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(2 Hours After Last Chapter)

Kirlia's POV

"I'm telling you, for the last time, I won the battle! Why won't you believe me?!"

"Probably because you're not actually good enough to win any kind of battle!"

"Did you already forget that I beat you in our last competition?!" Makuhita asked with a glare.

As I sat off to the side, the young Happiny checking my ankle one last time, the Makuhita that had battled Cacturne earlier was in an argument with a Tyrogue that was here at the Professor's laboratory.

"Guys, I think I can help settle this." I interrupted as Happiny gave me 'permission' to walk around again. I guess she had her mind set on becoming a Chansey at a Pokémon Center one day. "Makuhita kicked Cacturne's butt."

"HA!" Makuhita cheered as he pointed at Tyrogue, who sighed in frustration. "I told you that I beat him! And it only took three Bullet Punches and an Arm-Thrust!"

"Oh, whatever Makuhita. Just remember that one fluke win doesn't mean anything." Tyrogue then turned around to head into the area with the trees in the bio-dome room we were in. "I'm going to go train."

"Thossssse two are alwaysssss fighting, aren't they? Shesh, what a couple of moronsssss." A male Seviper said with a shake of its head.

"Ugh, do you really have to talk?!" A female Zangoose asked with a glare. "Because it isssss ssssso annoying!"

"Well if you think it'sssss annoying then go away! No one wantsssss you here anyway!" Seviper responded, not shying away from the Zangoose's glare.

"Ya know, I gotta hand it to that kid," A Geodude interrupted loudly, not wanting to hear them fight. Nearly all Geodudes sounded like ticked-off, strong, elderly Pokémon, and this one certainly wasn't an exception. Of course, he probably had a reason to sound the way he did since he was around seventy years old. Which was a teenager in Geodude years.

"He's pretty tough. Charmander said that he woke up and nearly fell off the roof...Huh. You know, that's gotta be the second time I heard of a kid jumpin' from off a buildin'. The first one bein' that kid with the Pikachu."

"Wait, a Pikachu?" I perked up at the name of that Pokémon. "Did you by any chance remember the name of that kid?"

"Nope. All's I remember 'bout him was he jumped off Prism Tower to save his Pikachu. Saw it on the TV while one of them researchers was performin' some a their check-ups with me. Not one trace a fear on that kid's face. These days, most trainers are too scared to jump in a puddle for a Flabébé." He then shook his head at what he thought was a pitiful thought for trainers.

"No kidding. Remember last year when that kid was starting his journey? He kept sounding like he was in total control of everything." A Bidoof reminded the group. "Of course, he tried choosing Froakie, so that was his first mistake right there."

"Woah, hold on now Bidoof. Froakie wasn't the problem, that kid was a jerk!" Happiny defended. "At least, that's what Froakie told me."

"Of course that's what he said. He didn't want to sound like a jerk himself, so he probably made up a lie. Watch, he'll probably come back saying that trainer with the Pikachu was a jerk too." Bidoof tried to accuse. Not sounding too friendly regarding whatever a Froakie was.

"Well my trainer's not a push-over either. In fact, he is as great as his Gym Leader Father." I stood up and started walking towards the doors. "Speaking of Max, I think I need to try and tell him something. Hopefully I can get the message through to him."

"Good luck!" Happiny waved goodbye as I walked away, with the others going back to talking to one another. All except Makuhita, who immediately jumped up and ran after me. Catching up to me before I could even make it to the door.

"Can I come too?!" He asked. "I never got a chance to thank Alex for battling with me! Plus, I wanna know if he's okay. You know, because of what all happened to him." Makuhita explained, hoping that I would agree.

Honestly, I wish I could understand the feeling of your first battle. Nearly every Pokémon could remember their first battle. It doesn't matter if you had your first battle if you were young or full grown, the only important thing that mattered was how well you did. You didn't even have to win really, if it was a close battle than it was a close battle.

Sadly, my first battle just wasn't interesting at all. The other trainer, I think his name was Jo or something, had an extremely weak Rattata. And in just one Confusion attack it was down for the count. Max tried to be a good sport about it, saying that Rattata looked pretty intimidating and that was why we went all out, but I could tell with his emotions that he and his Pokémon were just as disappointed with the battle as I was.

"Uh, sure I guess that's alright." Almost immediately, his happiness sky-rocketed as he smiled wide. Very thankful that I agreed to take him there. And as we got to the doors, I used Psychic to open the doors.

Usually electronic doors, especially ones that are meant to be used with Pokémon in mind, are Psychic-Type proof. Having the same unique machinery as the inside of a Pokéball. So moves like Psychic, Teleport, or even a Ghost-Type's Intangibility wouldn't work. But luckily, these doors didn't have that type of mechanism and as soon as we got through, I closed the door behind us and we were off to find Max and Alex.

