Part 1: The Pokémon

THE BLUE MIRACLE

Note: Insert reason why I've been neglecting Epidemic here! Hiatus or something? I'unno. Hey, this chapter's kind of a brace for the big mess that might be about to happen, gee I don't know... Uh. Right. Hey, appreciate the reviews and such! Really good, especially considering I've decided to make creative writing my thing. Like, profession. So more schooling is needed! Lots of dialogue and all. This is probably one of the last chapters before a perspective switch, which means inevitable TF! Enjoy the madness!

The legion of Pokemon has defeated me. As such, I do not own them! They are in full control here. Friggin' hell, these disclaimers are getting obscure.

Max.

That's your name, right? Topher told me a lot about you. My name's Edge. I'm here to help you wake up.

Your mind's been locked away by powers from beyond this world. As a result, it's locked you into an endless sleep. I was the same way, but then a girl named Celebi came and set me free.

She's not here anymore. The evil that trapped me forced me to do away with her. That evil is Lazareon.

Lazareon can't reach you, Max. He's using that cosmic power to change this world, but you're someone he can't change. I think that, with you, we can stop him. But first, you need to wake up.

I so wonder how I will help you do that.

…

"Buizel!" The little mouse girl exclaimed, hopping around me in such a fashion where I quickly became reluctant to keep up with. She paused to examine my behind, which I found a little uncomfortable. I felt my back being tugged down as she pulled on my dual tails. "Yup, definitely a buizel."

I was left with that word, as the small yellow mouse bounced away from me like a child hyped up on sugar. She was analyzing my brother now, but things weren't going as smoothly over there as they had been for me. Atti managed to get her completely still and silent, as if all of her enthusiasm took off like a flock of seagulls over open water. She stood there, trying to make sense of something she just couldn't reach out to. I sympathized with her feelings. My brother was a basket case. I couldn't figure him out even if he didn't look like a magical squirrel.

We were standing at the base of the great tree, positioned on the side of the sunlight. The day was still young, as far as I could tell. In truth, I knew as little as I could about the world around me. The evidence was in the freshness: the greener grass, the lively sky, and the clear brooks winding through this vivid grove. The sky-piercing tree we stood by was as much of a mystery as the dream I felt I was living. What should've been seen beyond Autumnridge's forest for miles was only now visible. I had stepped into a child's imagination; a statement I could give to more structure by looking into a mirror. And I would shatter, leaving only my reflection; an outcome I could be sure of when I was held in the stasis of denying my own appearance.

"I've never seen you!" The girl finally admitted to her ignorance of the Pokémon. The outburst seemed to intrigue the pikachu and the older raichu, both of whom had been leaning lazily against the tree before the matter.

"You don't say?" The oldest brother remarked.

"No, I don't. He's gotta be like Edge! Oh, maybe he even knows Edge! Do you know Edge?"

"Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

"Speaking of Edge, where is that kid?" Asked the raichu, peering into the hollow base of the tree.

"Didn't he need Topher for something?" Answered Al with a question of his own. I'd nearly forgotten Al was here. Since the small trek through the forest, he had seemed much quieter, likely due in part to the eccentricity of the young girl who was trying to figure us out.

"All done!" Came another new voice. With that voice came two small figures, one of which I've seen prior. The tiny, grassy hedgehog was accompanied by a blue, bipedal cat. The two approached us from around the tree, walking side by side. The cat was carrying a round bell around his neck. It gave weak chimes with each step. The bell was as golden as his big eyes. His tail was incredibly fluffy, large enough to bury himself into.

"Edge!" Cried the little mouse. "Can you tell us what he is?" Without facing Atti, she threw a stubby arm back, pointing at my brother.

"Oh, certainly! He's an uncommon grass-type called chespin."

"Chespin?" Atti mused, a paw against his chest, the other held out in front of him as he gave himself another quick examination.

"That's right. Are you two newcomers?" Edge stood in front of us now, both paws on his hips.

