Wow, just last chapter I said I would try to update once a week, yet this chapter is here two weeks later. To explain, my grandparents came up the week before for Thanksgiving. Since I only see them a few times every year, I want to spend as much time with them as I can. Plus, I could barely even use the computer anyway while they were there, since they constantly use it.

But nevertheless, Chapter 4 is here! So stop reading about my life and start reading what you actually came here to read!

Chapter 4: The Ropes of a New Life

"Be quiet! We have to do this quick." said a man, standing over the body of a sleeping Larvitar.

"Maybe we should wait for him to wake up, first," replied another man, seeming unsure of what even to do.

"He's not gonna let us stick the needle in him if he's awake. We have to do it now."

"But he's squirming around a lot… I really think we should wait."

"We've already been here for about ten minutes," the man quietly shouted, gesturing to the lock hanging on the wall, "we can't any longer! Let's just take a blood sample from him and get out of here. We don't wanna wake up the mother or father, do we?"

"… I guess not. Fine, just get it over with."

"Good. Now, let's hope it doesn't hurt him." The man positioned a syringe above the tiny pokemon's arm…

The beaches on Six Island have always been revered as one of the most famous ones on the planet. Especially the one near Outcast Island, the small sparse of land to the north of the main island. There, there are no bothers, only the sea around you and whoever you decide to bring with you.

Here, a small family went frequently, twice a week, at least. The solitude of the place seemed to melt away all stress and worries of the family who came. Each time they bonded ever closer, tightening the knot that would keep the family together forever.

"Come on, Reese, come play in the water! It's fun!" a little girl called out to the beach.

"Nah, I think I'd rather stay here." was the boy's reply. "I don't feel like getting wet today."

"Aw, really? It's boring without you."

Although she was older than him, the girl always felt like she needed her brother's company to have a good time. "No, and that's my final answer." All of a sudden the girl started chuckling. "What's so funny?"

Trying to conceal her laughter, and failing miserably, she said, "Turn around."

As per request, Reese turned around, and gasped in shock as the sand castle bucket they had been using earlier floated above his head, a pink aura surrounding it. Before he could move any further, the bucket flipped over, pouring water all over his head and thoroughly soaking him.

"Hey, what gives!" shouted an angered Reese. He heard another insane laughter, this time that of a pokemon. A Chingling, to be specific. "Oh, was that you, Chime?" The small Psychic type grinned and rolled over laughing.

And then the Chingling was shot into the water near the girl as a jet of more water slammed into its side. A triumphant Totodile walked up into its place, smiling at its trainer.

"What was… oh, it was you, Totodile," said Reese, thankfully. "Thanks for lookin' out for me." He pet the small pokemon's muzzle, which caused a happy "Dile!" to escape from it.

"How are you teaching Totodile to behave?" yelled the girl. "He needs to learn some manners."

"Isn't Chime the one who just poured a bucket of water all over me?" replied Reese, pointing his finger toward the pokemon in question.

"Well, Chime… uh… well…" she stammered. "…Shut up, Reese!"

"Oh, great comeback, Alicia." He clapped his hands in mock applause.

"Well, you've never come up with anything better than that!"

"Have to!"

"Have not!"

"Have-"

"Would you two calm down," said another voice, stern, yet calm. "Or do I have to lecture you again?"

A tall, muscular, blurry figure stood from the water, the source of the voice.

"No, dad…" responded the children.

"Good. Now, I have something for both of you."

"Really?" they asked, practically at the same time. "What is it?

The man unballed his fists, palms facing upward, to reveal a small, triangular object in each hand…

"Yaaaaah!" I cried, startled awake by a painful stinging in my arm. I flailed around and quickly looked up to see more giant people, two of them, this time sticking a syringe into my tiny arm and watched as it filled up with a small amount of my blood.

"You see! I told you that you would wake him up," said one of the pair.

"It doesn't matter," replied the other. "We have his blood, so let's just get out of here. I don't like being in the enclosures at night, especially after what happened earlier today."

"Why do you need my blood?" I wondered. I still heard the same "Larv" sound. I almost jumped, but remembered the previous events.

