Sam knew that because they were traveling through houndoom territory, it was inevitable that they would run into a lot more of them. He was just hoping that they would get through the rest of the day without meeting another one. This, unfortunately, was not the case. As Sam and the others were walking, they found another one of them. This one, however, hadn't seen them yet. It was currently distracted by something else. The four travelers hid in the brush while they spied on it from a far.

"Think we should tangle with this one?" Cassius asked.

"I think we should pass," said Sam, remembering how he was almost turned into ash by the last one. "We could just go around this one, seeing how we don't need to get into anymore battles today. Besides, this one looks even more powerful than the last."

"True," Lily commented. "I also don't want to have a meeting with anymore trees for awhile," she said in a light-hearted way. Everyone let out a small laugh.

"Hang on," Drake said once everyone had stopped. "Who's that," He pointed at a another large canine pokémon that they hadn't seen before. It was being backed onto the edge of a cliff by the houndoom. It was all black and gray with long shaggy fur.

"I don't know," Cassius said. "I've never seen that pokémon before."
"It's a mightyena." Sam said casually. Of course Sam knew what it was. He himself had taken the time to memorise what all the pokémon looked like and if you gave him a picture of anyone of them, he could tell you what it was without fail. Everyone started to look at him with a quizzical face.

"How did you know that?" Drake asked.

"What?" Sam questioned him.

"I thought you said that you just lived in a house and don't get out often." Drake rebutled. "If that's true then how do you know what mightyena are?"

"Oh uh…" Sam stumbled over his words. He forgot that he was just supposed to be a house pet. He had never been very good keeping his intelligence to himself. "I read a book about them back at the house I live in," Sam said, making up a quick excuse. However, just after he said this, he knew that he had made another mistake. He mentally hit himself for saying that.

"I didn't know you were literate," Lily said with a surprised look.

"Oh…yeah... I am." Sam replied back nervously. He forgot that most pokémon couldn't read. Cassius stayed silent this whole time just watching the confrontation between the two dark types.

"That mightyena looks like she's in trouble." Cassius noted as the bite pokémon was edging ever closer to the cliff that would mark her doom. "I don't know if she can beat him."

"Well in that case," Drake said, while slinging the bag of berries of his back,"why don't we help her? That houndoom does look tough, but I think we can beat it, especially if that mightyena is on our side."

"You sure?" Lily asked nervously.

"Mightyena are vicious predators," Sam pointed out. "They aren't any better than the houndoom in that aspect. We could just end up helping the mightyena and then have her turn on us.

"Do you just want to leave that mightyena there for dead?" Drake asked. Sam couldn't help but notice that the people who wanted to fight were the ones who didn't get hurt the last time.

"I guess that you have a point there," Lily stated, defeated. She knew that her brother was right. If that mightyena was her, she'd want someone to come and help.

"But we need to get more ground before nightfall," Sam whimpered. They had actually covered enough ground for that day, but the truth was that that Sam just didn't want to be in another fight. Even if it meant saving a pokémon.

"Just come on!" Drake yelled. This sudden outburst took Sam by surprise. "Are you just that heartless! Come guys." He motioned to the others. "I'm at least going to help her." Drake jumped out of the bushes where they were hiding. Cassius followed suit.

"Are you going to come?" Lily asked.

"I really don't want to." Sam replied. He didn't want to sound like he was complaining, but he didn't want to get burned more.

"It will be fine." Lily reassured him.

"You sure?"

"I promise."

Sam looked into Lily's eyes and saw her determination. "I guess." Sam said, knowing that he had to do this. Both him and Lily ran out of the cover they were in and went to catch up to the other two. Sam just hoped that Lily was right.

When Sam and Lily had caught up to the other two, they were staring each other down.

"I could take down all of you." The houndoom boasted. "Let me show you," he said and shot an ember at Cassius. The espeon put up a light screen and the ember just bounced harmlessly off. The houndoom shot a flamethrower at Drake, but to no avail as the light screen just deflected it. Lily jumped into the fray and fired some icicle spears at the dark pokémon. Each one of them hit their mark, but the houndoom just shrugged them off like they were nothing, which, to a fire type, they probably were. After this, the houndoom countered by blowing a flamethrower in Lily's direction. It hit the light screen as normal, but then it broke through and almost hit Lily as she just narrowly dodged to the side. Even Sam had to step to the side to avoid being roasted. They houndoom took this time to run and head-butt Drake. Right before he hit him, the houndoom smacked into another wall right in front of the flareon.

I think that was Reflect Sam thought. Nice move. The houndoom had a different opinion of the situation.