"My brother and I followed Al here. I was a human before I came here, and was hoping I could keep it that way for a little longer." I replied, failing to keep disappointment to myself.

"I understand. Transformations like yours have been happening all over the town and beyond. Surely you know how it spreads?"

"It spreads through touch, doesn't it? That's what everyone's assuming."

"They're right to assume that. It does spread that way, but there are a few other ways. It'll spread to humans who've been hit with any Pokémon's power. It also spreads to you if you're anywhere in this area."

"Bryan tried pretty hard not to come close to Atti or me when I was leading the two of them here. I thought he would be fine the whole way, but the first thing that happened when we went through the pathway was... well, he was already transforming." Al recollected. He remembered events that I couldn't.

"He's the third person to transform this way. I know you're upset about it now Bryan, but this is the best way for the change to happen. You're so much safer here. You too, Atti. Welcome to the Grove."

"So, you're welcome, I guess." Al scoffed.

"I appreciate it, but I don't think I can stay here for very long." The decision wasn't popular with everyone here.

"What? How come?" Al inquired, standing on all fours as if prompted to stop me from going. I paused, failing to act.

"Hey. Bryan?" The white hedgehog in spoke with the inflection of silk. I gave her my attention as she came to beseech me, lifting her head and showing shiftless eyes. "Do you want to help us complete the Circle?"

It was a proper plead. The girl I was looking at could have been Emelina or Pat. She missed our friends as much as I had, and even though her apparent dedication brightened my outlook on this lush new land, it was only indicative of absence—of those friends nowhere closer to here than they were to Metedia. They were still gone, and I only realized how lonely I was the first day I spent my lunch without anyone to call me a dipshit or dumbass.

Meeting new faces was harder when you knew a lot of old ones you liked seeing. Society was intimidating, no doubt about that. Granted, I befriended Travis. He wasn't human when I found him. His face looked different, and I assumed it safe to make a friend in the water that washed away the others. And here I was in that current, having caught the branch in time, spared from the horrors downstream. That's where the Circle was, and Travis was stuck in the rapids. I wanted to see their faces again, even if the faces looked different than the ones I always knew.

But I didn't recognize the face before me. Answering with a shameful "Yes" came before a greeting. It was a context where conversation superseded introduction. But, like a script written too well, Al stepped in to shove the confusion away.

"In case you were wondering, that's Topher."

"Ashley." I rang, leaving the name to hang in shallow space. Ashley was a name we never called Topher by, though it belonged to him. It was his middle, but his first had stuck. It was an appropriate name for someone as feminine as he. Even in that form, he seemed as much a chick as he looked while human. My favorite tranny.

"It's awesome to have you back." Topher began. "Everyone here wants to save their friends and family from the authorities, but they're too scared to leave the Grove. I can't blame them. I'm that way too."

"We're all scared." Al interjected. "Including the authorities. I'm sure they know by now what Pokémon can do."

"But a lot of us don't know how to use our 'powers' yet." The pikachu shrugged, facing his little sister as if she had the answers.

"And the few of us that do know just isn't enough." Topher continued, his attention returning to me. "Bryan, we're getting the Circle back. We need you for that. You're one of us."

I was still a member of that silly, cheesy group we made when we were kids. I was important. Shape changed nothing.

I abandoned my friends when I thought shape mattered, and here I was, ailed with that infection, about to walk away again, so that the walls could spite me more and milk the dignity out of my lonesome self. Making the same mistake twice, I would have deserved anything the authorities had for me out in the hot zone.

"So? Have you changed your mind, or...?" Topher left me with that. With all that sweet talk given away, he already knew my answer. I saw it in his smile.

"When you put it that way," I glanced at the hospitable Pokémon around me. "I kind of have to. What do you say, Atti? You in?"

"Nah. I have better things to be doing." Atti stated, turning away and lifting an arm as to dismiss us. He was playing the game of sarcasm like the spunky little twerp he had always been. That was a good sign. He faced me after deadpanning for a couple seconds.