"All right, fine. See ya, little guy."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Before I got an answer, they walked away.

I rubbed my arm, which was strangely numb, and took a look around me. I realized it was night, and that I was in a small cave, with stone walls in all directions except the way the people had left before, the exit.

"So, this is reality," I said to myself. "Not some dream. Ugh, what a mess."

I heard some groaning to my side as I saw another figure stand up. "Oh, you're awake now!" said a voice, which I recognized as the Tyranitar from before. She took a few steps before lying down again beside me. Without a chance to struggle back, she pulled me to her chest, in what I assumed was a hug.

"You gave your father and I quite a scare earlier today, you know." And she hugged me tighter.

I was still in a daze from everything that had occurred recently, so I didn't realize right away what she was talking about. Ignoring the fact that I could understand what she said, I asked, "Wait, so let me straighten things out. I now have a Tyranitar as a mother?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Right… and an Aggron is my father."

"Correct. He's the one who saved you, ya know."

"What do you mean?"

"You jumped into the water earlier, and your father jumped in after to get you. You were unconscious, and have been that way since now."

"Oh," I sighed. "I guess I should thank him for that. God, this is too much to handle right now. I need a break."

"What, you mean eight hours of rest wasn't enough?"

"Eight hours!" I exclaimed. "Was I out for that long?"

"Well, I'm sure a Rock and Ground type jumping into water and being knocked unconscious would make someone exhausted." She laughed slightly.

"Oh, right… well, I need to figure out how to get out of this mess."

"What are you talking about, child?" She sat there, thoughtful, and then exclaimed, "Wait, let me guess… you were human once, and you somehow died and were reborn as the Larvitar you are now?"

I was frozen stiff by her accurate prediction. "Uh… how… how did you guess that?"

She hugged me even tighter to her chest. "Well, you certainly didn't do a good job of trying to hide it. Plus, you were able to talk right away after you hatched, which is something most pokemon should never be able to do.

Somehow, I had a feeling this would become a story.

"I haven't been stuck in this place my entire life, you know. In the wild, I've met others like you. As in, other humans who were reborn as pokemon. They usually were reborn because they had some kind of 'unfinished business' or they did something to deserve it. So I know what qualities reborns like you should have."

With that heard, I remembered my reason for coming back: supposedly so I could learn a lesson, not for either of those reasons.

"Besides," she continued, "The emergency alarm had gone off earlier, and everyone was instructed to leave. I heard them talking about someone jumping off of the cliff this place is built on."

"I did not jump off! I fell!" I blurted out. My hands instinctively covered my tiny mouth.

"So I was right, it was you," she said, smirking.

I grunted. "Well, I guess I can't deny it anymore. But because of that, I'm now trapped in the body of a weak little Rock-monster… thing.

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. Think on the bright side-"

"Pfft, bright side? What 'bright side' could there be to this situation?"

"Maybe, if you let someone finish talking," she said, putting emphasis on her last words, "you would've heard me say that at least you'll evolve into a very strong pokemon." She flexed her muscles to show off, though her rocky arms didn't move much.

"Eh, I guess so. Tyranitar has always been my favorite pokemon."

"Really? Then I guess you have something to look forward to after all."

We were both silent for a few moments, just listening to the silent sounds of the night. She continued soon after with another question.

"Now, what were you dreaming about earlier? You were shaking and squirming a lot, so I can assume it was a nightmare?"

"N-not exactly," I said, "It was something about my old family." I immediately felt myself become depressed. "It wasn't really a dream, more like a memory. Of the beginning of something… bad.

"Oh? What would have happened?"

"I-I don't want to discuss it."

She sighed. "Well, don't worry, I won't make you talk if you don't want to. I'm sure they miss you, but trust me, I'll take care of you." She kissed me again on the forehead and curled up behind me to rest. "Now, as another issue: what should we name you?"

"Name me?" I wondered. "Why can't I just stick with the name I already had?"

"What was it?"