"Oh you think you're so smart, don't you." He said as he turned towards Cassius. "Well then, block this!" he shouted. The houndoom then started sprinting at speeds that were very hard to see. To any outside viewer, which was everyone except the houndoom, it looked like a white sheet was covering him. That was, of course, if you could even have seen him in the first place. The houndoom rammed into the reflect and tore right through it. He then proceeded to smash into Cassius, throwing him across the field.

Wow that attack's powerful. Sam thought, hoping that Cassius was alright. He looked back at the houndoom and saw that the attack had clearly taken some energy out of the houndoom and maybe have even hurt it a bit. Guess the attack's a bit of a double-edge sword. Sam thought. Actually, I think that's what the move is called. After this, the houndoom opened his mouth in order to shoot a flamethrower at Cassius. Right before he was able to, the mightyena tackled him and sent them both sprawling on the ground. Sam took this time when he was distracted to go over and check on Cassius.

Once he got there, he could tell immediately that he was out cold. He could, however, still see him breathing, so that was a good sign. Sam's attention snapped back to the battle once he heard a howl. Sam looked back and saw that the houndoom had gotten on top of the mightyena and had bit down hard on her neck. The mightyena was able to push off the houndoom before he got very deep, but Sam shuddered to think what would have happened if she hadn't. Once the houndoom recovered, he shot a string of embers at the other dark type. Without a light screen in place, all the embers hit the mightyena and she fell down as she gave another howl of pain. Drake shot a flamethrower at the houndoom. He tried to dodge but was unsuccessful and was engulfed by a wall of flame. For a bit, no-one could see anything because of the smoke. Suddenly, a barrage of embers came out of the smoke and hit Drake. The houndoom then jumped out of the smoke and charged at the flareon. He was just able to dodge out of the way. However, since Lily was just behind Drake at the time, she took the full force of the hit. She too was tossed across the battlefield.

"Lily!" Drake yelled and ran over to her side where she lay on the ground. "You alright?" He asked. Sam guessed that he felt partly to blame for the head-butt hitting her.

"She won't be for long." The houndoom said with a grin. He then went to end it with one last flamethrower. Sam knew that Lily was about to be engulfed by flames, but could do nothing to stop it. There was no way he could charge up an attack in time to stop the houndoom from incinerating her.

"NO YOU DON'T" Drake yelled and ran in front of Lily. The flamethrower made contact and the flareon was hit by a river of fire. Drake screamed out in agony from the shear heat. Sam knew that fire attacks on fire pokémon didn't do a lot of damage, but they still hurt, especially a flamethrower this strong. Drake hit the ground once the flamethrower was done. After this, thinking that the glaceon wouldn't be a problem, the houndoom turned on Sam.

"One more," he said, clearly exhausted from all the attacks he had endured. Sam thought of what to do next. He could just run, but he quickly scrapped that plan. He wouldn't know how to get home as well as not able to fight anymore houndooms that he found. No, he would have to stay and fight. Sam didn't like the idea of battling, especially with a fire type, but he had no other choice. Sam saw the cliff, and it gave him an idea.

The houndoom shot out some embers in Sam's direction. He tried the best he could, but a few of them still hit him. Sam tried to ignore the burning he felt in his side and launched a swift attack. The stars moved in the houndoom's direction. He tried to dodge, but they just homed in and hit him in the side. While the houndoom was recovering, Sam ran in and rammed him with as much strength as he could. The houndoom howled in pain as he was hit with the force of the attack. Sam had herded the houndoom near the cliff. He put all of his energy into one more tackle and hit the houndoom as hard as he could. The houndoom was pushed to the edge of the cliff by the force of the tackle. The houndoom lost his balance and fell off the cliff. Sam went over to the cliff and saw as the houndoom fell into a river down below.

"See you next fa-!" Sam started to say, but decided it was too cliché and went to check on the others.

Lily was the first to get up. She ran over to Drake to see how bad the damage was.

"Dray?" She prodded him. "Dray? Are you okay?" Drake didn't answer. Sam decided that he would go and see if Cassius was still unconscious. He was. Sam wondered if he should try to wake him or just let him sleep. Once he decided the latter, Sam went over to where Lily was.

"Is he going to be alright?" Sam asked

"I don't know," Lily responded with obvious concern in her voice, the optimism and happiness that she usually had, gone. "That flamethrower was strong. Usually my brother can withstand fire attacks like that, but this one just knocked him out cold. Could you go and get our bag? There should be some rawest berries that should help with the burns."

"Sure." Sam replied and then went back to where they left the bag before the fighting.

Once Sam had returned, he noticed that everyone was up except for Drake. They were all round the flareon when Sam approached them, even the mightyena.

"Is he alright?" Sam asked again.

"I don't know." The same answer came, this time from Cassius. "He was hit pretty hard. Those berries will help though."