"Alright, well say hey to Dad for me." I joked.

"Screw off, I was kidding." He came to stand beside me. It was a gesture. He would stay and play his part wherever and whenever he could.

The lot of us had our plans to come together as Pokémon and sort out a good deal of things around the "Grove" and beyond. It felt a lot like we were the ones in charge of this wonderful new place. I had no problems with it, but I needed to catch up with everyone here. I could barely walk without wobbling, let alone use any kind of powers lurking around inside of me. I couldn't imagine how Travis must have felt. If we were going to organize a rescue mission, he was the best candidate to begin with. This was assuming he was still in the forest. If he wasn't, it would have crushed me, but I would still be stronger than I was as a human. With fresh unity came a brighter spirit. I had to share that with Travis. He wouldn't need to hide. He would burst with joy knowing there was a home for him—for all of us.

And then we would venture into the heart of the madness to reclaim the ones we love. The humans didn't see it this way, at least until they got close enough to catch the germ.

It was strange thinking so detached from humans. I was human moments ago, and I wanted to endure the infection like any semi-sane person would. But seeing the sun shine brighter on this side of a sci-fi wonderland changed that. The Pokémon were a resistance, too. That made both sides of this battle effectively the same. We resisted one another, because we assumed terrible things we didn't know. It was all fear of the unknown. No human knew what it was like to be a Pokémon until he or she changed. No Pokémon knew what it was like to be caught by humans until he or she was. It was a stalemate, and unless the home team found a way to avoid getting infected, the Pokémon were slowly winning this thing. I hated the idea of any side "winning". It wasn't war, but there was bound to be escalation if the authorities kept up their actions.

The epidemic was still relatively young, and I was too uninformed to jump to any conclusions. I saw those conclusions in the faces of every other person here. Fear of the unknown. With what little there was in the Grove, that fear was to last indefinitely. Someone had to act.

It would be the Circle. The Circle was Al, who became lost in the woodland as a shinx, hiding in the thickets until the dust settled. He went without food for a few days, but finally managed to scavenge some nasty stuff from places around the outskirts of the forest. Around the end of October, he came within inches of being caught. Luckily, he got the hang of his new body while surviving on his own. He put up a fight, invoking the ability to emit voltage from his body and strike. He got away, and because of his brave effort, the officers he slipped away from were captured as Pokémon. Sinking back into the cover of the forest, he accidentally came across the Grove. By then, other victims of the transformation had already claimed the land, but they were more than happy to welcome him. Those victims were Topher, Edge, and the Hummings DJs.

The Circle was Topher, who lost his cousin Max to the "supercharged" meteorite fragment that plummeted into their backyard. He became a shaymin. He was a special Pokémon who puzzled both Lazareon and Edge. He was with Zack, Zatch, and Zelda when the Circle tried to save Max and Drew in the hospital. That was when the rest of the Circle was caught, but Topher and the three Z's got away. They found Max, who was trapped in a coma. The four locked themselves in the room until the excitement exhausted itself. In the time they spent with Max, they woefully realized there was just nothing they could do to awaken him. Then, like an angel sent from a strange cosmos, Edge appeared.

The Circle was happy to accept Edge, who was found wandering the halls of the hospital. He was allured by Topher's situation with Max, and claimed he could use that to stop Lazareon. Edge knew that there was a special way to wake Max up, but he just couldn't figure it out. He needed time, and the authorities were becoming more and more aggressive. Lazareon was like the authorities. He fended Edge off, because he wanted to keep Max asleep. That was enough to prove Edge right. Max was a threat to Lazareon. He, Topher, and the Z's couldn't face up to Laza. They were taken to a blighted wilderness within Autumnridge's woodland. That was the Grove; a section of earth that Laza had infected. That infection was spreading across the terrain itself. They were forced to call it home. Soon, they met more Pokémon looking for sanctuary. That included Al.

