Sleep came to Ginji gradually that night. When he opened his eyes, he didn't find himself in that same small base on the same straw and hay nest he would have to grow accustomed to. Instead, a pure white light was shining in his face. However, there was something different about this light. It wasn't harsh like the sunlight, and his eyes didn't need to adjust to it like most people's did when they turned on a light after just waking up. If anything, this light was more like mist than actual light. It was rather soothing. Ginji let the misty light consume him entirely. He spent a few moments basking in it before his surroundings became more visible through the fog like light. They consisted of nothing but a green void, with a little bit of brighter green-almost yellow blending in. No trees and bushes, dirt roads, team bases, and no Pokémon besides himself. All in all, it was quite peaceful. Nothing but the comforting light and the swirling colours of green and yellow complementing one another beneath him.

"What is this place? I must be dreaming." Ginji dismissed. He rose to his feet, and studied his surroundings once more. Still the same void which the light was illuminating.

"Hello? Pikachu? Anyone?" He called out. He received no response.

He started to move forward, hoping to come across something or someone sooner or later. As he tried to walk ahead, he noticed something else rather odd. It wasn't he himself who was going anywhere, but the void that was. It was as if he was walking on a large green and yellow treadmill. He tried running as an alternative. He ended up with the same result.

For a dream, this felt strangely real. Ginji couldn't explain it, but it felt as if he wasn't dreaming at all. He was still in perfect control of his body and mind in the same way he would be if he was awake.

He raised one of his legs so that his foot was touching his cheek. He then pinched the flesh in between his chick-like toes. Pulling it back, he let go of it, and yet out a yelp. A sharp pain shot through the cheek he had pinched. Who knew Torchic flesh was so sensitive?

"I even felt that one." He thought as he rubbed his sore cheek with his foot.

After his foot had touched the ground again (assuming the colours beneath him were a ground), he felt something he best described as a presence. He couldn't see or hear anyone, he just felt as if someone else was right there with him. He didn't even know how he could sense something like that.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" No answer.

"Ok. This is getting really weird."

"Whoever you are, you better show yourself!" Ginji tried to sound as intimidating as he could, but deep down he knew Pikachu would probably tease him for failing miserably at it.

All the better reason that no one showed up or responded.

Ginji plopped down on the green and yellowy ground. He was now wishing that he would wake up soon. Sure it had been nothing but peace and quiet in this void, but the feeling that someone was watching you yet you couldn't see or hear anyone, coupled with being in a blank area with nothing or no one around was enough to begin sending shivers down Ginji's spine.

Ginji didn't think things could get any more strange or creepy, until he took a quick glance at the ground to find his legs and feet becoming see-through!

This caused Ginji to jump to his now transparent feet in shock.

"What's happening?!"

After that, it wasn't just his feet and legs anymore. It was his body.

I'm disappearing! But how?!"

Ginji grew more paranoid as his body began to vanish. What would happen to him if he disappeared here? It was just a dream, so there was nothing to worry about. Or at least that's what Ginji tried to tell himself.

"Help me! Somebody! Anybody! I don't want to fade away! Please! I'll do anything! I'll…"


"No! Please! Please don't let me disappear! I want to live! I want to…" Ginji kept his eyes open long enough to see pieces of the now ravaged nest scattered around him. He stopped thrashing about and took a good long look around him. He was in the same rescue team base he had fallen asleep in the night before. "Live." He finished his plea feeling pretty stupid.

Ginji hastily checked all over his body to confirm it indeed was only a dream. "Ok. Legs, feet. Check. Body. Check. Wings. Check mate. Tail. Checkity. Feathers. Double check. Head. Pretty sure I wouldn't be seeing the rest of myself if it wasn't still there. Triple check. Still alive. Still alive. Just a dream."

Ginji plopped down and followed that up with a sigh of relief.

"Man, what a weird dream. But what was it all about?"

Ginji heard the sound of hay rustling from across the base. He turned his head to the left to see the form of Pikachu tossing to his side so that he now faced Ginji.

"Jeez, Ginji. You could have at least told me you were a light sleeper." Pikachu yawned.

"Yeah, well that wasn't my fault. I had the weirdest dream." Ginji got up and walked towards Pikachu's nest until he was standing over the electric mouse.

"Oh yeah? What sort of weird dream?"

"Well, I was in this glowing greeny yellow void and it felt like someone was there with me and…" Ginji caught sight of the drowsiness in Pikachu's eyes midway through his first sentence. "You know what? Never mind."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"I'm sure. It was only a dream, anyway." In all honesty, talking about it probably would have helped, but it wasn't like Pikachu was going to know anything about it. And given the look in the mouse's eyes right now, he would doze off again long before Ginji got to the body vanishing part.

"Ok." Pikachu gently closed his only half opened eyes, and let his head droop down in his nest.

"So I guess today marks another day of rescuing?" Ginj guessed, more hoping to change the subject than to take logic into consideration. I.E; asking Pikachu about a long day of rescuing despite the fact that the mouse looked like he was ready curl up into a cushion with a blanket. Or whatever Pokémon used as a comfortable sleeping place besides nests. As if those things were the most comfortable things in the world to begin with. Wool, perhaps?

"Actually, I thought I would show you around the Pokémon Square today."

"Pokémon Square?"

"Where I went to register our team before."

"Sort of like a tour?"

"Yeah. I guess you could call it that."

"Later today, right?" Ginji asked what was most likely the most obvious question he'd asked Pikachu so far.

Pikachu playfully smirked. "Of course. It's still really early." Pikachu pointed out the window with the tip of his ear to show Ginji that the sun was still climbing into the sky.

"Right."

"I'll wake you up when it's time to go. Assuming you sleep longer than I do. Or wake me up first with more flailing about in your nest from any more weird dreams. Or wet your nest. Whichever comes first."

"Oh, ha ha. Maybe I'll wake you up on purpose next time for that one." Ginji remarked to combat Pikachu's harmless joke at the chick's expense.

"Sure thing, Ginji." Pikachu smiled at the corner of his mouth before turning himself to face the wall again.

Ginji gathered the clumps of his nest he had sent flying up, and threw them down on what remained of his next. He did a less than sloppy job at it, and the nest looked like a train wreck of twigs and straw, but Ginji couldn't care less at this point. He would fix it later that evening. If he could be bothered to. He poked and prodded at his nest in an attempt to make it a bit more comfy. Or as comfy as you could make a nest of straw. He walked in tiny circles around it, trying to lay down every two or three seconds. Once he had somehow managed to find a position that best suited him, he let sleep overtake him once more. This time there were no glowing green voids, misty, comforting, fog-esque lights, strange presences, or disappearing only to wake up to find his nest almost completed destroyed. Just silent, peaceful darkness.


"Ginji. Hey, Ginji. Wakey Wakey. It's time to go to the square."

Ginji felt a small paw prodding at his side. He didn't even need a second to wonder who that paw belonged to. He opened a single eye to be greeted with the friendly face of Pikachu smiling at him.

"I was afraid you were a not so light sleeper after all. Sleep ok?"

Ginji gave Pikachu a somewhat vacant expression. "Well, I would have. If you didn't just wake me up right now." He mumbled.

"Sorry. But you know, you woke me up even earlier this morning with your wailing. I think we're pretty even now." Pikachu reminded him.

"Whatevs." Ginji grumbled. He couldn't argue with Pikachu on that, but he didn't want to admit he was wrong either. He hated having to humble himself like that. Who didn't really?

"Besides, I wanted to get a fresh start. There's a lot of ropes I need to show you."

"You say so." Ginji shrugged. He rose to his feet, almost pretending to put effort into getting out of bed.

"Off to the Pokémon Square, right?"

"That's right." Pikachu nodded.

"Lead the way."

Obviously Pikachu had never heard that statement in his life before, otherwise he wouldn't have bolted out of the base before Ginji could blink, leaving nothing but a trail of dust and a certain chick Pokémon behind him.

"Hey! I said LEAD the way not LEAVE me behind." Ginji called after Pikachu. Albeit he received no response.

Ginji groaned and darted out of the base in an effort to catch up with his speedy companion. He came to a halt a few feet outside the base, there being no sight of Pikachu.

"Well, that's just great. I wonder if the reason he wants to form a rescue team with me is because he tried forming rescue teams with other Pokémon before, but they just ditched him because they couldn't keep up with him. Or he lost them and didn't notice until he was miles ahead and couldn't go back to look for them. Probably both."

Ginji looked at the area around him. It was the same one he had familiarized himself with for the past couple days. There was a dirt path leading from the rescue base to an even bigger path. There was a forested area across the wide path, and, well that was pretty much it. Honestly, there wasn't much to see around the base property. Ginji hoped that would change at this Pokémon Square place. What did seem to hint at much more was three different pathways the dirt road lead to. Ginji recognized the one ahead as the one he and Pikachu took in order to get to Thunderwave Cave and rescue the two Magnemite the day before. It must lead to multiple dungeons. He assumed the path on the right would probably lead to some other dungeons as well. He could make out a wooden bridge on the left path along with some grass. Heavens only knew which one Pikachu took.

"Now if I were a speedy electric mouse, where would I be?" Ginji pondered to himself. It wasn't as if he had much time to, because Pikachu came zipping down the left path the second Ginji turned his head. He skidded to a halt right in front of the chick Pokémon. He had quite the apologetic look on his face. For good reason.

"Heh, Guess I should have made sure you were right behind me, huh?" Pikachu had a sheepish look on his face. He slowly rubbed his paw on the back of his head.

"You think?" Ginji deadpanned.

"Sorry about that. This time I'll go at a slower pace." Pikachu assured him. Ginji couldn't say he was entirely convinced.

"Any of your friends tell you you're just a little bit of a speedaholic?" Ginji asked Pikachu while the mouse was getting back down on all fours.

"How did you kn-"Pikachu stopped in the middle of his question, partly after catching Ginji's stare, and partly due to his own sudden realization. He started reforming his innocent smile. "Lucky guess?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, in that case you're going to love my friends."

"I would love to meet them. I need to ask them just how they can put up with you 24/7. Or even better, how they can keep up with you."

Pikachu laughed. It was clear the mouse Pokémon didn't mind a joke at his expense every so often. That was to be expected though. Given his positive attitude and the way he made snide comments all in good fun, how could he?

"Don't worry. I don't run that far. Except when I go exploring. And even then, I can always find my way back to the square. I know this place like the back of my paw."

"Well, that's surprising." Ginji commented.

"Well, we better not waste any more time here. Think you can keep up?" Pikachu asked him over his shoulder.

Ginji shot him quite the look. It was a look that told the rodent he wasn't too keen on the idea of scurrying a mile behind him in a huff to try to keep up with him just because he couldn't sit still for less than five milliseconds. "Well, I don't know, Pikachu. You did say you were going to go at a slower pace, didn't you?" Ginji's eyes squinted harder and harder as he reminded Pikachu of his words passive aggressively.

"Yeah. I did." Pikachu admitted rather disappointedly. Adrenaline was this guy's best friend, no doubt.

"So, we're off?"

"Yep. Here we go." Pikachu was off again. He did keep his words and went at a slower pace this time. Sure, Ginji was still left barrelling pathetically trying to catch up, but at least it was a somewhat slower pace. Or at least in his book. To be fair, Pikachu did check over his shoulder once or twice to make sure Ginji was still following him.

"Hey, wait up! You know, it really doesn't help that I have two skinny legs to run on while you have four sturdy ones."

Ginji forced his scrawny legs forward in a sad, desperate attempt to keep the trail going. If this was what the mouse Pokémon called a slow pace, he couldn't wait to see him at his fastest.

It was when Ginji was crossing the wooden bridge that he realized Pokémon didn't exactly set the best safety standards either. You see, waking up in the body of a Torchic and having to adjust to a round fluffy body supported by only two stick-like legs was a daunting enough task already. Trying to keep up with a swift yellow rodent who ran on all fours while you had to rely on said stick like ones was an even more daunting task. You were bound to trip and stumble every now and then. It was just a shame one of those times happened to be on a bridge with no wooden rails on the sides. Due to what was under the bridge, this would mark the first time Ginji asked himself that if he had to have woken up as a Pokémon, out of all types, why did it have to be fire?

The splashing noise behind Pikachu indicated to the mouse Pokémon that he didn't need to check behind him to make sure Ginji was still following him anymore.


"Remind me to find out who built that stupid bridge like that so I can find and throttle them." Ginji sneered, his feathers dripping wet with water.

Pikachu shielded his face as droplets of water were flung towards him when Ginji shook himself off violently. He took his arms away from his face just in time to get a good look at Ginji. The chick's feathers were poofed out and sticking up on end so that he looked like a little fire orange mop.

"You look like a poofy orange cotton ball." Pikachu laughed.