"Reese."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, that wouldn't be a good name for you. That sounds too much like a human name,"

"Gee, I wonder why," I said with exaggerated sarcasm. "If I'm going to be forced to have a new name, could you at least come up with something that isn't extremely generic?"

"What, like 'Rocky?' No, I wouldn't use something like that. Lemme think for a minute."

So I sat there and waited, but quickly she came up with a suggestion. "How about Grant?"

"Grant? How'd you come up with that?"

"Well, I thought of the word 'granite' when I was thinking about types of rocks. If you play around with the word, Grant kind of sounds like granite. That, and it's a lesser-used name for humans too, I believe, so I thought it would make you make you happy, too."

I considered it for a moment, but found no good reasons to dispute it. "Eh, I guess it's okay."

"Grant it is, then," she said. "Now, you should probably get some more sleep. You're going to need it."

"Thanks," I leaned my head back to rest, but hit it on her hard body. "Uh, could you please move out of the way?"

"Not after what happened earlier. I need to make sure you don't go running off anywhere."

"What, you don't trust me?

"No, dear."

"Awesome," I said flatly, and closed my eyes to drift off into peaceful sleep.

"No, y-you cannot be serious. I just saw-"

"I'm sorry, misses," Tobias began, sniffling slightly as he did so, "but Reese really is dead."

"But didn't he go on a field trip just today?" asked the grandfather, still struck by the information. "Did it happen there? God, do they not even bother to give the children chaperones? Do they even care about them?"

"Please, don't talk like that! It was an accident."

"I don't care! Was anybody with him?"

"No, but I had talked with him before the… incident. We got into an argument, and he stormed off after that." He stopped, and took a deep breath.

"What was the matter?" Reese's grandmother managed to say, her voice cracking from the built-up emotion.

"We had a friendly pokemon battle, and he was mistreating his Totodile. He started yelling at both me and Totodile, and I said something about that beach accident-"

Both the grandparents gasped. "Why would you bring that up? You know that he doesn't like to talk about it."

"I barely said anything. I virtually got out the word 'beach' and he flipped on me and ran away."

The grandmother sighed, with even her breaths coming out in quick puffs. "I-I just need some time to think about this." She stood up, and walked solemnly down the short hallway to her bedroom, the grandfather trailing closely behind her.

Tobias heard the door open and shut quickly, and heard more muffled crying from the room. He sighed, then said, "Well, looks like we're alone now, Sam."

Sam had been sitting on the couch next to Tobias the entire time, more silent than she had ever been in her life. She remained so when he talked.

"Come on, say something. I know it's sad, but you can't just sit there all day." She just sat there. "All right, here's an idea. Why don't you just let the pokemon out? That might make you feel better.

Samantha drew in a deep, labored breath, and pointed towards her backpack, which was on the floor to the left of the couch.

"They're in there?" Tobias asked. She nodded slowly in affirmation, and he stood up and walked over to the bag. He opened the front pocket and shuffled through the items within, coming across a small, colorful ticket stub. Curious, he took it out and observed it. It read "Pokemon Exhibition Park; Summer Season Ticket."

Dismissing it as nothing important, he placed it back in the bag and dug deeper until he hit two spherical objects, pokeballs. He picked them up and pressed the center button on each, releasing them, simultaneously pressing the button on the pokeball at his waist. In three flashes, a Chimchar, Turtwig, and Totodile appeared.

The Chimchar looked around for a moment, observing his new environment, but quickly noticed Samantha, who was still near tears. He jumped onto her lap, being careful to avoid burning anything with the flame on his tail, and nuzzled his head against her chin, causing her to smile slightly and pet his head.

Tobias himself sat down beside Samantha and her pokemon. He pat his lap in a gesture to instruct Synth to come up, to which the Turtwig complied. He pet Synth's head as well.

The moment would have been complete if Totodile had anybody to sit with as well. But, with no trainer or person to care for him, he visibly became depressed and began to walk away.

"Wait, Totodile," to Tobias's surprise, Sam said. The Big Jaw pokemon turned around to see her. "Come here, boy." She patted her hand on an open spot between her and Tobias.