Edge was the blue mystery of the Grove. When asked about himself, he shied away from an answer, looking the other direction and wrapping his tail around his chest. Those who knew about Laza called Edge the "good half". He was undeniably powerful, and incredibly intelligent. Even still, he was no match for Laza on his own. With that, he favored the idea of rescuing the Circle. Like all of us, he knew that it was easy enough to just infect human beings and use that to strengthen the numbers of the Pokémon. That, however, made us no better than Laza. We would be doing his work for him. It was what he wanted. Why he wanted it, I didn't know. It confused even Edge, who we assumed knew Laza the best. We knew that he was a sick, twisted thing from outer space. He was the enemy. That was enough for now.

Even if we were to rescue our friends, there were going to be times where fighting was the only option. That would've given mankind a reason to retaliate. That was war: vengeance.

Where did I stand in all of this? I was the guy—the buizel—who wouldn't rest until Travis and my father were safe. And for the Circle? They were the assets to an unbeatable team. Things looked poor for us now, but with the full Circle behind Edge, there was some small percentage of a chance that Laza's work could be undone.

…

The remainder of the morning was spent learning about the newly relocated townsfolk of the Autmnridge "Grove". Al, having returned his clothing items to his residence within the great tree, walked Atti and I around the vivid landscape, reintroducing us to mutual friends. The activity was as awkward as it was generous with sensations of deja vu. Old neighborhood friends and elementary school teachers, the fathers, the mothers, the sisters and the brothers of our broken clique; a wide selection of old people with new faces filled old spaces with new places that were part of the Grove. But the Grove itself was still a tightly packed piece of land in a vast forest. It appeared crowded, while fewer than forty locals actually settled here. Our electric friend Al told us that the number of Pokémon present in the area fluctuated violently. People were homesick in ways I'd probably understand soon enough. They were hopeless and desperate, sometimes leaving the Grove in a flurry of fickle anger to rescue their friends and family. I was no one to call them weak or stupid. Irrational, maybe, but that was natural enough.

Zatch was engaged in a gut-wrenching conversation with a female along the ridge of the Grove, adjacent to a wide portion of the creek. Al noticed it before Atti or I had, and made a silent approach. We followed. I don't know why we did.

"It was Vincent. That was my baby." The small Pokémon sobbed. She was a petite doe-shaped creature with a smooth, sunset orange back, a yellow flower between her pointy ears. "And I turned my back on him."

"You couldn't have known." The Pikachu reassured her. "Please don't beat yourself up. We're going to get him back. He's too fast for the authorities."

"His father would've said the same thing." She recalled, the tears stifled behind fresh eyes. "He's just too fast for those meddlers." She attempted to comfort herself by speaking in a manner that otherwise resembled her husband.

"Vince is on our list." Al broke in, only a second passing after the doe speaks. "Look, Mrs. Maire, even if loved ones got caught, there's a pretty good chance they escaped afterward. The authorities underestimate the power of the infection, and get changed themselves. I've seen it. I've been a part of it."

I was taken aback. Al was a leader. I knew this from the very beginning, but to see it blossom in this setting was revitalizing. It was like inhaling a scent that brought you back to a time years prior, that same scent present in the environment. Al's attitude was that. If you walk alongside a clique of companions long enough, you'll inevitably forget what it is that draws you to them. Instead, you just accept that they're friends and be on your merry way. Laying flat on the bedlam of disease with eyes wide, gazing into an atmosphere really silenced the rest of the noise that took me from personhood. I saw the qualities of my own neighbors at their fullest now, in the blight. I was not a human being, but I felt more human than ever before.