"Whatever." Was all Ginji had as a comeback. In all honesty, he did. But he would never give Pikachu satisfaction by admitting that and furthering his humiliation.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. I wasn't the one who built that bridge."

"No, but you told me you would go at a slower pace." Ginji pointed in his defense.

"I did."

"That's what you call a slower pace in this weird world?"

"Look, I'm sorry if that wasn't quite slow enough. Next time I promise to make sure you're right beside me. Or better yet, you can tell me if I'm getting too fast. Sound good to you?"

"Sure. But you have to promise. For real." Ginji warned.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Pikachu repeated their little oath when he had first shown Ginji his rescue team base after rescuing Caterpie.

"Good." Ginji shook himself a second time. His feathers smoothed out closer to their regular look. Well, as regular as a kid who turned into a Torchic's looks could get. "Who builds bridges like that anyway?"

Pikachu shrugged his shoulders. "Couldn't tell ya that. That bridge has been there for as long as I can remember."

"Well, you Pokémon don't exactly have your safety goals set. Anyone filed a lawsuit for nearly drowning underneath that thing? Anyone who isn't a water type?"

"Lawsuit?" Pikachu looked at Ginji as if he had suddenly grown an extra two heads right on the spot. Or morphed into a Dodrio. Either one worked fine.

"Never mind. Point is, that bridge is kind of dangerous, don't ya think?"

"Maybe a little bit. But, hey; look on the bright side. It could have been a lot worse. The pit could have been bottomless or full of acid instead of water."

"Thanks for the reassurance." Ginji said dryly.

"Actually, Ginji. There's something else you kind of should be thanking me for." Pikachu reminded him in the most polite way possible. A realization crossed his mind when Ginji had used the word in a different way. The chick Pokémon had not yet properly thanked him for pulling him out of the river. All while Ginji had been clutching the end of Pikachu's tail between his beak as the electric rodent had climbed both of them out. Pikachu was just glad Torchic didn't have sharp teeth. That would have been something else to worry about in addition to not zapping Ginji again. Especially when he was soaked from head to toe. Not the most pleasant thought.

"And saving me from drowning in a stream." He added, getting Pikachu's hint.

"Don't mention it." Pikachu paused for a bit after that. "Well, I kind of made you but…"

"How about we just drop it?" Ginji suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Pikachu agreed to that immediately.

It was a few seconds before Pikachu told him;

"Hey, it's a good thing the sun is shining bright today. That will help dry you off."

"I guess." Ginji said in a tone not nearly as optimistic as Pikachu's.

"When that ditch first appeared and created a stream, we needed some way to get across it. A wooden bridge was our best option, wasn't it?"

"Can we just get along with the tour? I think we've talked about this enough." Ginji said, tone remaining the same.

"Good idea." The way Pikachu had said that indicated he never really wanted to delve too deep in the subject to begin with.

"So are we close to this Pokémon Square or what?" Ginji asked to start a new topic.

"Just up ahead." Pikachu pointed to a small village not more than three feet in front of them.

The two continued up the path until they were at least right in front of it.

"So this is the Pokémon Square?" Ginji asked his companion whilst having a quick scan of the town.

"Yep. Cute little place, isn't it?"

It wasn't too much more than what Pikachu had described it as; a cute little place. It was actually more like a hamlet than a town or a village. There were the all too familiar rocks, bushes, and plants here and there. Nothing Ginji hadn't seen since he became a Pokémon. Or what he was sure he saw every day in his life before. The place was bustling with a few different types of Pokémon. What really caught Ginji's attention were the stands with Pokémon standing behind them. They must have been on every single corner you turned. It reminded him of those festivals he could recall where people sold goods at their booths with tents set up. There were even tents next to each stand to boot. They must have been where the Pokémon lived or stayed when they weren't doing…whatever it was they did at their booths. The dirt path he and Pikachu were standing on lead to three other ones. One heading north of the square, another one heading south, and the final one heading east. The square had quite the welcoming atmosphere to it. It was simply a nice little place for Pokémon to hang around and go about with their business. What seemed like the ideal place to chill and chat was the middle of the square. It had somewhat of a round stone patio in the ground. A Lotad, Snubbull, and Bellsprout appeared to be pretty content in a conversation the three of them were having.

"Yeah. Sure." Was all Ginji answered with. He really didn't have too much to say about it.

"Well, we better get started on that 'tour'. First things first, let me introduce you to the Kecleon brothers." Pikachu began to lead Ginji to the nearest stand in the square. Well, it was so near that it was only a couple feet away. The Pokémon Square wasn't a very big place to begin with.

Behind the stand were two Kecleon. One was green with yellow markings on his skin, while the other was purple with teal markings on his. Odd. Ginji didn't remember Kecleon coming in purple. Not even shiny Kecleon were that colour. He didn't think about it for too long though. He was too distracted by the items on the shelves behind them. Stacked from top to bottom on the shelves were seeds, berries, apples, vegetables, scarves, bands, and ribbons galore. But what really caught Ginji's attention were the stones and orbs amongst the merchandise. The stones came in various colours. Some had patterns on them, others looked more like gems. Some of the orbs were luminous, some appeared to be sparkling. They were unlike anything Ginji had ever seen. Besides the orbs, stones, clothing, and food, there were oddly shaped containers with small glass doors. Ginji couldn't even begin to guess what was inside them.

"Pokémon grocery store." Ginji decided to refer to it as.

"Morning Kecleon brothers." Pikachu greeted with that oh so chipper attitude.

"Good morning, Pikachu. Welcome to the Kecleon warehouse." They greeted back in unison. Brothers indeed.

"Oh? And who's your friend? I don't believe I've seen him around before." Green Kecleon asked, having noticed Ginji and taking a glance at him.

"This is my new teammate Ginji. Ginji, these are the Keclen brothers." Pikachu introduced.

"I see the family resemblance." Ginji commented.

No one seemed bothered by that one. There was no denying these two were without a doubt brothers by just looking at them.

"Ginji's new around here, so I'm giving him a 'tour'. At least that's what he wants to call it. Showing him the ropes, y'know?" Pikachu went on.

"Started up a rescue team have you? Well, you've certainly come to the right place and Pokémon to introduce him to." Purple Kecleon stated. He then turned to Ginji. "Little fellow, we've got just about anything you need here at the Kecleon warehouse."

"Right. Thanks." Ginji said, half afraid he was making himself look awkward. There was something about the way these Kecleon talked in just about the same manner. They even had voices that were very hard to tell apart from one another.

"Speaking of which, is there anything we can do for you, Pikachu?" He turned back to the electric mouse to ask him that particular question.

"Actually, there was but I left the toolbox back at the base. Is it alright if I come back some other time?" Pikachu asked them.

"Certainly." The green Kecleon answered with a smile for the Purple one. "We'll always be here whenever you need us for anything."

"I know, Kecleon. Thank you." Pikachu waved to them as he headed away from the stand.

"Right. Well, um…thanks." Ginji said before following Pikachu to wherever the mouse would take him next.

"They're kind of weird." Ginji whispered to Pikachu once the two were out of earshot.

"Those are the Kecleon brothers for ya." Pikachu agreed.

"Yeah, but the way they say things almost exactly the same and have almost the exact same voices. All you say is "those are the Kecleon brothers for ya'? Doesn't creep you out even little bit?"

"C'mon, Ginji. As if you aren't a little odd yourself?" Pikachu teased.

"Oh, ha ha. There's a huge difference between my weird and their weird." Ginji tried to tell his teammate, ultimately sounding like he was doing it in the feeblest way possible. Which he was.

"Ok Ginji. I guess there is." Pikachu said. Ginji wasn't sure if he meant that or if Pikachu was just messing with him again.

"By the way, what were in those weird container things?" Ginji asked to get the little question off his chest.

"Those are TM and HM machines."

"Really?" He didn't remember them looking like those.

"Yeah. You can learn moves with them."

"I know what they do. They just don't usually look like that."

"Man, your amnesia really is worse than I thought." Pikachu said rather sadly. Something about the way he said it bugged Pikachu. For one thing, Pikachu was still treating Ginji's problem like it was just bad amnesia and nothing much more mysterious like a human turning into a Pokémon. It was obvious Pikachu hadn't started to believe him. Another thing was after becoming used to Pikachu's optimistic personality, it was a bit jarring to hear anything other than positivity come from him. He first discovered that the other day in Thunderwave Cave, where it was HIM who had to be the one telling Pikachu to keep his spirits high. A sad or not as perky Pikachu was a kind of uncomfortable to be around.

"Hey, we can worry about this later. Why not show me around some more?" Ginji suggested in a desperate attempt to get Pikachu to stop worrying about the whole amnesia thing for the time being. Not necessarily out of concern for Pikachu, but to make things less awkward for himself.

"Right. The next place I want to take you to is the bank. C'mon." Pikachu stated, having Ginji change the subject work.

Pikachu lead Ginji to a stand across the middle of the square. He was grateful Pikachu wasn't racing everywhere this time around. Probably learning from his mistakes after Ginji took a plummet into a river. Or he was respectful enough not to disturb the peace of the locals. The latter being more likely.

"You have banks around here?" Ginji asked, quite surprised. The last word he thought Pokémon would use was 'bank'. Well, that and countless other words that would be a lot more out of place for them to use. He didn't even think Pokémon would understand the concept of money.

"Of course. Where else would we store our Poké?" Pikachu asked.

"Of course. Not money. Poké." Ginji remembered after Pikachu used the word.

The stand Ginji was lead to present a Persian behind it, and bags filled with what Ginji could only assume to be Poké. The Persian himself was grooming. He licked his big paw with that thin cat-like tongue of his before rubbing the back of it over his ear. Pokémon weren't too much different from animals when you got down to it. If you didn't pay attention to the fact that animals couldn't use moves and lacked elemental typing to do so. And they couldn't talk. Ginji then remembered one little fact about himself and the creatures around him; that's what everyone thought about Pokémon before. HOPEFULLY animals couldn't talk as well.

"This is the Persian bank." Pikachu told him once they were in front of the 'bank'.

"Fitting." Ginji replied. "You guys name everything after the Pokémon who runs it?"

"You know something, that's a good question. I guess around here we do. I don't know about other places. I guess I'll find out when I travel to those places."

The Persian must have heard their little talk because he stopped grooming himself and turned his eyes towards the two much smaller Pokémon in front of his bank.

"Good day, Pikachu. I will have you and your friend know I've renamed this place." Persian informed Pikachu in a calm yet firm tone.

"Good day to you too Persian." There was something a little less cheery about the way Pikachu greeted him this time around almost as if Pikachu was a bit nervous about talking to him. "Sorry. What did you change the name to?"

"Felicity Bank?"

"Why Felicity?"

"Just wanted to be a bit more shall we say unique you know? Don't want every place to be named after the Pokémon running it, now do we?" He turned to Ginji and narrowed his eyes at the young chick on his last line.

"No sir. Good point." Ginji gulped. Something about the look in Persian's red eyes made him slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh. Ginji, this is Persian though I'm sure you know that." Pikachu said that quickly to be prepared for a very possible ''No? Really?'' type of look from Ginji. "Persian, this is my new rescue teammate Ginji. He's not from around here so I'm showing him around."

"I see." Persian took a good look at the chick, squinting his eyes a bit as his did so. "Well, I'm sure you know what my business has to offer being a bank and all?"

"Yes, Sir." Ginji nodded in a hurry.

Persian stretched his neck out to from behind his booth to loom down on the two. Ginji jumped behind Pikachu for cover, and peeked his head out from behind his slightly taller partner's back. Pikachu just let his tail flatten along the ground, and crouched down a bit.

"You wouldn't happened to have seen Meowth or Munchlax around causing trouble lately, now would you?"

"No, sir." Pikachu shook his head slowly. "I haven't seen them for a couple days now. They must be out on a trip somewhere. Or they got lost while away on one of their schemes."

"You will let me know if any suspicious activity starts happening around the square, now won't you?" By now, Persian's eyes were as narrow as Ginji thought they could get.

"Yes, of course. Don't you worry about about a thing, Persian." Pikachu assured the tall feline shakily.

"Very well. Thank you Pikachu." Persian pulled his head back behind his booth, and sat down. "Pleasure to meet you, Ginji." Persian said to the small chick.

"Thanks. You too." Ginji lied. Having a giant cat lean over you was anything but a pleasure to be perfectly honest.

"Though I must say, Ginji is quite a strange name for a Torchic." Persian added.

Pikachu laughed a bit. "That's what I told him when I first met him."

Ginji wasn't sure what bothered him more. Pikachu's childish jokes about him themselves or the fact that Pikachu was all of a sudden was totally comfortable talking to Persian as long as the cat said something that opened an opportunity to tease him.

"Yeah yeah. We should probably get going now." Ginji muttered.

"Well then, I shall await your next visit." Persian continued to stare at them even as the duo made their way from the stand.

