Hey! :) I'd like to apologize for kind of rushing through this one, but some interesting chapters are coming up and I want to get to them ^^

"Ouch…" Bulbasaur winced as he tried to lift a foot to his blurred and sticky eyes. He could feel hay underneath him, and assumed he had been returned to his bed.

"Welcome back."

"What happened?" The little green lizard looked up into the blunt snout of Tyrannitar.

"Actually… I think you fainted." The large dragon-like creature scratched his scales with a clawed hand.

"Then why do I hurt so bad?"

"Probably because you fell down the stairs."

"Oh…"

They sat in a thick and awkward silence while Bulbasaur attempted to process what he had been trying to do before waking up.

"Sorry…" The grass-type pokemon began.

"For what?" Tyranitar seemed distant.

"I dunno, just for being so-so…" He groped for a word. "Helpless."

Tyranitar got up from where he had been sitting be the hay pile and gently lifted Bulbasaur so he was standing on his feet. "Don't. You're not helpless. You know it, and I know it. You're traumatized, and you'll get over it."

Glistening tears began to well up in Bulbasaur's eyes, and the huge pokemon immediately gave himself a mental smack for referencing it.

"I guess I'd better get going." Bulbasaur sighed. He took a step forward only to find himself blocked by Tyranitar.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Concern was obvious in the armor pokemon's small black eyes.

"I'm fine!"

"You need to rest, your team…"

"We are Team Thunder!" Bulbasaur snapped. "And I need to see my teammates!" Maybe they could find a way to bring Sala back… surely Xatu could find a way. It was no use staying in this isolated prison.

Tyrannitar narrowed his eyes, did a double-take, and sighed heavily. "Turn right and go up the stairs. Follow the road until you reach a fork, then take the path on the right. Pokemon Square will be a mile ahead."

Bulbasaur thanked him and waddled away, feeling slightly guilty at his sudden outburst. After all, Tyrannitar meant no harm. It pained his chest to hurt a fellow rescue-teamer.

The huge dark lizard watched Bulbasaur leave through the door with thoughtful eyes, and absently scratched the scales on his right arm. Suddenly his clawed hand glowed with blue, telekinetic light, and he found Alakazam standing next to him, looking straight ahead. The psychic Pokemon lifted his companion's hand from the green scales scratched tender by razor-sharp claws.

Bulbasaur trotted down the road, relishing the sunlight that had not warmed his skin for many weeks. Flocks of Pidgey were conversing in the great oak trees, and Metapod sat silently, content to watch the world move around them. The small green lizard stopped to examine one which looked quite strange, colored bright orange rather than the rich, well-camouflaged green that was typical of the species.

Soon enough he came to the fork described by Tyrannitar, looking furtively at the left side before heading right. Thoughts of what lay down the other path wormed into his mind as he slowly realized that nobody had ever mentioned a road in that location.

As Bulbasaur wondered, he wondered if the path led to any unmapped dungeons. Thoughts of dungeons brought him back to Mount Freeze. The sunlight seemed to draw away as memories of Mount Freeze began to pop in unbidden. The bulb on Bulbasaur's back felt heavy and cold as realization gripped him. Sala was gone. He would lead their team alone now.

He froze in the path as nausea made the ground sway. Bulbasaur shook his head vigorously and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Sala couldn't be gone. He wouldn't give up like that; maybe Zatu could help him.

Bulbasaur left the glimmering and patchy shade of the forest and stepped into the sprawling town of Pokemon Square.