"Oh, I don't think any of us asked." Makuhita said, earning my attention as his emotion changed from happy to curious. "Are you and your trainer from the Kalos Region?"

"No, we're from the Hoenn Region. Since we had already taken on the Hoenn League, we came here to take on the Kalos League. And apparently, it sounds like a friend of ours is here too. So we're hoping to catch up to him so we can all take on the Kalos League together." I explained to him. He might not have known what a Pokémon League was, but since he didn't ask I didn't explain it.

"So, I'm guessing that you're from here in Kalos, right?" Seemed like a reasonable assumption for me to make anyway.

"Nope, I'm from Hoenn too." He answered with a content smile as we both started heading up the stairs. "I used to live there until four months ago when I was brought here. When I was young, my Dad said it was probably best I go off on my own adventure so I could train more. I got a bunch of stories from that, but, uh, they're probably not that fun. But one day, this human found me and asked if I wanted to come with him. So I did." He summarized.

"Seems to me that there's more to that story than you're letting on." I pointed out. His emotions were fluctuating a bit, which meant that he was very undetermined about what he was trying to think. His emotions ranged from happy, to unsure, to sad, and everything in between. It was almost enough to make me ask about the story even more.

"Not really. It's all just boring stuff." He shrugged and shook his head. Now focusing on the doors we were passing by. And once again, his emotions said different. Obviously there was more to this, but I couldn't tell if he was trying to bait me into asking about his life story or just didn't feel like talking about it. Either way, I left it alone.

"By the way," He started, changing the subject on purpose. "How's come you told everyone back in the Forest Room that you need to 'try and tell him something'? I thought you could talk to trainers with your mind."

"Well yes, but I don't want every Pokémon knowing that. If they found out I could translate for humans, then they'd treat me like a Spirit Medium and ask me to translate." Makuhita already knew that I could communicate to humans, so what was the point?

"Oh, I get it. Still, I wish all humans could understand us. It'd make things a lot easier." He mused.

"I know. Hopefully, they'll invent the technology in time." I agreed. Only thing is that with translators, that might mean that we have to wear some sort of collar or something. Not something many Pokémon would look forward to. "Here's the room I last saw Max in. Hopefully they're all still in here."

Alex's POV

"So, all the poison's gone right?" I asked the Professor. After having passed out after that battle, I had woken up back at the lab in the Guest Room. One of the assistants said that I was free to get up and walk around whenever I wanted, but it was just so weird. I mean, if you were bit by a snake or something, it wouldn't just go away after you passed out. So you can't really blame me for being worried about this kind of thing.

"Yes." Sycamore nodded. "An average Pokémon's poison will subside the instant the victim falls unconscious. But the poison also eats at your immune system temporarily. So it was important that we get you inside to recover."

"Alright, well if it's all gone then I guess I won't...Wait. Hold on. The Average Pokémon's Poison?" I repeated, thinking that over carefully. "What about the Pokémon who's not 'average'?"

"Well..." He hummed in thought as his eyes darted around the room. Hoping to find something else to turn our attention towards. And I wasn't a fool, I knew that if he was trying to bide his time, then that meant that it was bad news.

"You know what, I don't wanna know." I told him, waving the question away. I could put two and two together on my own.

"Maku-Maku!" A random voice had called out cheerfully. And looking towards the doorway where I heard the sound, I saw two Pokémon at the doorway. One being that Pokémon that was with Max before I got in the way and ended up battling Mr. Thorn Man. And other one was the Pokémon that I battled said thorn in everyone's side-

"Hey!" I said, instantly going from worried to cheerful. "How's it going?!"

"Maku! Ma-Makuhita! Hita-Mak-Maku!" He said, repeating parts of his name over and over again. I could tell that he was happy about something, and with the fighting pose he made, I guessed that he was talking about fighting or something.

"Um..." I hummed to myself quietly, not sure what to say. I mean, what was I supposed to say to that? I'm sorry Makuhita, I have no idea what you're trying to tell me. With how happy he was acting, I didn't want to make him upset or anything.

So keeping that in mind, I gave up and took a wild guess. "Are you trying to talk about the battle earlier?" To answer my question, he gave a nod in approval.

"Makuhita." He then gave me a small bow as if to...

"Wait a second, are you...Trying to thank me?" I took another shot in the dark.

"Ma-ku!" He nodded with a smile.

"..." I sat silently in thought. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but...Why?" I asked, trying to stay cautious. Still, it actually was confusing me. I mean, why was this Pokémon trying to thank me for making him go through a battle where he almost got poisoned like I did?

"Ma, Makuhita!" He answered, again leaving me stumped.

"Allow me to translate." The Professor began with a smile. "You see Alex, whether in the wild or with a trainer, Pokémon battle to grow and become stronger. And as far as I know, the battle you and Makuhita had was his very first. As well as your first battle."