"You won't be waiting long Persian, I can guarantee you that." Pikachu called to him. Though Ginji was sure Pikachu's early behaviour around Persian told him otherwise. And that guarantee was a bit too strong a word to use regarding another visit with Persian. Ginji was pretty convinced the only reason Pokémon went there was because their sweet Poké awaited, calling their name.

"Forget what I said about the Kecleon brothers. That guy is the one I should really be creeped out by." Ginji nudged Pikachu once they were out of earshot.

"That's Persian for ya."

"That's going to be your response to everything I say about someone, isn't it?"

"Not sure yet." Pikachu shrugged. "Though I do agree with you. Persian is a tad bit on the uncanny side. I think he likes to creep everyone out for fun. He really does mean well."

"I'll take your word for it. I'm not going there on my own or during the night ever though."

"Ok then. No one's going to make you."

"He said something about a Meowth and a Munchlax causing trouble?"

"Yeah. Ever since I've been here, Meowth's been a pain in the rear. He's always pulling scams, pranks, and trying to get his greedy paws on other Pokémon's goods. A good thing about having Persian around is that he's always there to put that little bugger in his place. Munchlax is his little sidekick. He just goes along with whatever Meowth plots I guess. I wouldn't worry too much about them. None of their plans ever work anyway. They're actually kind of funny. At least seeing them get what's coming to them all the time is funny." Pikachu explained.

"Ok." Ginji said in a way that showed he kind of lost interest. He didn't neccessarily want or need a whole description of them.

"Besides, I kind of only said I'd let Persian know about them to get on his good side." Pikachu went on.

"Smart idea." Ginji could tell the last ting any Pokémon wanted was not to be on that guy's good side.

"Anyway, Let me introduce you to these three lazies." Pikachu pointed to the middle of the square where the Lotad, Snubbull, and Bellsprout were still deep in a conversation. Ginji could merely make out what it was about. Mostly about the natural disasters that had been going on recently, talk about 'first class' rescue teams, and something about a forest fire and a Blastoise, Swampert, and Feraligator called 'team Hydro' putting it out.

The trio must not have either not heard them coming or their talk was interesting enough that not one of them looked up seeing as how Ginji and Pikachu were standing right behind them.

"Hi guys." Pikachu greeted them in order to get their attention.

This caused the Lotad to jump at least three feet in the air wailing in panic. Once his feet had come in contact with the ground again, he sprinted behind Snubbull, shaking violently. The Snubbull placed her paw on her forehead and shook her whole head while letting out a sigh.

"Yep. That would be my reaction to an unexpected greeting from this guy as well." Ginji thought without saying it aloud.

Lotad peeked out from behind Snubbull in order to see who had dared cause him to nearly have a heart attack. He was presented with the sight of a Torchic shaking his head in embarrassment while a Pikachu standing next to him had an ear slanted backwards while he rubbed his paw along the back of his head, smiling apologetically.

"Good heavens Pikachu. You scared the living daylights out of me." Lotad panted, managing to walk back to his former spot on the stone patio.

"Sorry Lotad." Pikachu apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just really excited today is all."

"When are you not excited?" Snubbull asked smartly.

Ginji found it pretty amusing that most of the Pokémon around here had the same reaction to Pikachu's happy go lucky attitude as he did.

"Good question." Pikachu answered to Snubbull's dry question.

"That's our Pikachu." Lotad sighed. "So who's this Torchic here?" He asked after catching sight of Ginji. "I've never seen him around before."

Ginji was ready to open his mouth and introduce himself for a change though he didn't get that chance because of course Pikachu was on top of that.

"This is my new teammate. I met him a couple days ago. He sure is a strange one."

Ginji closed his mouth back up, slightly irritated at both Pikachu doing his talking for him and making jabs at him while doing so.

"Ginji, this is Lotad, Snubbull, and Bellsprout." Pikachu pointed out each one individually as he said their species name respectively.

"Yeah, I figured considering that's what they are." Ginji muttered just quiet enough for no one to hear.

"Ginji?" Snubbull snickered. "What kind of a name is that?"

Ginji found it pretty ironic that all these Pokemon found his name the weirdest thing know to Pokémon kind when they had names such as 'Bellsprout, 'Kecleon, and 'Lotad, and 'Snubbull', being named after what they were, nonetheless To Ginji it was kind of like naming a human 'human'. Pokémon parents must be breaking a record for being the plainest parents ever. Ginji didn't say anything regarding the subject. This Snubbull wasn't leaving the best impression on him and he didn't feel the need to further his dislike of her.

"Don't listen to Snubbull. She's the biggest downer ever." Pikachu nudged Ginji playfully.

"It's cute how you think I can't hear you, Pikachu." Snubbull told him in a cynical manner.

"It's just the truth Snubbull." Pikachu excused innocently.

"I suppose you're right." Snubbull folded her arms, accepting the cold hard fact.

Bellsprout obviously wasn't very interested in the subject of names, but instead the subject of new rescue teams because the next thing he said was;

"New teammate? Don't tell me you went through with your plan of forming a rescue team." Bellsprout groaned in a way that showed the confirmation answer wouldn't exactly be what he wanted to hear.

"I sure have." Pikachu answered right away as if Bellsprout hadn't just sounded worried a second before. "We're rescue team Heroes." Pikachu pumped his small fist in the air.

"I can't say you picked the right time to get started, Pikachu." Bellsprout told him doubtfully.

"Why do you say that?" Pikachu asked him. His tone changed from excitable to questioning. As if he knew the reason why.

"With all these disasters happening lately, it's been quite dangerous in those mystery dungeons. It's not at all safe for new rescue teams."

"I knew it." Pikachu said sadly, confirming he knew the answer. "You don't have to worry about us Bellsprout, honest. We've already been through two dungeons, not a scratch on either of us." Pikachu reassured Bellsprout, lying on the last sentence. Neither Pikachu nor Ginji were going to ever forget their struggle in Thunderwave Cave.

"That would explain the cut on your cheek." Snubbull pointed.

"Oh. You noticed that?" Pikachu rubbed his cheek in disappointment. Ginji inspected Pikachu's cheek after Snubbull mentioned it. He did notice a small cut just above the red dot used for storing electricity. Tunderwave Cave wound. He hadn't actually noticed it before-him and Pikachu sustained quite a few cuts and bruised from that fight with the Voltorb, and the last thing on Ginji's agenda was remembering every single one. Most of him and Pikachu's wounds had healed no problem overnight though apparently there was one on Pikachu that hadn't done so yet. It was only a minor cut, and only someone as critical as Snubbull (at least that's what Gini assumed) would notice it.

"Of course. You know me. I have an eye for these sort of things." Snubbull boasted. As if having a 'special eye' for noticing a tiny cut was something to be proud of.

"Hey, at least we managed to get through it after all, right?" Pikachu objected, not paying attention to Snubbull's bragging. "We didn't get lost or stuck. I doubt Ginji and I will have much trouble anytime soon." He confided.

"There's always a time though." Lotad warned him.

"C'mon, guys." Pikachu moaned. "With all these disasters, we're going to need all the help we can get, aren't we? If you ask me, I don't think we could have picked a better time to from a rescue team."

"We do need help." Snubbull folded her arms again. "From older and much more experienced rescue teams, that is. Not from a bunch of rookies who can't tell the difference between an Oran berry and a grape."

Before Pikachu could say anything else in his team's defense(or before Ginji could attempt to peck this pink bulldog to the ground for being so obnoxious), three young Pokémon came stampeding down the west path so fast you'd think someone had planted a bomb somewhere in the square. They left a huge cloud of dust behind them from two of them kicking up the dirt road trying to keep up with the one zipping in front of them.

Coming to a halt in front of the stone patio was a Squirtle. He had a red scarf wrapped around his neck and held a small fruit in between his fingers. The next Pokémon to stop beside him was a Charmander with a brown scarf around his. The flame on his tail was flickering so fast with each breath the lizard took. Almost like a heartbeat. The last Pokémon was a Chikorita who practically collapsed next to her two friends. She had a yellow toolbox flung over her shoulder and a pink scarf around her neck. The toolbox would most likely explain why she was the one who was most out of breath of the trio.

"You guys… couldn't have… stopped… and waited… for five seconds?" She asked in between pants. "He…wasn't even…that fast… he's a Nincada!"

"Remind you of a certain yellow someone with a lightning bolt tail?" Ginji whispered to Pikachu, giving him a little nudge.

Pikachu just nudged him back indignantly.

"So just because He's a Nincada he can't be fast?" Squirtle asked Chikorita with look that screamed 'don't generalize other Pokémon'. "You saw how angry he was."

"And what was he going to do to us with those tiny pinchers?" Chikorita asked having caught her breath. "Pinch our faces off?"

"No. But pinches hurt more than everyone gives them credit for. Especially when you have skin like mine." He took the hand that wasn't holding on to the fruit and grabbed the skin on his arm between his fingers. He let it go fiercely and let out a yelp. "See. I told you." He told Chikorita, rubbing the spot on his arm where he had pinched himself.

"Hey, look on the bright side Chikorita. It could have been a lot worse. He could have been an Aggron, or a Metagross or Salamence, or something." Chamander piped in.

"Charmander's right, Chikorita. At least we got a really nice prize. One organic Oran berry." Squirtle exclaimed as he raised his arm with the fruit still in between his fingers in the air triumphantly.

"Squirtle, that's a grape." Charmander corrected him after getting a good look at their 'prize.'

"It is?" Squirtle lowered his hand and narrowed his eyes to get a closer look at the blue purple fruit he held between his fingers. "You're right. I didn't get a good look at it when Nincada chucked it at us. I was too busy running for my life."

"He was ticked, Squirtle." Chikorita pointed out. "What made you think what he threw at us was an Oran berry?"

"I dunno. It was round and it sort of looked like one when it went flying at us. And there was a little bit of juice that squirted on my face when it bounced off of it." Squirtle answered.

"A lot of soft fruits do that Squirtle. It doesn't necessarily mean they're berries." Charmander pointed out.

"Who cares? At least they taste good." With that Squirtle plopped the grape in his mouth and chewed It up before swallowing it.

Charmander and Chikorita just sighed. Chikorita shook her head a bit while Charmander had a small smile grow on his face.

"The point is it would be nice to have a successful mission for once." Chikorita sighed.

"Yeah. I mean, look at us. We can't even collect apples for a client without ticking him off." Squirtle added, hanging his head sadly.

Chikorita gave him a bit of a look that read 'Thanks. Really helps'.

Charmander nodded silenty at Chikorita's statement, and there was a bit of silence between the three. Before Charmander spoke up.

"Hey, c'mon guys. Just because we've had two or three unsuccessful rescue missions-"

"Two or three?" Chikorita cut him off.

"Ok. A few; doesn't mean they're all going to end in failure."

Chikorita and Squirtle's heads raised while their eyes widened. They gave each other a quick look before shifting their gazes back to Charmander.

"I mean, we've only started out. We have a long career ahead of us so there's no sense in doubting ourselves now." Charmander encouraged. "We just got to keep on trying, right?"

Squirtle regained his smile. "You're right Charmander."

Chikorita rose to her feet. "Yeah. You both are." She smiled.

"That settles that." Squirtle finished. "Hey, who wants to go to Whiscash Pond? I'm in the mood for a swim. Also, I need to work on learning water gun."

"As long as you don't splash me, then alright." Charmander agreed.

"I'll go if you guys are going." Chikorita said.

"Maybe afterwards we can get Eevee to pick up some supplies for us from the Kecleon shop." Squirtle added. "Let's go."

Squirtle lead the way as the three of them raced through the middle of the square and up the north path. Squirtle must have tripped on one of the stones in the ground because just as he was about to turn to the north path, he bumped into Snubbull, sending both him and her to the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're running!" Snubbull complained after Squirtle fell on top of her. "Get off me."

"Sorry, Snubbull." Squirtle apologized while Snubbull harshly shoved him off. She got up off the ground, and dusted herself off, mumbling a few things neither Ginji nor Pikachu could make out. "Oh. Hey Pikachu." Squirtle waved to the electric mouse after noticing him in the square.. It wasn't a very long greeting as Squirtle realized his two friends had disappeared up the path already. "Hey, guys, wait up!" Squirtle called after them. He was back on his feet and running again in a heartbeat and before anyone said anything else, he had disappeared as well.

"Case in point." Snubbull spat.

"Oh, c'mon Snubbull. Team Go-Getters isn't that bad. They want to help other Pokémon in need just as much as the next rescue team." Pikachu objected. He was visibly annoyed by now.

"Wow. This killjoy actually managed to annoy Pikachu. Should that be in the book of world records or something?" Ginji smartly thought to himself.

"They may WANT to help. In the same way you do." Snubbull looked Pikachu in the eye on that one. Pikachu just rolled his eyes. "But I have yet to see them actually do anything remotely helpful. Only thing those kids are good for is giving the Kecleon brothers spectacular sales on fruit thanks to Squirtle's appetite. Leave the rescuing to the professionals."