Reluctantly, Totodile walked over to the couch and, with some difficulty, climbed up to the specified place for him. Sam began to pet his head as well as her Chimchar's. He smiled, but was probably as reluctant to as Samantha was to talk.

"So how did you get his Totodile?" Tobias asked.

Without turning her attention away from the pokemon, she said, "I found him with his pokeball and the necklace. He was scratched up pretty bad, though."

"Must've been from the battle earlier. Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Totodile said, though of course they didn't understand him.

"I have to say, Tobias," Sam began, "you seem to be dealing with the death of your best friend pretty well." She said this in a somewhat accusative tone, while raising an eyebrow.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"What it sounds like. It doesn't seem like you've been at all upset about all of this. Why so?"

"Maybe I just don't feel like spending all of my time moping around."

"That may be true. But I'd still expect some sort of emotion from you." Tobias mumbled something under his breath. "What did you say?"

"You haven't seen him recently, Sam," Tobias began. "He's changed into something, but whatever it was, it wasn't the Reese I knew.

"What are you talking about?"

Tobias pointed his finger towards Totodile. "Haven't you noticed how upset Totodile's been lately? It's because Reese has only seen him as a tool, not a friend. He used to care, but for some reason he just doesn't anymore."

"Really?" Samantha looked Totodile in the eyes. "Is this true?"

As the saying goes, eyes cannot lie. At the mention of Reese's name, Samantha could see the fear in Totodile's eyes, the fear and loneliness that would stem from years of neglectful "companionship" with his trainer. Somehow, she was able to recognize this.

"Oh… Totodile looks sad. Maybe you're right."

"Here's an idea; why don't you take Totodile with you? He seems to have warmed up to you a little. It might help him feel better, too."

Both Totodile and Samantha were taken aback by the spontaneous suggestion. "What made you think of that?"

"I dunno. I just seems like you both could make each other feel better after… all of this. Besides, he got you talk, didn't he?"

Just then Samantha realized how much she had been saying since she set the pokemon next to her. She chuckled a little. "I guess you may be right… again."

"What does that make, the fifth time tonight?"

"Oh, shut up!" she said, laughter causing her voice to crack.

"There's the emotion I've been waiting to see!"

"…You certainly have a way to do anything, don't you?"

Ignoring the statement, Tobias continued. "Don't worry about taking Totodile, I'll get it straightened out with Reese's grandparents. I'm sure they won't mind having him gone for a few days."

"You do that, I should probably leave." She stood up. "My parents are probably starting to get worried. Can I have their pokeballs back?"

"Sure," he said tossing both to her at the same time. She managed to catch them both and tucked them into the front pocket of her backpack. "You're not going to put them back in their balls?"

"Nah, I think Lea and Totodile would rather walk than be cooped up in there the whole time."

"Lea?"

"Chimchar. You can't even remember the name I gave him?"

"Sorry, must have slipped my mind." She opened the door. "See ya, Sam."

"Bye, Tobias." She walked out, holding Lea in her arms and Totodile trailing close behind, and closed the door softly behind her.

Tobias let out a big sigh.

"Make sure he's happy, Sam."

It was morning when I woke up again. I didn't have any dreams or nightmares this time around, just peaceful sleep that, as always, ended far too quickly.

"Good morning," said the Tyranitar, already awake before me, "did you have nice rest?"

"I guess so," I said. I felt my stomach grumble loudly, and asked "so is there anything to eat around here?"

"Not yet. We have to wait for the workers to get here to feed all the pokemon here."

"Great, so now I can't even eat on my own. When will they get here?"

"Well, according to that," she pointed to a very out-out-place clock hanging up on the wall of the cave, "it's seven o'clock now. They usually get here at eight."

"Why is there a clock in here, anyway?"

"The workers usually use it when they're in this cave for a while."

"Oh. So I have to wait an entire hour to eat anything?"

"Not exactly. As a Larvitar, you can generally eat soil and dirt for nourishment. You can have some of that if you want."

I remembered the taste of it from before, how it somehow tasted good. "Finally, one perk to all of this." I reached down to scoop some up, but I quickly realized the floor was made of stone, which I couldn't dig through. "Do I have to go outside?"