Now, as for Vince, I knew next to nothing about the cross-country runner, other than that fact alone. He had a little brother, and a conservative father or whatever. So, alright, maybe I did know a couple things about him. As for the more contemporary facts about the guy, well, for starters, he transformed into a Pokémon. I think I'd heard rumors that he was the very first one to change, which fit like a glove around the idea that his brother was messed up by the meteorite. That was concluding that the rocks had anything to do with turning people into Pokémon, which, let's be honest, was absurd enough to make God squint. It was a farfetched statement to lay on the table, because what, then, did that mean for Max? Max was half-lifeless because of the same meteor fragment, right? He was still human, so did it work differently for him? Did the coma patients not suffer from the transformation? Edge and Laza were two unknowns in this setting, so it was easy to fall back on the fluffy assumption that they knew it all. But Edge straight up told us he didn't know it all, and with him being our greatest lead, that was hard to accept.

Vince and his brother were missing, and so was their father, which meant their mother was on her own. Poor lady. All I could've said then was ear candy compared to Al's more nutritional claim.

…

I was with Atti. It was noon. There were one unaccomplished objective I had for this time. It required me to leave the security of the Grove, and the longer I stayed put, the more ridiculous that idea seemed to become. All I had wanted from this place was to be with my friends, take a dip in the stream, and feel like a human should have felt. It was looking like I'd need to work for that; one actually needed to bring their friends here.

The treeline was like a row of teeth barring the maw of an indiscernible beast. The woodland was a gentle giant that never did anything wrong to anyone. But, of course, it wasn't the beast itself. It was the threat that roamed within it. And, sure, one could've argued that it was safe, as Al had pointed out, but this wasn't the time to give advice. That time would come with a well established group of friends sitting around a large rock on small black stones hidden somewhere in an alcove that was special to them.

"Are you going on your own?" Atti queried, his focus on the treeline unchanging.

"If I do, I'll only have myself to worry about." I replied, not intending to attack my brother in any way in that he'd be dead weight.

"And I I'm with you?" He seemed to take it that way anyway.

"You might get caught." I answered simply, arms crossed.

"And what about you, Buizel?"

I looked at him, orange arms dropping to my sides. Irritating as it was to be reminded of the matter at hand, Atti was irrefutably correct that I was now as vulnerable as any victim. I still had that pride of being who I was, which I feared would go away with the change. It was as present as ever. It was deceptive.

"Maybe I'll get caught." I told him, gaze returning to the eerie woodland; that thing that separated utopia from dystopia. "I'm not really in control of that."

"Just let me come with you." He insisted, now facing me.

"I keep forgetting you're stubborn. Alright. You know not to make noise, right?"

"Yeah. I'll be quiet. Do you want me to stick close?"

"What do you think?"

"I think yeah? I don't know, I thought I might have more cooties or something."

"Atti, I'm already a Pokémon. I give the cooties now." I made a beeline for the ominous, western columns, the crawlspace which leads back to the real world visible.

"...Really?" Atti remained stationary, grimacing in my direction. Well, to be frank, I didn't see the grimace, but I could feel the expression weighing me down as I moved on. "That's your departing line?" Gentle, rapid footsteps told me he was promptly catching up.

"Better than famous last words, right?" I inquired, lowering myself to all fours. I had experimented with these new appendages earlier, and I had an easier time crawling than I did walking in the bipedal nature I was brought up with. I preferred to stay upright for now. It didn't feel within the norm to crawl around just yet, even though seeing Al walk around on two legs might have been abnormal. That was different because he was forced to be quadrupedal. I had a choice, a lot like Zatch and his siblings. I guess now wasn't the time to be self-conscious in regards to one's appearance.

The passage of sharp twigs and tangled roots opened up promptly, giving Atti and I some space to walk around freely. Granted, I felt blind once more, as the tunnel of overgrowth was shielded with an omnipresent layer of darkness. It was cold and muddy, and the world appeared devoid of color. Obviously, as I noticed, it was dark. But this was a different color. It wasn't something you saw, but something you heard and felt on your skin, or even your fur; a schema of monochrome sensations.