"Oh, and I suppose you could do a better job in a rescue team." Ginji smirked.

"She wasn't necessarily implying she could, Ginji." Pikachu reminded him.

"Shut up Pikachu. I'm trying to be smart with my comebacks here." Ginji muttered back to him.

"All I know is you wouldn't get me in one of those mystery dungeons." Bellsprout shuddered.

"I will say this for those three. They strive to make this place better for other Pokémon. They continue to work hard even if they don't always succeed. They want to contribute to this world in any way they can. And I don't know too much about being a member of a rescue team, but I would say those are important qualities for one." Lotad gave his opinion on the trio.

"I just hope you two will be very careful. It's a dangerous world out there." Bellsprout cautioned them.

"Don't worry about us Bellsprout. You can count on Ginji and me." Pikachu assured him. "Right, Ginji." Pikachu asked most likely hoping the chick would get the message calling for backup.

"Um… Sure." Ginji confirmed, rushing the answer. He thought to himself for a bit before forming a smirk. "You can sleep well knowing Team Heroes is on the case. But if you wake up and find your tent or home or wherever you guys live is in unidentifiable pieces, it's not our fault. We only guaranteed you a peaceful sleep. We didn't say anything about what would happen when you woke up.'' Ginji joked.

Lotad and Bellsprout looked at him with dread in their eyes, while Snubbull just scoffed obviously realizing it was just a joke, though not finding it either funny or amusing.

"I was only joking." Ginji sighed.

"Well, then." Pikachu stepped in front of his younger companion. "We'd better be on our way. Still got a few things to show Ginji after all, and that sun's not staying in the sky forever. C'mon, Ginji." Pikachu gently shoved him along. "We'll see you guys around then." He called back to the trio.

"Take care, Pikachu and… um.." Lotad started before hacking his brain trying to remember the Torchic's odd name.

"Ginji." Ginji reminded him.

"Oh yes. Ginji." Lotad finished. He sounded as though getting Ginji's name right wasn't the most important thing in the world to him.

"I still think it's a pretty ridiculous name." Snubbull huffed. ''And what was up with that hideous X scar on his forehead?'' Ginji heard her whisper loud enough for him to hear to her comrades.

"Well, nice to meet you too, Ms. Eternally scrunched face." Ginji snarked off to her trying hard to ignore the fact that his scar was pretty noticeable while Pikachu continued to push him along. After that comment Ginji felt himself be forcefully knocked behind the nearest tree. Pikachu jumped behind it right after.

"Ow. What was that for?" Ginji whined.

"Ginji, you shouldn't really go around calling other Pokemon names like that. Especially if you want to make a good impression as a new rescue team." Pikachu told him. He wasn't scolding him as much as he was giving him advice which Ginji found kind of funny to say the least.

"Even if they do have an ugly scrunched up face, are a total no fun allowed blowhard, and insulted you first?' Ginji asked in a similar manner to a little kid asking for candy.

"Even then." Pikachu chuckled. Ginji could tell Pikachu shared the same opinion with him on Snubbull. Pikachu was likely one of those guys that was just too polite to say what he really thought to others. "You've got an interesting way with words, Ginji."

"Thanks." Ginji bragged. "It's my specialty."

Pikachu just smiled and rolled his eyes a bit. He had a hard time being stern with Ginji (or anyone for that matter). There was something so fun about the young Torchic even if he was a bit rude most of the time and just being a straight up smart Alec the rest of it.

"Well, I may as well take you to the Kangaskhan storage and introduce you to Auntie Kangaskhan." Pikachu stated. He started towards a booth just ahead of them a few feet from the tree they had been standing under.

"Auntie Kangaskhan?" Ginji asked, following Pikachu. Did Pokémon have family members that were different species? Or did they just call Pokémon close to them by family names?

"Well, at least that's what I and the younger Pokémon call her. She insists."

"Ok then." Ginji was still a bit weirded out by that concept but it really wasn't his place to judge. He wasn't a real Pokémon anyway.

"Good afternoon, Auntie Kangaskhan." Pikachu chirped.

"Good afternoon to you too, young Pikachu." Kangaskhan waved to him. "Now who is this youngster?" Kangaskhan asked after catching sight of the Torchic once he and Ginji were in front of her booth.

Ginji opened his mouth to speak but was instantly silenced by Pikachu.

"That's my new teammate, Ginji. He's not from around here. I'm giving him a little tour of the Pokémon Square. He's got a lot to learn, y'know."

"It must be nice to be such a fast talker. Just imagine being able to talk for others without their input on anything you say about them." Ginji thought to himself.

"Ginji?" Kangaskha pondered. "Now that's quite a different name."

"So I've heard a lot today." Ginji told her.

"This is Kangaskhan storage. Auntie Kangaskhan can store all our item here." Pikachu explained.

"So it's like a bank for items?" Ginji asked. "Or a storage building for Pokèmon."

"Yeah. Like that." Pikachu answered. Ginji felt as if Pikachu was just saying things around here were what he described them as because the mouse figured it was making things easier for him to understand.

"That's right. You have any items that need to be kept in a safe place while you're out exploring, this is the perfect place. I'll take good care of your items here at Kangaskhan Storage." Kangaskhan boomed. She did so in the exact manner a product marketer trying to sell their merchandise would.

"Extra special care!" A tiny, squeaky voice chirped. Ginji flicked his head around a bit, looking for the source of the voice. Pikachu didn't seem fazed by it. He looked back at Kangaskhan to ask where it came from. His question was answered in the form of a tiny, purple kangaroo like Pokèmon popping out of the much taller kangaroo's pouch. "You can count on mama!"

Pikachu laughed at the baby Kangaskhan's youthful tone. "I sure can. I always have."

Kangaskhan looked at Ginji again. Her pleasant smile seemed to be vanishing this time around. She leaned her head a bit closer to Ginji until the small chick was nervously backing away.

"Something wrong, mam?" Ginji asked, using 'mam' to show respect to her, albeit only because he was slightly intimidated.

"Oh, dear. Wherever did you get that scar, youngster?" She asked him with much concern in her voice.

"Huh?" Ginji asked, confused at first. Then it hit him like a dart. Snubbull had just made a comment about it no more than a minute ago. "Oh, this scar." He signaled to his forehead with his beak. No one else in the square had even brought it up except for Kangaskhan and Snubbull. Ginji wondered why that was. Then again, no one except Snubull had brought up Pikachu's cut. Though it was a tiny cut, and wasn't noticeable in the slightest except if you looked really hard enough for some creepy reason. Or were a grouchy critic like the pink bulldog. Perhaps the Pokémon in the square were used to seeing injuries on other Pokémon, taking the rescue team work, Pokémon battles, and recent disasters into account. So maybe everyone was seeing it, but not saying anything because they just dismissed it as a normal scar. It was still odd. A giant X shaped scar isn't exactly what Ginji would call normal. Even the way Kangaskhan asked him about it indicated that it was an unusual one. It was clear that Kangaskhan was the kind who pointed these things out. Mother's intuition most likely.

"Funny, no one's really asked me about it until now. I don't actually remember." Ginji answered. "That should do it. Anyone could forget exactly how they got a scar. I just hope she doesn't ask more about it or Pikachu doesn't go more into it."

"You don't remember?"

"Well, you see Auntie Kangaskhan…" Pikachu began. "Ginji's-"

"Really forgetful, I know." Ginji clamped his foot over Pikachu's mouth. "I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on to my neck."

"Oh. Alright then." Kangaskhan said wearily. Though Ginji was sure she knew there was something else. Well, clamping his foot over Pikachu's mouth suddenly was a good start in looking suspicious.

Ginji gave Pikachu a desperate look that screamed 'don't say anything' while shaking his head. Pikachu nodded slowly, getting the message. Ginji released his foot from Pikachu's mouth.

"Ginji is quite an unusual name though. Most Pokèmon just go by the name of our species." Kangaskhan said.

"And if there's more than one of the species living in the area? Do they call one of them Pidgey or Tailow two?" Ginji smirked to himself.

He then though of a white lie. Something that wouldn't arouse anymore suspicions about him. The quick one that came to him would do.

"It's actually a human name."

"A human name?" Kangaskhan grew a mildly shocked expression on her face.

Pikachu's smiling face started turning into a slightly uneasy one. Like Ginji had just said something off putting. Which he probably had.

''That's right. My dad was actually badly injured some time before I was born.'' Ginji went on, trying to make the story as convincing as he could.

''He means hatched.'' Pikachu quickly informed Kangaskhan.

''I see.'' Kangaskhan nodded.

Ginji gave Pikachu an annoyed glance before continuing his tale.

''Anyway, he was injured and a human found him and helped him recover. I think the human's name was Ginji.'' He concluded. ''So when I was 'hatched'''-he emphasized the word to correct himself right next to a certain electric mouse in order to avoid said electric mouse doing it for him again-''my parents decided to name me Ginji. Sort of like a tribute.''

''My, that is quite the…'' Kangaskhan didn't do the best job at hiding her nervous expression if she was even trying to at all as she tried to come up with the appropriate word to describe Ginji's story. ''story.'' She finally finished with. ''It was quite interesting though.

''Thanks mam. I guess.'' Ginji replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Pikachu gritting his teeth while a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face.

''I have to ask dear, where do you and your parents live? This is the first time I've seen you around here.''

''Oh crud. This might be a tough one.''

''Um… we just moved here… so we're still looking for a place to-'' Ginji began, pausing between his words as he tried to come up with another brilliant lie.

''He doesn't know where his parents are. I found him unconscious just outside of Tiny Woods.'' Pikachu stopped Ginji to explain the cold truth.

''And lucky me, I just happen to have a guy who gives me an even tougher time with this kind of stuff right next to me.'' Ginji groaned to himself.

''He has a bit of amnesia. He can't remember much about what happened before waking up here. All he knows is that he's been separated from his parents or anyone who really knew him in general I guess.'' Ginji didn't try to stop Pikachu from telling the story. He just sighed heavily to himself as he thought how much more awkward he and Pikachu could make his situation and their conversations whenever he met more local Pokémon. To be fair, Pikachu was sort of fibbing for him. Ginji never mentioned anything to him about his parents. He only rambled on about how he used to be a human before. Not that he would ever admit this to Pikachu, but whatever respect he currently had for the mouse had risen up a bit due to him not making the used-to-be-human chick Pokémon 'the insane Torchic kid who raves on about how he's a human'.

''He doesn't remember how, but I promised I'd help him find them.'' Pikachu finished.

''Oh, dear.'' Kangaskhan fretted. ''I certainly hope you find them soon. I can't imagine what it must be like for someone your age to be separated from family and friends without any knowledge of where they are.''

The baby Kangaskhan in her pouch clutched onto its mother, shaking. Clearly out of child fear of parental abandonment or separation.

''Don't worry. I'm fine.'' Ginji told her. ''I'm sure we'll find someone who knows me soon.''

''Is there anything I can do to help?'' Kangaskhan asked.

Ginji didn't even need to open his mouth to start to say no, because Pikachu was already yakking away as usual.

''Actually, there is. Whenever anyone comes up to your warehouse, could you ask them if they know a young Torchic named Ginji and let us know if anyone does? It'll make the search a whole lot easier.''

''Of course, Pikachu dear.'' She nodded with a smile.

''We should really get going now. Thank you so much, Auntie Kangaskhan.'' Pikachu said. ''C'mon, Ginj.'' Pikachu gently grabbed Ginji's side and started to pull him away from the warehouse.

''Hey, watch it! Quit grabbing me all the time!'' Ginji protested while being pulled along.

''Anytime, dearie. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ginji. Come back anytime. You're always welcome.'' Kangaskhan waved to the duo making their way to the tree not far from the warehouse.

''Anytime at all!'' The baby Kangaskhan squeaked in its tiny voice.

''Ow! Ow! Ow!'' Ginji whined as Pikachu pulled him behind the tree. ''what's with the grabbing?''

''I didn't grab or pull you hard.'' Pikachu told him. There was something different about his tone of voice. It was kind of a mixture of annoyance and uneasiness. There was obviously a reason why Pikachu pulled him behind this tree. ''I need to talk to you about something.''

''Let me guess. It's about that story thing isn't it?''

''Yeah, it is.'' There was a stern tone in Pikachu's voice that kind of bothered Ginji. Something he wouldn't expect from Pikachu. ''What was that back there?!''

''What was what back there?''

''That thing you said!''

''Gonna have to be a bit more specific there, Pikachu. I said a lot of things back there. Frankly, I was thinking about how Kangaskhan and the baby in its pouch is considered one Pokémon.'' Ginji joked. ''Do Kangaskhan hatch from their eggs as adults with babies in their pouch? Does the baby ever get any older? Personally I think the baby should be considered a separate-''

''Ginji, this is serious!'' Pikachu snapped, clearly not in the mood for jokes. ''That story you told about your dad and how he named you after a human. What was that all about?!''