"Seeing as there's nothing else you can really do, that would be a yes."

I groggily stood up from where I was sitting. But I took one step, and my legs buckled, causing me to collapse onto the ground.

"Gah! My leg!" I cried.

"Are you okay?" asked the Tyranitar.

"I just took one step and I felt like my leg muscles exploded or something."

"Hmm, oh, I know. Since you were just born, your muscles are going to too weak to let you do more than crawl a few feet. It'll probably last two or three days."

"What? Now I can't even move on my own?"

"Oh don't fret. I'll just carry you." She bent down to scoop me off the ground, but I waved an arm in front of my face.

"No, that's too embarrassing. I'd rather just do it on my own."

"If that's what you want." She stretched out her arms and began to walk outside of the cave.

I tried to stand up again, but it hurt too much and I fell back down. With no other choice, I dragged myself across the stony ground towards the exit. That hurt my arms too, though, and in a matter of seconds they were throbbing in pain.

I had probably only moved about five inches.

"Wait, Tyranitar!" I shouted. She turned around and glanced at me. "Could you, uh… help?"

"Already? I thought you said you could do it on your own."

"Well, apparently I can't. So can you help?"

"I don't know… maybe if you were a little more polite…" her voice trailed off.

"Fine, please help me out," I sneered.

"That sounds better," she said. She walked back into the cave and lifted me from the ground, cradling me in her arms, and turned around yet again to go out of the dark cave.

"God, this is embarrassing," I said.

"But it doesn't seem like you have much of a choice, do you?"

"Oh, shut up, Tyranitar."

"You know, it's also impolite to call me by my species name. Couldn't you call me 'mother' or 'mama' like you're supposed to?"

"Seeing as you're not my real mother, I don't think I'd like to call you that."

She seemed thoughtful for moment, then said, "Well, then, aren't you an arrogant little Larvitar."

"Hey, that's my name either!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't care."

She dropped me from her arms (which was a painful five-foot drop) and continued with, "Here, you can eat the soil from here." She began to walk away.

"Wait, Tyranitar, come back! What if I need to go somewhere?"

"I'm sorry, who again?" she responded with a chuckle, and continued away, leaving me alone.

"Fine, be that way." I scooped up some dirt and flung it behind me. The dirt wasn't good, I had to get to the earth beneath. After digging enough and making a small pile of dirt behind me, I felt the slightly damp soil that I had had before.

"Finally, some food… sort of." I scooped some of the soil and popped it into my mouth. It tasted the same as before, but I was just glad I had something to eat. I kept eating, unaware of the passing time, but I think I was probably there for about half an hour, filling myself until I couldn't eat anymore.

"All right, now I have to get back," I told myself. I stood up and took a step, remembering too late that I couldn't. Essentially stuck there, I shouted "Can anyone help me?"

No response.

"Please? Isn't anybody here?"

"I am!" I whirled around to see a small Diglett popping its head out of the ground. I jumped from surprise, though it hurt to do so.

"Damn, you scared me," I said. "What do you want?"

"What did you need help with? I can help!"

"Uh, thanks," I said, feeling slightly awkward, "but I need to get back over there." I pointed to the cave, which, I just realized, was under the small cliff of the enclosure.

"But you have legs. Why don't you use them?"

I growled at him. "Because I was just born and someone seems to think its funny that my legs hurt too much to use them."

"Oh, I get it! But wait, if you were just born, how can you talk?"

"Would you quit asking questions and just help already?"

"Okay, how can I help?"

I smacked myself in the forehead. "Listen carefully. I need you," I pointed at the Diglett, "to get me," I pointed to myself, "over there," I pointed to the cave. "But, you don't have any hands or anything to carry me, so I guess it's a no-go."

"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "Hang on one moment!" His head disappeared under the ground.

I wondered where he had gone, but I felt a small tremor beneath me and was lifted off the ground.

"Gyah!" I screamed in surprise, and fell back down. Looking up, I realized the Diglett had tried to balance me on his head.