The claustrophobic entanglement gave way to a few rays of sunlight. The afternoon evoked a brighter environment within the gothic mess; such a staggering change in scenery from both this morning and the bright Grove. I was walking on two feet again, the act of placing one foot in front of the other increasingly rigorous as I attempted to perform the action based on my lost human body. Atti's body structure—something called a chespin—was built in a more upright manner. Walking was as effortless for him as it was in his human form. He and I, albeit distracted with the new sensations natural to our Pokémon bodies, such as enhanced hearing or nimbleness, could feel the world reshaping around us in some magical way as we crossed the bend of the narrow path. It felt so much larger now that I had become a buizel, and, in my opinion, didn't have enough water. Twisted branches became less saturated in color, and the mud felt drier beneath my paws. Darkness swallowed the passage once again, and the trail seemed to end, the foliage coalescing into one point at the far end of the muddy chute. Of course, exempt from the darkness was a second crawlspace, a ray of light spilling partially into the shady zone. I crawled once again, fitting through the space, or lack thereof, without much difficulty. I stood on the other side, arms stretched high above my head with eyes squinting, perusing the old, tattered pages of the Autumnridge woodland. Daylight was apparent, but the air was cold and dirty, and the world seemed quiet as quietus.

"Dude, it's... dead here." I told both myself and my brother, exhibiting a frown as my eyes caught glimpse of crooked branches and pale dirty on the bike trail we had found ourselves upon.

"It wasn't like this before, yeah?" Atti queried, leaping back to his feet with a push of of his arms off the ground. He rubbed behind one of the quills on his head.

"It really wasn't; what the actual..." I stopped myself from finishing the curse, believing it would sound out of place coming from this newly acquired voice. Instead, I swallowed spit, focusing my thoughts elsewhere. "It doesn't look so good, but we're after Travis, so yeah."

Luckily for us, the entrance to the Grove was only a few hundred feet from the river, with the Obsidian Circle resting between the two points. The woodland was convenient when it wanted to be. We had our brief walk to the bridge, facing no issue along the way. That was a boon, but I hadn't expected the authorities to wander into the most complicated maze northern California had to offer just to look for us. It still felt outlandish categorizing myself with them.

I suppose the only problem I had with the bridge at this time was a human peer of mine standing on it, looking out at the vegetation lining the river. She was Katalyn. Katalyn was an older girl—a Senior—who had some sort of martial arts deal with Max. She was an enigmatic girl, with hazy tan skin, short, sharp black hair that seemed to bite around her neck. Her hair was tucked underneath a long, gray and blue striped scarf that hid a fair bit of her chin away. A fuzzy, navy blue sweater concealed her brawny, yet feminine, body, tight blue cut-offs doing the opposite favor for her legs, which were probably beefier than mine. Well, that much was obvious now. With naught but our instincts to go by, Atti and I stood by and awaited the first movement from her.

We were met with amber eyes. She was still as stone, cold as ice. She was not alarmed. Katalyn was undaunted.

"Katalyn." I cooed, stepping forward twice. She lifted an arm in response, palm up. That got me to freeze solid.

"Not another step," she warned. "You're Pokémon. I'm looking for my dad. He ran into the woodland after being turned."

"Your dad escaped?" I questioned her, staying put. I wasn't aware of any defense she might have kept secret from Atti and I, but I'd no intention of finding out while I was still weak.

"Yeah," she gave a curt affirmation. "Long time ago. The Stand had something to do with it. Who are you? Do I know you?

"Wha—the Stand? Er, well, I'm Bryan. This is Atti. We got pulled under this morning, too." I figured she knew what I meant by "pulled under."

"I didn't recognize you. Sorry. Still, don't get close."

"I'm staying right here," I reassured her. "I know how you feel. I wanted to hold on to my humanity for as long as I could. When you're helping the Pokémon try to be safe, that doesn't really last."

"I'll take your word for it. Have you seen my dad? He's been turned into some Anubis thing with yellow rings."

