me really warm. I went from feeling frozen to being warmed up by a living heater.

"I should be able to keep him warm enough. You can go back to sleep now, Venus. Hard to believe that only two days ago we found your egg little guy," She cooed. Venus said some affirmation before she started walking away. The sound of wings flapped near us, and I felt the wind push into my face. I whimpered, shrinking back into the blanket.

"Woah, he hatched. Cool. You trying to keep him warm by wrapping your tails around him?" A male voice asked.

"Yeah. Little guy was freezing and crying when we first got here. But… I can't help but feel like that's somebody's fault," Julia responded harshly. I had no idea what was going on, but I imagined Julia was giving the other person a glare.

"Y-yeah, uh. About that, I uh-"

"Save it. Drake, I just asked you to look over the egg for a few hours while I went to go get food. What would've happened if no one was there when he came out? He would've frozen to death." Wait… Julia, Drake, Venus? Are these my pokemon? How come I can understand them? I couldn't visually confirm it, but those names couldn't be a coincidence. Does this mean I'm the first human to be able to talk to pokemon? A memory popped into my head, bits and pieces of a conversation. That's right… Someone said I died, and… that I was going into a new body.

I remembered what the voice said when I was dead 'Mentally, yes. You'll still have all your memories, and your personality won't change. I can't save your human body… Your body is too damaged.' So that must mean… I'm in a new body, right? Another human body? Maybe I was a baby, and that's why they kept calling me little guy. But they said something about an egg…

"I'm sorry…" Drake murmured, causing me to snap back to the conversation at hand.

"I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. But that's besides the point. I need you to go to the pokemart, and get a bottle and some pokemon formula."

"Right now? It's like, four in the morning," Drake said quickly.

"Yes. He'll starve if you don't. Take James with you, just in case you need to converse with the human in charge of the store." That's right, I forgot that pokemon could go buy items for their trainers if they needed to at the pokemart. The store owners even have pokemon with them to help other pokemon in case they need something specific.

"Ughhhhhh, fine. Want me to get a pokeball too, so he can't be caught?"

"You know pokemon can't buy pokeballs. Just take some money from Lucas' wallet. It's in the backpack."

"Fine fine, I'll go get James and we'll leave in a minute. You're lucky I'm feeling better now, or else I wouldn't fly him and I over there," Drake muttered as he walked past us. This has to be my team, there's no way it isn't.

"Mmmm...Daa…" I tried to speak again.

"That's right, little guy. Drake's a big ol' lazy pokemon," Julia snickered.

"I heard that! Don't spread lies!" Drake's voice rang out from the distance.

I felt myself getting tired again. Pushing my way out of whatever it was that kept me trapped made me very fatigued. I nuzzled against the blanket, and Julia. She was still as warm as ever. "Sleep, little one," Julia addressed. Without hesitation, she began to hum a song, trying to lull me to sleep. I felt myself getting drowsy, and soon, I fell asleep again.