"Well you can't get all scared at me when I try to help you!" he said.

I rubbed my temples, and started to realize my arms were hurting again as well as my legs. "Okay, I know you're trying to help, but seriously, that was one the stupidest ideas I've ever seen attempted in my life."

"Isn't it the only idea you've ever seen attempted in your life?" I growled at him again. "Oh, wait, I have another idea!" With that, he popped his head back underground.

"Great, what now?" I wondered aloud. Soon enough, I got my answer.

I heard the Diglett emerge from the ground, but what I wasn't prepared for was his head to ram into my side, launching me a few feet forward.

I eventually rolled to a stop, and dizzily sat up. He popped his head up again.

"What the hell kind of idea was that!?" I yelled at him.

"I'm getting you to the cave, obviously!" Well, there was no arguing with that logic (sarcasm). Before I could repeat my thoughts to him, he slammed into me again, making me go another few feet.

"What is wrong with you? I'm not freakin' pinball!"

"Of course you're not, silly! If you were a pinball, I think there would be something seriously wrong with you." He hit me again.

"I just met you about five minutes ago and I'm already starting to hate you."

"What is hate?" he asked, again attacking me.

So, through a long series of bitching and what I wished could be classified as felony assault so the police could send that little mole away from me, we made it back to the cave, where the Tyranitar and the Aggron, who I hadn't seen since yesterday, were waiting for me. I flopped onto the ground on my stomach.

"Oh, hello there, Grant!" She took notice of the Diglett, and continued with "And hello to you, Clyde. Did you help him get back here?"

"I sure did, Miss Bella!" was his cheerful reply. "He seemed to have fun with it, too!" I grumbled something inappropriate under my breath.

"Well thank you for helping him out," said Aggron, whom I hadn't heard speak in nearly twenty-four hours, "we don't know how long he could've been stuck there if you didn't come." He looked down to me. "Say 'thank you,' son."

"Th-th-thank y-you…" I spat out, spite etched into my voice.

The Diglett, apparently named Clyde, didn't catch on. "No problem, mister and misses! I'm just glad I have a new friend!" I growled at him again, though he didn't hear it.

"All right then, get out of here. I don't think your parents even know where you are."

"Okay, bye then!" Clyde disappeared into his hole in the ground.

Aggron stretched his limbs. "Well, I'm going to go outside. The workers should be getting here soon, so I'll call you when they do." With that, he left me and my new mother alone.

"So, you have a new friend?" she asked.

"Keep that little turdball away from me!" I replied.

"Oh, come on, he isn't that annoying." I gave her a piercing glare. "Okay, maybe he is. But still, now will that get you to call me mother?"

"That's what this was about? Can't I just call you Bella? I'm assuming that's your real name."

She sighed. "Fine, if you must. At least it's a step up from Tyranitar."

"Hey guys!" shouted the now-familiar voice of Aggron, the workers are here! It's time for breakfast!"

I sat up from the ground. "So what I'm now being told is that after all I just went through, were getting food now?"

"Yep. But you've had enough to eat I think, so you can just wait here." Bella walked out of the cave, but before she left, she said, "Hey, nobody said this was going to be easy for you, Grant." And she left.

"I never said I wanted to be a pokemon," I said to myself.

With nobody around and nowhere to go, all I could do was sit there and think. But the only words were I thought of were those of Giratina's:

You need to learn a lesson.

Well, there you have it. Please review, if you have the time. And review even if you don't.

Just a quick little fun fact. Digletts have always sort of reminded me of the little ghosts from Pac-Man for some reason. So, I based the Diglett's name here off of one of them, Clyde. I think that's the red one.

Lea the Chimchar's name is pronounced as Lee. If you can get the reason why I named him Lea, then you have probably played Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. (Hint: it has to do with the fact that he is a Fire type.)

Just to clear any possible suspitions, I do not intend to stop writing this out of nowhere, like some other people may do. I may have trouble updating frequently enough at times, but I want to actually make this a story that won't die out immediately.

So... that's it. As mentioned earlier, please review!

-Finalsmasher13