''I dunno. Needed to come up with something, didn't I?'' Ginji shrugged.

''Well, the next time you 'think of something', could you maybe lay off the mention of humans? Most Pokémon around here don't know how to react or what to think when they're brought up. Heck, a lot of us have never come face to face with, let alone seen one before. It's a…'' Pikachu paused for a moment, and rubbed his paws together behind his back. A few beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. ''Well, it's kind of a scary topic, Ginj.'' Pikachu finished his sentence with. He called Ginji by his newly given nickname. Ginji figured it was to help make his statement seem less unsettling for Ginji, though maybe it ended up doing the opposite.

''So you're saying most of you are… afraid of humans?''

Pikachu slowly nodded. ''Some of the Pokémon around here might even have a bit of a prejudice against them, based on how I've seen them react and the looks they make every so often humans are brought into a conversation.''

''Yeah, well have they ever met one?'' Ginji asked, growing slightly passive aggressive. He wasn't exactly going to take prejudice against him lightly.

''How should I know? I don't push them further by asking them that.'' Pikachu squirmed a bit a Ginji's change in tone. His nervousness shortly turned into curiosity over Ginji's question. ''Come to think of it, I never thought to.''

''You might want to sometime.'' Ginji told him. ''How can someone have a dislike for someone or something if they've never met them or saw it with their own eyes?'' Ginji proceeded to challenge.

''I think it has more to do with fear of the unknown. Pokémon are scared of things they have no knowledge of, or things that are different than them.'' Pikachu explained.

''Just like people.'' Ginji thought.

''Have you ever met one?'' Ginji pressed on. He felt a pang of regret after asking his new partner that. He pressed his teeth together, preparing for how Pikachu would react to that one.

Pikachu's ears twitched at Ginji's question. He gave Ginji a look that told the chick he was really unsure how to answer him, or even if he wanted to.

''I don't want to talk about this anymore.'' Pikachu told him. He grabbed at his stomach as if he was beginning to feel sick.

Ginji knew he should stop there. Stop and change the subject. However the guilt that he felt just a few seconds ago and was now starting to bite at him was being overshadowed by a voice in the back of his head that kept saying 'Go on. Ask him more. You're a human. You need to know his opinion on them. He is your partner, after all.'

''What are your thoughts on humans? Do they scare you too?'' Ginji asked, listening to that nagging little voice.

''Ginji, I said I don't want to talk about this anymore, can you just give it a rest?'' Pikachu was growing annoyed now. He turned his back to Ginji and sat down.

'Keep on asking. Try to get something out of him, dammit!' The voice practically screeched at him now.

''Do I scare you? Do you think I'm weird? You did say I was a little odd when you met me. In fact, you still keep saying that.''

Pikachu pulled his arms from his belly and shot his ears into the air. He quickly turned his head around to Ginji. ''What have YOU got to do with humans?!'' Pikachu demanded before stopping to think. ''Ginji, if this is about that whole 'I used to be a human' nonsense, I don't want to hear it! Now drop it!''

'He doesn't believe you! Say something else!' Ginji couldn't take it anymore. That damn voice plus the irritation caused by the electric rodent still not listening to his claim was too much for him to listen to the guilt and the other voice that was begging him to stop upsetting Pikachu.

''You really don't believe me, huh? You think I'm crazy just because of my amnesia, don't you?!''

''Ginji, Drop it! You're scaring me!''

''I'M scaring YOU?! I woke up in a place with no memory of where I came from or who I am, as a TORCHIC by the way, with a Pokémon talking to me. The first thing I had to do when I woke up was help you rescue a little kid who fell into a fissure because his mother couldn't be bothered to watch him properly, or to go back and get him, because you dragged me into that without asking me how I felt about it! On top of that, I hear about these natural disasters happening everywhere, I join a team where I have to venture into caves and forests-getting injured in the process-all to rescue complete strangers, and now here I am in a square full of talking Pokémon where I'm supposed to talk back to them and act like this is completely normal!'' Ginji vented out all his frustrations and what he had been holding in for the past three days right then and there.

''I said drop it!'' Pikachu cried out in anger and fear. He jumped off his feet and faced Ginji, directly looking at him in the eye.

Ginji backed away a few steps, slightly unnerved. He hadn't spent a long time with Pikachu, but the last thing he expected from him was the fierce look the mouse was giving him now. He had seen Pikachu upset the other day in Thunderwave Cave, and he was sure he would see him angry eventually, but he certainly didn't think it would be this soon, nor did he think that the friendly electric Pokémon could get this mad.

Pikachu must have noticed the slight fear in his chick friend's eyes because his own dotted ones returned their classic friendly and cute appearance.

''Of course it doesn't last for long.'' Ginji thought to himself. Pikachu was way too nice to let anger get the best of him.

Pikachu sighed. ''Ginji. Can we just stop talking about this, please?''

That awful voice that kept pestering him was finally gone. ''OK. Sorry.''

''Don't worry about it. I kind of overreacted there.''

''Jeez, poor guy blames himself.'' Ginji thought sadly. The guilt that was biting at him earlier was beginning to trickle back.

''Look, Ginji.'' Pikachu began. ''I really want to help you get your memory back. I know how scary this must be for you. If I lost my memory, I'd be pretty freaked out too. I don't know exactly how we'll get it back or how long it will take, but I promise you we'll get it back. I do know this though. Yelling at one another, and complaining isn't going to bring us any closer to finding out who you are. We have to keep our spirits high. Agreed?'' Pikachu turned to his friend with a smile.

It took a moment for Ginji to respond, but the determined look in Pikachu's eyes complete with his trademark smile made him realize he was glad Pikachu was back to his optimistic self that he had started to become accustomed to. ''Agreed.''

Pikachu gave Ginji a little nod to let him know he appreciated the (somewhat) shared spirit.

''What do you say we call it a day? I think you've had quite the tour this afternoon.'' Pikachu suggested.

Ginji thought for a moment. ''Usually I would say finally he gets it, but I kind of want to see how Caterpie's doing.''

Pikachu's smile grew wider. He got into another one of his 'ready to run off' stances. ''Well in that case, follow me.''

Just as Ginji predicted, Pikachu was bolting north of the square, with Ginji stumbling about trying to keep up with him. Oddly though, it didn't bother Ginji at all. This was most likely going to be their usual method of getting to and from places for a long time, so he figured now would be a perfect time to start getting used to this routine.

''If you thought Caterpie was a cute little guy, wait until you meet my little brother.'' Pikachu told Ginji from a few feet ahead of him.

''You have a little brother?''


Charmander and Chikorita watched with anticipation as the blob of blue that was their friend zipped around underneath the pond water. Squirtle had been splashing about in the water; practicing his swimming skills and water moves since they had arrived at Whiscash Pond that afternoon. On the left side of the path leading to the pond opposite to where Charmander and Chikorita were standing, an Eevee was watching the blue turtle as well, with the same anticipation the other two members of Team Go-Getters dawned. Next to her were two smaller Pokémon. One was a small yellow mouse with two big triangular ears, and the other; fuzzy, green, and caterpillar-esque. The two youngsters' eyes were filled with awe. Their heads zipped along with the turtle Pokémon's movement underwater. The five of them eagerly waited for Squirtle to pop up from underneath the pond's surface, ready for whichever side he would arise from. Whiscash had somehow dozed off during the time Squirtle was swimming in the pond, and was now floating peacefully on the surface with a relaxed smile on his face. Of course Squirtle took advantage of swimming around and underneath Wishcash's large sleeping form.

After a solid couple minutes of racing to and from one side of the pond to another, Squirtle popped up on the left side of the pond with his cheeks puffed out. He let out whatever he was holding inside his mouth, turning out to be multiple bubbles. The bubble first escaped his mouth by floating up at a rapid pace in a line, before separating once they were high enough in the air. They then gently floated above the pond, catching the sun's rays and creating a pretty effect as a result. It looked as if the bubbles were sparkling as the sun shone down on them. This continued until the bubbles popped, resulting in another neat sight. Droplets of water fell down from the former bubbles, also catching the rays of the sun, which made it look like the drops were tiny sparkles raining down back into the pond.

Eevee in particular was amazed by this. ''That was a great bubble, Squirtle. I think yours are the best.''

Pichu clapped while jumping up and down in amazement. Caterpie just stared with his usual sparkling eyes and stated; ''so coooool.'' Like most very young Pokémon, those two were entertained by many attacks and moves.

Squirtle's cheeks grew red at Eevee's compliment. He rubbed the back of his head, flattered. ''Aww, thanks.'' He removed his hand and opened his eyes just in time to look up at his remaining bubbles to get a glimpse of what they looked like in the afternoon sun. ''You're right. My bubbles sure are pretty.''

''Awesome bubble, Squirtle.'' Charmander congratulated him from across the pond. His friend gave him a small thumbs up.

''Very impressive.'' Chikorita beamed at him.

Squirtle flushed at all the praise he was getting. He wasn't necessarily used to getting it, so it was kind of a big deal for him. He suddenly thought of what move he promised himself he would learn next, and decided to make his next performance his big shot.

''This time I'm going to do water gun!'' He exclaimed to everyone.

''That's what you said the first fifteen times you tried to use it, Squirtle.'' Chikorita reminded him. ''You sure you'll be able to do it this time? Your bubble is great, but I don't know if you're quite ready to use water gun yet.''

''Those times were all before I perfected that last bubble, Chikorita. Now that it's better than it ever was before, I'm sure I can do water gun if I try it this time.'' Squirtle confided in himself.

''C'mon, Chikorita. At least give him another chance. He's not going to learn it any sooner if he doesn't keep practicing it.'' Charmander pointed out to her. ''And it would really help if you had a bit more faith in him.'' Charmander added quiet enough for only her to hear.

''You can do it, Squirtle!'' Caterpie encouraged him.

''Water gun! Water gun! Water gun! Water gun!'' Pichu chanted in enthusiasm.

Chikorita nodded upon viewing the other Pokémon's thoughts on the turtle attempting the much needed water gun. She rolled her eyes before saying; ''Good luck, Squirtle.''

''You got this.'' Eevee contributed.

''Alright. See you guys in a few.'' He called before taking in a gulp of air, and plopping back underneath the water.

''Five berries says he's gonna do it.'' Pichu bet.

Eevee started to watch her friend swim underneath the water once more, before she heard feet pattering against the ground accompanied with the sound of dirt dust being kicked up behind her. She didn't even need to turn around to see who was causing said noises. She waited for the Pokémon she knew to skid to a halt behind her.

''Hello, Pikachu.''

''Hey, Eevee.'' Pikachu greeted back.

''Pikachu's here?!'' Caterpie asked with glee. He turned around to look for his new idol.

Pichu turned excitedly to face his older brother. ''Pikachu!'' He cried out, before bolting on all fours to the older and taller mouse. Pikachu rose to his two feet just so he could be knocked onto his back by the tiny mouse with an astonishing amount of strength who had just leapt at his torso.

''Whoah!'' The older mouse yelped as he tumbled to the ground, clutching Pichu against his chest.

''Hey, little bro. I swear you're getting stronger every day.'' Pikachu laughed while ruffling the fur on the younger rodent's head.

Caterpie slithered over to them as fast as he could.

''Hi, Pikachu.'' He smiled up at the Pokémon who had saved him a couple days ago.

''Hey there, Caterpie. How you doing, little guy?'' He softly patted the young caterpillar's head.

Eevee smiled at the brotherly ordeal between the electric rodents along with Caterpie's joy over seeing Pikachu before being interrupted from watching it by an unfamiliar young voice. She turned to find the source of it. She was given the sight of a Torchic with an X shaped scar on his forehead running into the pond clearing, and crashing down on the ground on he had stopped.

''I swear Pikachu…you are gonna be… responsible for…my death one day.'' The Torchic panted.

''Um…who are you? I don't think I've seen you around here before.'' Eevee asked out of nowhere.

''Ginji.'' The chick answered in a huff before rising to his feet very slowly. ''And you must be…'' He looked at her for a few seconds, pretending he had heard of her before and was guessing who she was. ''Eevee.''

''Yep. That's what I am.'' Eevee answered, a bit thrown off by Ginji's sudden wise guy behaviour. ''Ginji?'' She pondered over the name curiously. ''That's-''

''An odd name for a Torchic, I know.'' He quickly cut her off. ''Believe me, I've heard it enough today to know you'll say it, and I'll probably keep hearing it for a long time.''

Eevee just flicked her ear out of confusion. This Torchic was weird, that was for sure.