"Right," Sam said as he slung the bag off his back and started to look through the bag. "What do rawest berries look like again?"
"I don't entirely remember." Cassius said. "There are a lot of them I think-"

"They're blue with green leaves," the mightyena said in a monotone voice. This caught Sam off guard and caused him to stop. That was the first thing that she had said all the time that she was here. Everyone looked at her, but she didn't say anything more.

"Right..."Sam replied and continued looking.

"I was only able to find these two." Sam mumbled through his mouth as he brought the berries to the others.

"That will be enough for now." Lily said. "but that won't be enough for the entire journey. I just hope we will be able to find some more." Cassius took the berries from Sam with his mind and gave one of them to the mightyena.

"Here, you need one." He said to the mightyena. She looked at it hesitantly, and then took it and ate it. "We'll give Drake his once he wakes up." Cassius said and gave it to Lily. He then looked up at the sky. It was the late afternoon, approaching on evening. "We should set up camp here," he said. "I don't think we will be able to travel much more in this condition anyway." Cassius then turned to the mightyena and said "You're welcome to stay here too if you need to." She just nodded, went over by a tree and laid down.

"Is it a good idea to stay here?" Sam asked Cassius. "I mean, there is one houndoom that knows that we are in this exact spot."

"True," Cassius responded, "but let's just say the houndoom probably won't be able to tell his kind for a while," he said with a grin. "Lily told me how you knocked the houndoom off the cliff." He said once he saw that Sam was about to ask how he knew that.

"Oh...yeah…" Sam said a bit shyly. Everyone thought that he took out that houndoom to save everyone, when in reality, he did it to save himself.

"Come on," Cassius said, "come help me set up."

Apparently, since they didn't have any tents or beds to use, 'setting up' was as simple as finding things like leafs and bundles of grass that were comfy to sleep on. After all that was over, Sam decided what to do next. He didn't want to go to sleep yet, so he decided that he would go and talk to someone. Since the mightyena clearly did not want to talk and Cassius was doing his weird meditation thing, he decided to go and talk to Lily.

"Is he going to be alright?" Sam asked for the third time that day as he approached Lily. She hadn't left her brother's side since he had been hit with that flamethrower.

"I think so," she replied, with a little bit more confidence than last time. "He woke up while you guys were out gathering the bedding. I gave him his berry and he just fell right back asleep."

"I hope he'll be good in the morning. Otherwise we'd have to wait longer until he's recovered." Sam said as he sat down beside Lily.

"Even if he's not good he'll still want to go." She said with a smile. "He hates being a burden so I don't think he'll want to slow us down." There was silence for a bit while Sam wondered what to talk about. He eventually spoke up.

"I can tell he really loves you, taking a flamethrower like that."

"He does. Sometimes I feel that he loves me too much. We're the only family that both of us have left, because…" Lily trailed off, trying to avoid the topic.

"I know," Sam responded. "Drake already told me."

"Well… that's why he hates humans so much," Lily said. "He thinks that all humans are bad because of that one."

"Hm…" Sam replied with a grunt.

"I don't believe him though."

"Why so?"

"I know there are good humans out there, that's why."

"You think so?"

"I know so." Lily reiterated.

"What makes you so sure?" Of course, at this point, Sam was just seeing what Lily would say. He knew that there were good humans. Dallas had always been a good friend to him. He thought that both Jason and Steven were good people. Even though he didn't see his parents much because they were always on business trips, he thought that they were good people as well. He wanted to hear what Lily, a pokémon, would say about it, though.

"Even though a human killed my mother," Lily said with hesitance, "or that some trainers don't treat pokémon with any respect, doesn't mean all of them are bad. Like your owners. You think they are good right?" Sam thought it strange to think Jason and Steven were his owners, but he had to keep everyone thinking that he was a pokémon.

"Yeah," He replied "I think that they are."

"Drake believes that people just lie to pokémon and say that they are friends when they aren't. Do you think that's true?"

This time, Sam could not give an honest answer. He knew that Jason and Steven cared about him, being his guardians, but he did not know what they felt about pokémon. Then, he thought about Dallas. He was a pokémon trainer, so he felt of pokémon as friends. Then, Sam remembered when he met him earlier that day, when he was training his golem. Drake had said that Dallas didn't care about it. Was he right? He would need to ask him once he was human again. But for now, he gave Lily his true answer.

"I don't know."

Lily replied with a thoughtful "Hm…"

"Were you hurt from where that houndoom hit you?" Sam asked to change the subject.

"A little," She replied. "But now it's mostly just sore now. It was pretty great what you did back there."

"What?" Sam asked, and then realized she was talking about the houndoom fight. "I guess."