"Sorry, I don't really know Pokémon too well. But we might run into him. I'm looking for a friend of my own."

"Who?"

"You won't give him away to the authorities, will you?"

"Hell no. They can piss off." Katalyn grimaced, looking as the authorities are mentioned. I only wonder what she felt about the walls. "Tell me who you're looking for."

"A dude named Travis. He's infected; a Pokémon at this point. He's very round—kind of like some sort of blue ball mouse thing. White belly? Thin tail with a ball on the end?"

"Hm. I know that Travis. Haven't seen him in a while. Can't tell you much."

"Oh. Okay." I concluded, knowing I wasn't bound to get much out of her. Her knowing Travis was something, but it didn't seem like she knew where he was. Regardless of subject matter, she didn't need to be talking to us. That was a big stigma in our newly mutated culture.

"You're cute," she quipped, scarf conforming to a smirk at her lips. That elicited a pink blush from yours truly. "Too damn bad we can't all just sit down and chat." For a dutiful young woman, she was unusually lax about the situation before her.

"Uhm, yeah," I replied like an idiot, eyes shying away from her. "We can't all agree on everything."

"Yes. Hey, if you ever see Cruce again, tell him he's a runt for backing out like that."

She was on her way, satisfied with what had rolled off of her tongue. Max was a runt? For what? I had no time to ask her why she'd think that, or why she'd leave without finding her father. Maybe she felt she was taking too much of a risk of being seen with Pokémon. She called me cute. She wanted to stay, but it was dangerous. She knew that if she stayed a while longer, she'd end up like her father. I wonder if she was a member of the Stand. Was that still a thing? I'm sure it was. She just said something about it. Plus, it'd only been a few days since I last heard it mentioned before now. What'd they do to her dad? Did they infect him? Spread it? Shit, were they infected?

I'd let my mind cruise around with no strict control. As Katalyn disappeared from view, I took to the search, gesturing for my chespin brother to follow me. We crossed the bridge, hung a left, and arched around to the edge of the river, where I had nearly slipped. I passed the branch my hand had caught. Perhaps it still had my blood. That would've been the only proof of my injury. The wound in itself was no more. Maneuvering through the thickets was made simpler at some parts, and more difficult in others. The thought of having a machete returned to me. I was definitely in the right spot. And with that, I called out.

"Travis? Travis! Hey, dude, it's me! It's Bryan! Where you at?" I sounded like a hypocrite right about now, shouting around for someone I barely knew when I've been telling Atti to be a silent passenger.

"Bryan!" I heard his voice. It was such a sweet thing to hear. It was muffled by leaves and twigs beyond the thicket, but it shook my heart back to life. He was here. I turned a sharp corner, impeded by a large, soft and pudgy object, which I nearly flew over given my height over the thing. That thing was the marill I know most, having rushed out to greet the new voice with a familiar name.

"Hey?!" I heard Atti holler. It was like an impossible cross between certainty and confusion; he found something that he was sure he wanted, but he wasn't sure what it was.

I corrected myself, standing back after taking a pretty big sphere to the gut. There he was, shaking his head—well, more like face—after the collision. He gazed at me like I was a stranger.

"Wait, what?" Travis began, startled. "Sorry about that—uh, bumping into you."

"Travis!" I opened my arms wide, looking as welcoming as I could. It looked like that triggered something for him.

"Oh, Bryan?"

"Yeah, there you go! I caught the common cold. Should've mentioned th-" I failed to finish that statement. Travis had already placed himself between my arms, his smaller paws wrapped around my sides. Thus flared up a second blush, likely visible through the fur on my cheeks. I couldn't decide how to feel at that particular moment with Atti watching me and Travis hugging me, and all three of us being Pokémon. That last thing was always reinforced the predicament, but for the second time today, it felt so good to be in that predicament. I closed any distance between my arms and his body, squeezing the round little guy tight. It was awkward, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it.