Ginji looked down at the two laughing electric rodents. The two were rubbing their face cheeks together while Pichu was on Pikachu's chest, causing a small spark of electricity to rush out from the dots on each cheek. Ginji found it to be sort of a neat way for electric Pokémon to greet one another. Weird, but neat.

''So this is your brother?'' Ginji asked Pikachu.

''No, I just went up and rubbed cheeks with a random Pichu who tackled me-of course he's my brother.'' Pikachu joked lightly. Albeit, it was a bit of a stupid question.

''So this is why he's good with little kids. I thought it was just a coincidence. Or the fact that he's everybody's best friend. That seems like an obvious reason as well.''

''Ginji!'' Caterpie squealed. ''You're here too!

''Yep, I sure am.'' Ginji confirmed to the young Pokémon.

''This Torchic a friend of yours, Pikachu?'' Eevee asked him.

''Yeah.'' Pikachu stopped for a moment. During his pause he gently lifted Pichu off of him and set him back on the ground beside him and Caterpie. ''Well, he's a new friend. New teammate actually.''

''Teammate? You mean you've finally formed a rescue team? Nice!''

''I sure have. Ginji and I did. We're rescue team Heroes.''

''I suggested team Barbeque, but Pikachu didn't want me to let him live the fact that he fried me down.'' Ginji told her.

''Nope. Especially not in our team name.'' Pikachu jeered at him.

Eevee just nodded with a small smile, not knowing what to think of the story she had heard, or Ginji for that matter.

''You're a real rescue team now?!'' Caterpie gasped in excitement. ''So cool!''

Caterpie gained that heart melting, disgustingly adorable sparkle in his eyes again. Ginji shirked in embarrassment. Judging by Eevee's similar reaction, she must have seen quite a bit of this from Caterpie.

''These guys saved me when I fell into a big hole in Tiny Woods! They're the best!''

''That must have been so cool, Pikachu. Caterpie's told me all about it!'' Pichu told him.

''Of course he did.'' Ginji thought without saying.

''Aw, it was nothing, really. I keep saying that.'' Pikachu humbled. ''Let's talk about you guys. I see you two have become fast friends.''

''Yep. I met Pichu yesterday. When I found out that he was your little brother, I was so excited. I told him all about what you did for me in Tiny Woods and how you should be in a rescue team.'' Caterpie explained.

''I told Caterpie that you've been wanting to form one for quite a while anyway. Then we talked about how awesome it must be to be part of a rescue team. I told him about some of the best teams out there.'' Pichu informed his brother.

''Glad you two got along so well with one another. Especially over your love of rescue teams. Speaking of which, Caterpie; Ginji and I saving you was just what I needed to form ours. You sort of even inspired our team name.''

''I did?'' Caterpie's eyes sparkled once more.

''Yep. Ginji said he felt like he was being viewed as a hero in your eyes. When he told me that, I realized I felt the same way too. So we became team Heroes mostly thanks to you.''

''Wow! I inspired a team name!'' Caterpie squirmed around happily before stopping to think about something. ''What does 'inspired' mean?''

''It means you give someone ideas or help them with their own things. Whether you know it or not.'' Pikachu explained to him.

''Oh. Ok.'' Caterpie nodded. Pikachu hoped he got it enough.

''So what's new, Eves?'' Pikachu asked Eevee, addressing her by an apparent nickname.

''Squirtle's trying to learn water gun. And I'm not quite sure, but I think the others are betting on whether he'll do it or not.''

''Sure hope he can do it today. He's been trying to do it for quite a while now.'' Pikachu gave his input on the subject.

''Hope so too.'' Eevee agreed.

Just as if Squirtle had heard them from underwater, the blue form of the tiny turtle Pokémon shot up from the surface on the right side of the pond with a mouthful of water, flinging his arms in the air along with his body while pumping the water out of his mouth and into the air above him. In return, some of the pond water surrounding him was hurled in Charmander and Chikorita's direction. Charmander reacted quickly to the water heading his way. He curled himself up in a fetal position, laying front flat on the ground with his eyes squeezed shut and his face tucked into his tail-which was now curled around the side of his body. Chikorita reacted just as quickly as her friend. She whipped the leaf on her head to the side, holding it above Charmander's curled up body to prevent any of the water from getting on him. The pond water rained down on the two of them, with Chikorita's leaf catching most of it, and letting it dribble to the ground behind Charmander so the fire lizard kept dry.

Ginji noticed just how interesting the leaf on a Chikorita's head really was. It was just big enough to shield Charmander from getting poured on, though not too small either. It was surprisingly strong enough to stay held up during that big splash. It seemed to act as the perfect shelter for smaller Pokémon. There was even a bit of water that floated inside the leaf. Chikorita emptied the remaining nit of water from her leaf and let it dribble back into the pond. It wasn't just Chikorita's leaf that caught Ginji's attention though. The flame on Charmander's tail flickered rapidly while the water had come crashing down on them a few seconds before. Now that the water was no longer coming down, the flame's flickering started to calm down, before burning normally as Charmander realized it was over and opened his eyes again. The flickering of the flame was a lot like the fast beating of a heart. It was as if the flame on the lizard's tail was in sync with his heart. Ginji wondered if that was legitimately the case. He concluded that this was another upside to being a Pokémon. It seemed he would be learning new things about them each day.

''Thanks, Chikorita.'' Charmander thanked his friend, still quivering.

''Anytime.''

''Watch it, Squirtle!'' Charmander warned him sternly after he had picked himself up off the ground. ''I told you to watch where you're splashing before we came here! You do realize there's a fire type at this pond, don't ya? Whose flame can't go out!'' He pointed to his tail to emphasize his point.

''Oh, no! Sorry Charmander.'' Squirtle hung his head back into the pond guiltily. His eyes drooped and he sunk himself in the water a bit. He generally sounded sorry for what he had done.

''You need to be careful next time, Squirtle.'' Chikorita scolded. ''Keep it mind, some of that's been in your mouth too. Gross!''

''Yeah, I know.'' Squirtle said sadly. He rubbed the back of his head for a quick second before a smile started to form on his face. ''I finally used water gun, though! Did you guys see it? Pretty Impressive, Huh?'' Squirtle falsely boasted.

''Nice try, Squirtle. Any Pokémon with half a brain knows that spitting pond water out of your mouth isn't a proper water gun.'' Eevee teased him.

''Aww, c'mon Eevee. You didn't have to remind me like that. For a second I thought I could actually do it this time.'' Squirtle sighed.

''Darn it! Now I owe your team five berries.'' Pichu whined to Chikorita.

''Hey, Cheer up Squirtle. You'll learn water gun soon, I'm sure.'' Pikachu consoled him.

''Soon sometimes doesn't feel soon enough.'' Squirtle muttered.

Eevee felt sorry for her friend at this point. She looked at the faces of the other Pokémon around her. They all seemed to feel just as disappointed for Squirtle as her. Even Charmander and Chikorita who had just received a shower from him (or at least Chikorita did) looked like they wanted him to learn water gun just as much as he himself did. Eevee then thought of something that would lighten the mood.

''Hey, Squirtle. Why don't you make some more of those pretty bubbles.''

''I don't know if I'm really in the mood for bubbles, Eevee.'' He told her.

''Oh, C'mon Squirtle.'' Charmander said. ''They're cool.''

''They sure are something.'' Chikorita agreed.

''Please, Mr. Squirtle. Pretty Please.'' Caterpie begged, eyes sparkling AGAIN.

''Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!'' Pichu chanted much like he had done with 'water gun'.

Squirtle looked around at his friends who were cheering for his beloved bubble. His spirits lifted a bit. The smile he had before came back to him.

''Ok, if you insist.''

He puffed out his cheeks, and shaped his mouth into a hole. He gently blew in the same way a human child would blow at a bubble wand. The same line of bubbles from before flew out of his mouth before slowing down and drifting away from one another. The bubbles once again caught the sun's rays, and the sparkling effect from before was even more profound thanks to the now setting sun. It looked as if the bubbles were shining as well.

''Ya know, they're still pretty.'' Squirtle smiled.

''They always will be.'' Chikorita reminded him.

Pikachu watched the bubbles pop and the droplets of water akin to tiny sparkles rain down into the pond. He never grew tired of Squirtle's bubbles. Especially not during a sunset. The scene of shiny bubbles floating over Whiscash pond against a red sky would forever be one of his favorite images. He glanced over at Ginji, just to see how the Torchic was taking in this beautiful sight. He caught the sun shining in his partner's eyes, making it seem like they were twinkling. There was something about the way Ginji looked right now. This actually marked the first time Pikachu had seen him relaxed. No sarcastic, rude, or insensitive remarks, no panicking, and no worrying. He was just watching Squirtle's bubbles with the same glint in his eyes that the others had in theirs. It was then Pikachu learned about the true effect a simple Pokemon's abilities could have on others. Squirtle's pretty bubbles were even enchanting Ginji, someone who Pikachu was sure would have dismissed them as 'boring old bubbles'. Pikachu was glad his new teammate wasn't a total cynic and could actually enjoy something this world had to offer him.

''That was actually pretty awesome.'' Ginji spoke up to break the silence once the bubbles had all popped.

Squirtle looked at the chick Pokémon upon hearing his unfamiliar voice.

''Oh, you're that Torchic who was with Pikachu today in the square. Nice to meet ya.'' Squirtle greeted.

''Yep.''

It was then that Charmander and Chikorita actually acknowledged Pikachu and Ginji's presence at the pond as well.

''Oh, hi Pikachu. Sorry we didn't really notice you here before.'' Chikorita apologized. ''We were kind of busy waiting for Squirtle to resurface again.''

''It's fine.'' Pikachu let her know.

She then looked at Ginji.

''I haven't seen you around before, Torchic.''

''That's because-''

''His name's Ginji.'' Caterpie slithered over to the group. ''He's now part of team Heroes. Isn't that cool?''

''You guys have formed a rescue team? Awesome!'' Charmander congratulated him.

''Now we'll have another new team to grow stronger with.'' Squirtle said. ''Ginji, though? That's a funny name.'' Squirtle brought attention to the Torchic's 'bizarre' name.

Charmander and Chikorita couldn't help but chuckle a bit at this. Eevee and Pichu made their way over to the rest of the group after hearing said chuckling.

''It is, isn't it?'' Pichu giggled.

Ginji's eyes sunk in irritation. ''Yeah yeah, I have a 'weird' name, I get it. It gets kind of old hearing that after a while, y'know?''

''Sorry.'' Squirtle replied not sounding all to apologetic this time around.

''Anyway, those bubbles were pretty awesome.'' Ginji told Squirtle, deciding to draw attention away from his name and back to the turtle's bubbles. Sure it was nice to be the talk of the town, but not necessarily in this way.

''Yeah, but when I learn water gun that'll be even more awesome.'' Squirtle stopped to consider something. ''Well, if I learn it.''

''Squirtle, c'mon. You'll learn it, I know you will.'' Pikachu consoled him for a second time.

''I believe in you, Squirtle.'' Caterpie told him with a smile.

''Yeah, me too!'' Pichu piped in.

''Hey, at least you can use a move that matches your typing.'' Ginji decided to give Squirtle encouragement in a different way. A way that involved much hated self-depreciation, but another way none the less. The last thing Ginji wanted to hear was a cheesy speech about how Squirtle could do it if he really tried and believed in himself.

''Oh, that's a good thing to point out, Ginj.'' Pikachu teased.

''Thank you, Pikachu. Good to know you're really supportive of me.''

''You mean you don't know a fire type move yet?'' Pichu asked in shock.

''Nope. Hate to admit it, but nope.''

''Wow. I guess I'm kind of lucky then.'' Squirtle realized.

''So what moves do you know then, Ginji?'' Eevee asked out of curiosity.

''Scratch and leer. I don't even know peck yet.''

Ginji noticed a small smirk on Pikachu's face.

''Oh no. What are you thinking about Pikachu?''

''Oh, nothing much. Just a funny story about our first mission rescuing Caterpie that I'll never forget.''

''Oh, I would love to hear it, Pikachu!'' Caterpie cheered. ''It was so cool when you rescued me! I want to hear more''

''This I got to hear!'' Squirtle exclaimed swimming to the edge of the pond and hoisting himself out of the water and onto the grass.

''I want to hear it too!'' Pichu exclaimed.

''Hey, I wouldn't mind either.'' Eevee said.

''Me neither. Please do tell it, Pikachu.'' Chikorita gleamed.

''Please don't.'' Ginji begged. ''Pikachu, promise me you will not tell them about that Pidgey thing or the Sunkern thing.''

''I dunno, Ginj. Everyone else seems interested.''

''Cross your heart you won't tell?''

''Can't do that this time. That's only for promises I intend to keep.'' Pikachu told him with a mischievous glint in his eye. He turned to Pichu and Caterpie. ''What do you think, kids? Should I tell it?''

''Yes!'' They answered almost immediately together.

''Everyone else?''

''You know it!'' Charmander answered.