"You really did save us. If you weren't there, I don't want to think about what would have happened."

"Yeah…" Sam wasn't going to bring up the fact that it was because of him that they were here in the first place.

"Then again," Lily continued, "I guess that's what friends are for," she looked at him "right?"

Sam was taken aback by this comment. Friends? Them? But they had only know each other for one day. Plus, he was a human and Lily was a pokémon.

"Sure." Sam just said without even processing. After this, Lily gave out a huge yawn. "I'll let you get some sleep." He said, more of an excuse to get away than to let her sleep. Sam walked towards where he had set up his own little bed. Sam hadn't realised that he was tired, probably because of all things that had happened today. He couldn't get what Lily had said out of his mind. "What friends are for…" he repeated to himself quietly.

"Hey Sam?" He heard a voice behind him. He turned around and saw Cassius standing behind him. He hadn't realised that he had awoken from his 'meditating'.

"Yeah? What's up?

"I wanted to ask you a question. Follow me," Cassius said and then led Sam a little bit aways from camp.

"What is it?" Sam said once they got there.

"Why didn't you want to help save the houndoom earlier?" Cassius asked.

Sam cringed at this question. He couldn't tell him the real reason, that he just didn't think saving a pokémon was worth his time. He had to come up with something else.

"Well, it's just that-"

"It's because you're human, isn't it?"

Sam was visibly shaken when he heard this.

"How… did you-"

"Being a master of the pokédex, I would've assumed that you knew how."

Sam had never caught a espeon, so he didn't know a lot about them, since he hadn't gotten the full data. He tried to remember a time when he heard something about espeons.

"Hey Sam?" Dallas asked as he and Sam were walking home from school.

"Yeah?" Sam answered.

"If you were an eeveelution, which one would you be?" Dallas asked. Sam thought this was an odd question.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well I was just thinking about it since we just learned about them." Dallas said. Sam remembered when he first learned about the eeveelutions. Sam was 3 grades higher than Dallas; he was in the fourth grade while Dallas was in the first. However, since Sam was about to go on a journey to catch all the known pokémon, he was soon going to be taught at home. Sam thought it was weird that when he was Dallas's age, that he never thought about the kind of things that he thought of.

"Well," Sam thought "I think it would have to be a vaporeon."

"Really? Why that one?"

"Well I always thought that it looked the coolest. Also, the ability to turn into water at anytime would also be pretty awesome."

"You want to know what I would want to be?" Dallas said with anxiety.

"What?"

"An espeon."

"Because it's a psychic type?"

"Kinda. But the biggest part of why is their fur."

"Fur?"

"Yeah. See, today we learned that espeon's fur is very sensi...sensi…" Dallas stumbled as he tried to say the word.

"Sensitive?" Sam guessed.

"Yeah that's the word. Their fur is so sen-sit-ive," Dallas said, pronouncing each syllable slow, "that they can pick up things like air currents. So they can predict the weather and stuff like that."

"Well that is kinda cool." Sam said genuinely.

"But the coolest part," Dallas continued "is that their skin can pick up mindwaves.

"Mindwaves?"

"Yeah, like what you think. I don't really know how it all works, but I do know that if espeons concentrate a lot, they can read people's minds."

"Huh… interesting." Sam replied as they continued on their way home.

Sam snapped back to reality as he came to a realization.

"That's what you've been doing! You haven't been meditating at all. You've been reading peoples minds!"

"Indeed, that is true." Cassius responded very casually. Sam was really mad at him for not telling him this sooner, and for reading is mind. But anger was not the chief emotion he felt right now. It was actually more of sadness.

"I guess this means you won't be coming with me anymore since you know I'm human." He said with sadness in his voice.

"I never said that." Cassius responded back.

"But you know that once we reach my house I can just capture you, right?" Sam questioned. Cassius looked Sam in the eyes. He then said something in the most serious voice that Sam had heard him talk in before.

"I told you I would help you get home, right?" He asked.

"Uh… I guess you did, yeah."

"Then that is what I will do, no matter what the cost."

Sam was surprised by this answer. Here was a pokémon who wanted to help get someone home that was going to capture them when he got there. Sam could not wrap his head around this.

"You won't…" Sam said hesitantly.

"No I won't tell anyone, seeing how the other two have a reason to hate humans." Cassius finished.

"Alright," Sam said. "Well, good night I guess."

"Good night."

After this Sam went back to where his bed was set up and layed down. Everyone else was asleep except for him and Cassius, even the mightyena. The mightyena! Sam thought. Only now had it dawned on him that the last pokémon that he need to catch was just a few yards away from him. That meant that all the pokémon he need to catch were right here, in this clearing. I'll think about that later. Sam thought and then proceeded to fall into a deep sleep.