''Go on, tell it!'' Eevee urged him.

The looks Squirtle and Chikorita gave him told him he didn't need their answers at all. They wanted to hear this tale just as much as Pichu and Caterpie.

Pikachu turned back to his team mate. ''Sorry, pal. You're outnumbered. It's story time.''

''What did I ever do to you?'' Ginji asked him defeated.

''Nothing. It's just that, I don't think my stories would be nearly as entertaining without a few jokes at your expense.'' Pikachu snickered, after trying to say that as innocently as he could.

''Love you too, Pikachu.''

''Hey, I did just say I couldn't tell the most entertaining stories if it weren't for you. So technically I made a joke at my own expense as well.''

''Oh, thanks Pikachu. I'm so glad my humiliation gives your stories meaning.''

''Anytime, pal.'' Pikachu chuckled.

Ginji had debated over asking Pikachu why he was calling him 'pal' all of a sudden. Just as he had over asking the electric mouse what was with the nickname 'Ginj'. He decided not to in the end. He supposed it could be worse. At least he wasn't calling him something stupid like 'gingersnap' or an overly cutesy pet name like 'ginji-winj'. Now that wouldn't seem like Pikachu at all which made the mere thought of that quite disturbing.

Right now Ginji had his mind set on something else. As he watched the five Pokemon besides Pikachu gather around him to listen to the shocking tale about their Caterpie rescue while laughing at the gibes the two members of team Heroes had been throwing at each other, he knew he was helpless at this point. He would be forced to relive his embarrassment of being pecked by a Pidgey, and nearly made a fool out of in front of a group of Sunkern. All while Pikachu would be enjoying every second of it whether it being out of intention due to a hidden malicious side of the yellow mouse, or the usually well intentioned side of him just wanting to tell a fun story and have a good laugh with others.

Either way, Ginji was now wishing they were giving Squirtle a cheesy speech about believing in himself instead.


Ginji slumped down deeper into the ground as Pikachu went further into the story. By the time the other Pokémon were in complete hysterics over barbequed chicken, aggressive Sunkern, and epically failed fire attacks. They must have been laughing a bit too hard, because Ginji heard a yawn doubled with the sound of rustling water from the pond.

''Must you children be so loud?'' A deep, elderly voice yawned. ''You woke me up.''

''Sorry, Whiscash.'' Eevee apologized to the big blue Pokemon after pulling herself together. ''Pikachu was telling us a pretty interesting story.'' The way she described the story as 'pretty interesting' was a clear understatement, made clear by the innocent tone in her voice.

''Is that so?'' Whiscash turned to Pikachu. ''I hope you're aware that I'm the one who's supposed to be telling the stories around here, Pikachu. I certainly hope you're not after my job now.'' Whiscash joked, letting out a hearty chuckle.

''I don't think you have anything to worry about, Whiscash. After all, you know just about every story and legend there is. All I have are stories about Ginji. I have a really good feeling the legends are the ones Pokémon will want be coming here for.'' Pikachu joked back.

Ginji stuck his tongue out at his partner.

''Well, that's a relief.'' Whiscash smiled. He looked to the Torchic who had just showed his tongue. ''Ginji? Is that your name, young Torchic? It's quite an interesting one.''

''Thanks. I think that's the first time anyone around here has called my name interesting instead of weird.'' Ginji mused.

''Really?'' Whiscash did sound surprised there. ''It's not every day you meet a Pokémon with a name other than their species. And a human one at that.''

The last comment irked Ginji a bit. The other Pokémon had calmed down and slowly stopped laughing moments before. Eevee, Pikachu, Chikorita, and Charmander had a similar reaction. As if they didn't know what to think at the mention of humans. Caterpie, Pichu, and Squirtle on the other hand generally seemed interested at the mention of the word.

''Ginji's a human name? That's pretty neat! I just thought it was a random word your parents thought up of or something.'' Squirtle gushed.

''How'd you get it?'' Pichu eagerly asked.

''Well, I… I don't exactly remember…'' Ginji stuttered trying to think of a reasonable way to explain his name, but he had nothing. His feathers flared a bit under pressure.

''That's the problem. He doesn't know because-'' Pikachu stopped explaining to think about what he was about to say. He turned to his partner to meet his eyes. Ginji noticed a bit of realization in them. And the way he looked at the chick Pokémon told him that the mouse Pokémon needed something important from him before he could continue his sentence.

''Actually, I think it's best if I get permission from Ginji to continue this.''

Ginji's top feathers flicked in surprise. Pikachu was actually asking for his consent to tell other Pokémon about his identity crisis rather than blabbering about it wherever and whenever he wanted for once. Ginji wasn't exactly sure how Pikachu had come to the conclusion that maybe the chick turned human wasn't entirely comfortable with him telling the whole town about his condition. Perhaps it had something to do with the short outburst he had in the square earlier over the topic of humans. Either way, Ginji didn't care as long as Pikachu was beginning to take his thoughts into account. Even if the mouse Pokémon didn't necessarily mean to disregard Ginji's feelings to begin with and only told others about his partner's problem in order to help; thinking about what information he was giving others about his teammate before giving them it was a start.

Ginji didn't think there was anything especially wrong about other Pokémon knowing he had amnesia. As long as he left the 'I was once a human' part out. If Pikachu didn't believe him on that one, there was no point in telling anyone else about it. They would most likely laugh it off as a story or think he was insane and needed mental help of some sort. But surely it wouldn't hurt to fib a little about not knowing why he had a human name. Waking up in a forest with no memory of anything except your name which happens to be a human one seemed pretty plausible. Though he didn't want to let Pikachu tell this story all the time. Ginji decided it was for the best if he told others about his condition himself whenever needed. This was the first of those many times to come.

''You know what? You take a break from storytelling. I'll tell them myself.'' Ginji answered him.

Pikachu gave him a smile and nodded. ''Sure.''

Pikachu stepped aside so Ginji could take his place as 'storyteller' around the gathered young Pokémon.

''A few days ago, I woke up in Tiny Woods and met Pikachu.'' Ginji began, pointing to his companion with his foot. ''Well, more accurately, he woke me up. And you know what comes next.'' Ginji continued, thinking of Pikachu's recollections of their first battles.

''Anyway, we did eventually rescue Caterpie, and formed a rescue team because of Pikachu here.'' He gave his fellow team member a cheeky glance. ''But the real problem is; I have amnesia.''

The other Pokémon's smiles disappeared. Even Whiscash moved closer to shore and gained a worrisome expression on his face.

''Yeah. I don't know where I come from, who my family and friends were before, what happened to me before I ended up in Tiny Woods, or why I have a name like Ginji. I just do.''

''You don't know who are? That's dumb.'' Pichu puffed.

''Now Pichu…'' Whiscash began.

''It is dumb. I hate not knowing who I am or not being able to remember anyone I knew before.'' Ginji agreed with Pichu. He kicked a tiny pebble out of annoyance at his situation.

''Do you know how you got that scar?'' Squirtle asked, pointing to Ginji's forehead.

''So it's definitely noticeable. Oh, man.'' Ginji sighed. ''And no. Not a clue.''

''You don't remember anything about yourself? That's a shame. Sorry Ginji.'' Chikorita shook her head in pity.

''And you really don't know anything about your name except it's a human one? Or your friends and family, huh?'' Eevee asked.

"Nope. Nothing.''

''Wonder what they must have been like to give a Torchic a human name.'' Eevee pondered to herself.

''I didn't know Ginji had amnesia. Wow.'' Caterpie stated in amazement. ''Wait, amnesia mean you forget things, right?''

''That's right, little guy. Something like that.'' Pikachu answered with a small chuckle. ''It's a tad more complicated, but I think you'll understand better for yourself.''

''My, that's a bit much a take in in just a minute. I can say I've met a few older Pokémon with amnesia who were able to recover, but never a Pokemon your age, Ginji.'' Whiscash fretted. ''Nor have I seen amnesia quite like this. You're certain you can't remember anything at all?''

GInji thought hard for a moment. Maybe if he kept asking himself more questions about it, he would start to remember some things, and the answer as to why he became a Pokémon would come easier to him. He tried doing just that.

After a few silent moments, Pikachu finally asked; ''Anything, Ginji?''

No. In fact, it seemed the more he thought about it, the more his brain began to hurt, and the less he knew about himself.

''No. Still nothing.''

''What a pity. I'm just glad you met Pikachu when you woke up. If there's anyone around here who is willing to help others in any way they can, it's Pikachu.''

Pikachu blushed at the compliment given to him. ''Aw, Whiscash.''

''Now I certainly hope you'll take good care of this boy until he recovers his memory.'' Whiscash let Pikachu know. ''And help him out in any way you can.''

''Of course I will. You can count on me.'' Pikachu cheered, giving a thumbs up.

''Of course I can. You're one of the friendliest and most trustworthy Pokémon around here.'' Whiscash smiled.

Ginji snorted. ''Well, he's letting me crash at his place, I'll give him that. Just until I figure out who I am.''

''That's marvelous to hear.'' Whicash beamed.

''I really wish there was something we could do to help out as well.'' Charmander said with concern.

''Actually there is.'' Pikachu told him with enthusiasm.

''There is?'' Caterpie asked, eyes gleaming in the sun.

''Yep. I need you guys to ask around the square if anyone knows a Torchic by the name of Ginji whenever you have any spare time. Pokémon pass through here regularly, and there's a decent chance one of em' is bound to know Ginji.''

''Seems like a good idea to me.'' Eevee shrugged.

''I'm on it!'' Pichu squeaked.

''Me too!'' Caterpie did so as well.

''There's not a lot for me to do most days anyway.'' Pichu put in.

''Then it's settled! We'll all help Ginji get his memory back, and find out who he is.'' Charmander proclaimed.

''Heh heh. Thanks guys. I guess.''Ginji chuckled awkwardly. ''But I'm fine right now. Pikachu and I will do whatever it takes to find out who I am.''

''A little help never hurt.'' Squirtle said to him softly.

''Do you think we could change the subject now? I think Pikachu might want to finish his story.'' Ginji found it hard to believe he was now asking for the story he had begged not to be told some minutes ago to continue. But if it meant getting everyone's minds off of his amnesia then who was he to disrupt the tale? He really didn't like it when people (or in this case, Pokémon) he just met worried about him. Not out of concern for them; but because he hated being pitied or fussed over. Especially by strangers. As selfish and cold-hearted as that sounded.

''Oh, yeah! You didn't really finish it, Pikachu. Let's get back to it!'' Pichu encouraged. Well, he liked Ginji's suggestion that was for sure.

''Yes! I can't wait until he gets to the part when he rescues me!'' Caterpie squeaked in anticipation.

''Ok, Ok. I'll finish it.'' Pikachu hurriedly told them. He held his hands out as if to gesture them to settle down. ''Geez, you guys must really like my story telling skills. Either that or it's just the story.''

''I'm gonna go with the second reason.'' Ginji muttered, which the mouse must not have heard.

''Everyone else want to hear the end of it?'' Pikachu asked around.

''You bet!'' Charmander confirmed with the enthusiasm to show he meant it.

''Of course.'' Chikorita nodded.

''I sure wouldn't miss hearing the ending for the world.'' Eevee said.

''Neither would I.'' Squirtle agreed with Eevee's statement rather than having one of his own to confirm he wanted to hear it as well.

''Then it's unanimous.'' Pikachu cheered. He looked over his shoulder to where Whiscash floated in the pond. ''Unless of course, Whiscash doesn't want me fill in for him as story-teller for the time being.''

''It's alright. I don't mind.'' Whiscash let him know he understood his joke with a warm smile.

''Great. Where was I again?''

''You and Ginji had just beaten the group of Sunkern.'' Charmander reminded him.

''That's right. Thanks, Charmander. So right after we had beaten them and were messing around with one another, we heard a…''


''So in the end, it was Ginji who helped me get the right amount of motivation to finally form a rescue team. And who gave me a member to form it with.'' Pikachu concluded his story.

Ginji perked his head up a bit at Pikachu's comment. Yes, Pikachu had more or less told him that he was part of the reason he finally formed his rescue team at the base after they had rescued Caterpie, but he had said it using different words. He had said that the two of them made a good team, and that rescuing Caterpie gave him just the amount of motivation he needed to form his rescue team. Ginji had assumed he meant the little mission they had together. He didn't think that he himself was the main reason Pikachu went through with his apparent long wanted decision. Honestly, he was a tad bit… flattered. Just a little. Or at least that's what he kept telling himself. Not that he would mention it to Pikachu of course.

''Wow! That was the best story ever!'' Caterpie squealed out of pure bias of Pikachu and Ginji being his new heroes. The others (while not as overly thrilled by the story as Caterpie with the exception of Pichu) definitely seemed to think it was a hilarious and interesting one. Judging by the amazed looks on their faces. They were even casting quick glances at Ginji to show their newfound appreciation for him.

''I bet you guys are gonna be the best rescue team there ever was!'' Pichu exclaimed.

''Not better than us, though. Besides, they've still got a long way to go.'' Squirtle boasted.

''So do you guys, Squirtle.'' Pichu remarked.

''Well, both us and team Heroes are gonna have to work really hard at it if we want to be really strong. I still don't think anyone can match up to team A.C.T.'' Charmander gave his opinion.

''Oh! I guess you're right there, Charmander.'' Pichu agreed suddenly. Everyone exchanged glances with one another with wide eyes, nodding indignantly. Ginji heard a couple 'Oh, yeahs' a 'great point', and a 'Most definitely'. These Pokémon sounded like they knew a lot about this 'team A.C.T'. And the reactions told Ginji that whoever these guys were, they must be one amazing rescue team.

Eevee slipped away from the discussion to walk over to Ginji. He eyed her as she sat herself down next to him.

''Amnesia, huh?'' Eevee asked all of a sudden.

''I thought we agreed to talk about something else.'' Ginji reminded her dryly.

''Sorry. I was curious. Just trying to start a conversation with you.''

''Well, when you're trying to start a conversation with someone, maybe asking them about a personal thing they specifically asked to change the subject from before isn't the best way to get to start it. Or get to know them.''

''Thanks for the advice. Guess I'll remember that next time.'' The small mammal Pokemon curled her tail around her paws.

''I think you're really gonna like it around here.'' Eevee said helpfully, trying a different approach to get acquainted with this strange Torchic.

Pikachu and the other must have just finished their rescue team debating, because Squirtle could be heard calling out ''Hey, who wants to go for a final swim before the team and I head home?''

''I do!'' Caterpie shouted with glee.

''Wait, you know how to swim, Caterpie?'' Squirtle asked him surprised.

Caterpie got an embarrassed look on his face. He slowly lowered his head and shook it nervously.

Squirtle smiled sympathetically. ''Now worries. You can ride on my shell.''

Caterpie's smile reappeared. He then thought of something else. ''But-'' he began.

''Don't worry, I won't go underwater this time. And I'll make sure you don't slip off.''

''What if I do by accident?''

''Then I'll be right there to catch you.''

''Ok.'' Caterpie smiled, letting Squirtle know he trusted him enough to comply with that.

Squirtle gently hopped in the water as to not splash anyone for the second time. He floated on his belly next to shore so that Caterpie could climb on the back of his shell. Caterpie gingerly slivered off the grass and onto the blue turtle's shell. The stickiness of his underbelly made it easy for him to cling onto Squirtle's hard shell.

''Hold on tight.'' Squirtle told him before dashing farther into the pond.

Caterpie giggled with delight. For a little Pokémon who couldn't swim, he sure was enjoying riding on the fast turtle's while being surrounded by water that only got deeper the closer you swam to the center of the pond.

''This is fun!'' He cried out in joy as Squirtle zipped from one side of the pond to another on his front side. He managed to do a good job of keeping the back of his shell just out of the water for Catepie.

''Ha ha! You bet it is!'' Squirtle turned his attention to his two teammates on the grassy shore. ''Hey, Chikorita? You coming in too?''

''Thanks for the offer Squirtle but I think I've had enough water for today. And so has Charmander. Even more so than me. Maybe next time.'' Chikorita answered.

Squirtle laughed nervously remembering that he had given his friends their fair share of water for the day with that big splash he made. And it wasn't like Charmander would ever be able to go in the water anyway.

''Right. Fair enough.''

''Hey, Squirtle! I'll join you.'' Eevee called to him.

''Alright!'' Squirtle exclaimed.

Eevee ran over to the pond and jumped in, making a small splash as her body hit the water. She went under for a second before popping her head back out. The only one she did splash was Whiscash, who naturally didn't mind it at all, having being in water twenty-four seven. His only response was a small and friendly grunt as a small amount of water washed over the right side of his face.

Eevee turned so that she was floating on her back. She kicked at the water with her hind paws so that she was doing somewhat of a reverse doggy paddle. Rather appropriate for her canine like species of Pokémon.

''Pikachu, Pichu, Ginji? You guys coming in too? The water's gre-oh.'' Squirtle had a dumb realization after remembering something very important about the three of them. Two of whom were electric types and the other of whom was a fire type. Of course any Pokémon with a single brain cell would know that it probably wasn't the brightest idea to swim with an electric type. Especially when your typing was water. Plus, anyone who knew Pikachu well enough to be aware of his high energy when performing his attacks knew that the he in particular was the last electric type you would want to be swimming with. And judging from the rodent's story, Squirtle knew that Ginji could probably vouch for that.

Pikachu and Ginji looked at one another before slowly looking back at the pond and Squirtle. Pichu nodded sadly, seeming to understand as well.

''Yeah, we better not. Sorry Squirtle.'' Pikachu said with half a smile.

''To tell you the truth Squirtle, despite being a fire type I've had my good dose of water today as well thanks to this guy.'' Ginji gestured to Pikachu upon telling Squirtle that. Pikachu just smiled innocently.

''I've also had a good dose of electricity from this guy too, and I don't plan on combining the two to add 'barbequed and liquidized chicken' to my list of 'not so fantastic misadventures caused by Pikachu'.'' Ginji added.

Squirtle laughed as he thought of Pikachu's story of Ginji getting fried by his thundershock, leading to Ginji's suggestion of 'team Barbeque' for their name.

''It might make for another awesome story starring Ginji though.'' Pikachu pointed out cheekily.

''Oh ha ha. You're comedy gold.'' Ginji scoffed.

''Wait, You've been in water today?'' Eevee asked curiously.

''Against my will, yeah.'' Ginji answered.

''So the water shouldn't be a problem for you, Ginji.'' Squirtle said.

''Actually, I think falling into it unexpectedly made it more of a problem than it's ever been for me.''

''That's a story for another day, though.'' Pikachu quickly said.

Pikachu briefly looked up at the sky. ''It's getting dark anyway. Pichu, I think it's time you head home to Raichu.'' He told his brother, noticing the sun almost completely disappearing behind the trees.

''Aww, c'mon Pikachu. Twenty more minutes.'' Pichu whined.

''Ten.''

''Fifteen.''

''Five.''

''Twelve.''

''Deal.'' Pikachu finally agreed to. He gave his kid brother a pat on the head. ''I think that goes for you too, Caterpie.'' He called out to the small caterpillar Pokémon still having a blast riding on the back of Squirtle's shell.

''Oh, right.'' Caterpie noticed the sky beginning to darken. He sounded a bit disappointed.

''Swimming with Squirtle must be real fun.'' Ginji thought, half sarcastically.

''Squirtle, can you swim to the shore and let me off? I should probably go home soon.''

''You sure? You sounded like you were having a lot of fun.''

''I was. I just want to be home before dark. Or else mama will start to worry about me.''

''Sure thing, then.'' Squirtle shrugged his shoulders with a smile before swimming up to the grassy shore. He grabbed the edge of it, and pulled the upper part of his body up out of the water so that Caterpie could sliver up his shell and safely back onto the grass.

''Thanks Squirtle.''

''I believe it's quite time all of you young folk left the pond for the night. I need to get back to sleep. Telling stories to Pokémon every day can get to be a busy job, and I want to be well rested for tomorrow.'' Whiscash yawned.

''Right, Whiscash. Right away.'' Eevee responded. She swam to shore and pulled herself out of the water. Followed by shaking herself off. Drops of water flung off of her fur and onto Pikachu and Ginji.

''Watch it, Eevee.'' Pikachu laughed. ''I've already had Ginji do that to me today.''

''Yeah, but who's the fire type here again?'' Ginji reminded him, head feathers flicking up in surprise at the cold water droplets hitting them.

Pikachu could only continue to laugh as a response to Ginji's statement.

''Well, I think Ginji and I are gonna head back to the base. Have a good sleep and get ready for tomorrow.'' Pikachu told Eevee once he had finished laughing.

''Good idea. I can't imagine rescuing is as easy as it sounds. Wouldn't hurt to try it sometime though.'' There was a sense of curiosity in Eevee's voice. Like she was unsure of the idea of being on a rescue team, but wanted to try it for the thrill.

''It's not. Then again we've only been on two.'' Ginji explained to her.

''I guess I won't take your word for it right way, then.''

''Best if you don't. Especially coming from the mouth of this guy.'' Pikachu advised her.

Ginji just shot him a sideways glare. He was getting used to harmless gibes from Pikachu now.

''You really should try it sometime.'' Pikachu encouraged her.

''Maybe.'' She shrugged. '' We should probably let Whiscash get some peace. I'll get everyone else out of here in a couple minutes or so.'' She motioned to the three members of team Go-getters and the two very young Pokemon behind her. ''And I'll definitely make sure Caterpie and Pichu go home before dark.''

''Thanks Eevee. You're the best.''

Eevee smiled sheepishly. ''So I guess I'll see you guys around.''

''You bet!'' Pikachu confirmed.

Pikachu headed for the entrance to Whiscash pond on all fours. Ginji followed behind him, grateful he was going at an actual legit slow pace this time. Or at least what qualified as slow in Ginji's book.

''We'll see you guys around!'' Pikachu called back to everyone to get their attention. ''Thanks for the support in helping Ginji remember who he is.''

''Don't mention it, Pikachu.'' Charmander said, putting his fists on his hips.

''Thank you for the story.'' Chikorita said.

''Caterpie, Pichu. Make sure you guys are home before dark.'' Pikachu reminded them.

''Don't worry Pikachu. Caterpie and I will walk home together.'' Pichu reassured him. ''Turns out we don't live far from each other. Plus, I know my way home like the back of my paw.''

''Me too!'' Caterpie claimed.

''You say so.'' Pikachu smiled at them.

Whiscash waved at him and Ginji with his whisker. ''Please be safe out there, young Torchic. And know you're welcome back here anytime.''

''Oh. Thanks.'' Ginji stammered. He didn't bother telling Whiscash that he would be just fine out there and didn't need anyone to tell him to be safe. He was getting tired and didn't feel like starting an episode.

''Thanks for stopping by, Pikachu.'' Squirtle called to him.

''No problem. Keep working on your water gun, Squirtle. You'll get there soon, I know it.'' He gave the turtle a thumbs up before turning to leave with Ginji.

''You ready to head back to the base?'' He asked the chick Pokémon before rushing off.

''Yeah. And it's not like it's going to be abducted by UFOS or anything though that would be cool so there's no need to stampede there.''

''UFOS?''

''Never mind.''


''So Ginji? You think you'll like it here?'' Pikachu asked him as the two were walking through the square back to the bridge after Pikachu had agreed there was no rush and walking back home rather than racing would be just fine.

''Eh. So far this place has passed the 'I can live with it I guess' test. But give it a few days. If a cure for ugliness as well as killjoy disorder begins to get sold at the Kecleon shop during those few days-'' he made an eye gesture in Snubbull's direction when the two passed her, Bellsprout, and Lotad in the square. ''Then I'll consider really loving it here.''

''Ginji.'' Pikachu lightly shoved him before making sure Snubbull didn't unfortunately hear that by some unlucky chance. Thankfully it didn't look like she did.

''What?'' Ginji asked crudely.

''You know what. Have you always been this cynical about everything or did it just come naturally?'' Pikachu asked him lightly. He was smiling so Ginji got the feeling Pikachu knew he was just being himself. He was just now curious as to how he got to be himself (as close as one with amnesia would get to being themself anyway).

''Don't remember. Could be both.''

''Figured.''

The two kept walking towards the bridge when Pikachu spoke up again.

''There's another question I have for you, Ginji.''

''What?''

''That whole list you mentioned called 'not so fantastic misadventures caused by Pikachu'? Are you actually keeping a list like that?''

''I might be. Don't worry though. I don't have a piece of paper or a pencil to right it with. Unless of course I scratch it into the dirt next to my nest.''

''Yeah, but it would get ruined there.'' Pikachu explained to him. There was a teasing tone in his voice.

''You're right. Don't worry Pikachu. You won't have to worry about me harassing you over the number of times you've caused my misery after all.''

''Glad to hear that.''

''Because even if I can keep a list in my head, I would lose count anyhow.''

''That says a lot about me then.'' Pikachu chuckled. ''You know something, Ginj? You're funny. In a very weird way. You asked me if I found you weird today. I do. You are pretty weird. But I think that's what I like about you.''


Finally chapter three. After a whole year. Yeah, I really need to keep updates frequent. I've been pretty busy this past year. I had to rewrite this four times due to some glitches. It sucked. I promised myself I would post at least two chapters a month. Hopefully I'll keep that promise.

Yes, there is a Squirtle, Charmander, and Chikorita in this story and their team name is Go-getters.I really liked that special and I wanted to have a team Go-getters with those three Pokémon on it in this story.