"Maku?" Makuhita asked me with a confused look.

"Yeah, this was my first battle too." I told him with a nod. Huh...Guess Pokémon are easier to understand than I thought.

"But what makes this even more important to him is that Makuhita's put training in high regard." Professor Sycamore explained. "Not to mention his Way of the Fist."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. You used that punch move to take down that guy's Pokémon." I looked back up towards Sycamore. "And you said that he's trying to learn all of them, right?"

"Yes. So far, all he knows is Bullet Punch and Pound, along with his Arm-Thrust move as well." Sycamore said, immediately getting an idea in his mind as he stayed silent a little longer.

"Man, and you didn't even need all three moves to kick that Cacturne's butt." I told Makuhita, smiling at how easy it was to actually teach that freak and his Pokémon a lesson.

"Maku-maku-maku-maku..." He chuckled in agreement.

Sycamore than chuckled himself before adding in his own thoughts. "It seems as if you two have become fast friends."

"Huh?" I stopped thinking about the battle and turned towards Sycamore. "Fast friends?" Both me and Makuhita looked towards each other. "You think so?"

"Yes. The bond between a human and a Pokémon is something I've come to see almost everyday." He thought for a few more seconds before finally coming to a conclusion. "Alex?"

"Yeah?" By this point, he had both our attentions.

"How about you take Makuhita with you on your journey? You do still need a Pokémon to travel with you after all."

"..."

Take Makuhita on 'My Journey'? It all comes back to that, doesn't it? No matter what I say, it'll always come to that. I know it's not something I can avoid, but...What about everything else?

What about getting back home? To my world, my town, my own family?...I can't be mad at anyone. No matter how I look at it, there's no one to blame. Heck, people are going out of their own way to help me get back to where I belong! No matter how imp-

...

...Is it impossible?...

...

...Am I stuck here?...

...

...Will I ever see anyone ever again? School, friends, family, anyone in my country or even world ever again?

I'm frowning right now aren't I?

"Alex? Are you okay?" Sycamore asked. I focused towards him, only to realize that my vision was cloudy from some tears that had been building up.

Sycamore, and maybe Garchomp, were the only ones in this room that knew. That other kid, Max I think, was on a video chat with someone else with his Pokémon, and Makuhita was right beside me. I couldn't let any of them know about it. I'd just have to keep quiet until some news came up. After all, those other two Professors said that they'd be doing some research.

"Ahe...Course I am." I said, wiping the tears out of my eyes before putting on a brave face. Thankfully able to talk as if I wasn't sad to begin with. "Probably that stupid poison again. I'm fine."

I then turned to Makuhita. "So what do you think? Would you want to come?" Pokémon were sentient as far as I could tell. And as I saw it, this was more his choice than mine. I mean, if he were to be 'my' Pokémon, then it should ultimately be his decision, right?

"Maku...?" He said with a slightly surprised expression. Caught off guard that I had asked him. But as soon as he had understood what was going on, he spent no time at all agreeing happily. This being made obvious as he jumped up and hugged me with joy. "Makuhita!" He yelled out.

"Ack!" I managed to utter in surprise as the Pokémon kept hugging me. Nearly chocking me with the amount of strength he was putting into the hug. "Okay, okay, I'll take that as a yes!"

"Huh? Is someone else there with you?" Some girl's voice asked. Soon enough, Makuhita, thankfully, ended his bone crushing hug and I instinctively looked towards the door. Thinking that whoever asked that question came from the entrance into the room.

Except, no one else came in.

"Who was that?" I asked, towards no one in particular, before turning towards that Max's Pokémon. When she talked to me, I know it was a female voice. Did she say something just now?

"Huh? Oh yeah, that guy that battled Harley's in here right now." Max told the video phone. I guess the volume was louder than I thought or something.

"Wait, what?!" That same voice called out worriedly. Nearly driving us all deaf. "You didn't tell me that! How much did he hear?!"

"Well with how loud you're yelling, I'm thinking he hears you right now." He deadpanned before turning towards me. After thinking it over for a few seconds, he suddenly smirked slyly. But it wasn't just any sly smirk, it was that 'I'm about to embarrass my sibling' kind of sly smirk.

I know that smirk well, because I always smirked like that myself. My little brother always tried to do some underhanded trick to look better than me. So I made sure to return the favor.

Ah, sibling rivalry. One of the most entertaining rivalries to watch.

Still, what did I have to do with anything about that?

"Hey, uh, Alex right?" He asked, quickly changing back to a normal smile. Initiate Operation: Sibling Embarrasser! I could almost see that title floating above his head.

"Yeah. What do you need?" I asked, not sure whether to walk over or stay still.

"Can you come over here for a minute? I want to introduce you to my sister." Max told me with a friendly voice. And suddenly it all makes sense. Still, how would introducing me to his sister make her embarrassed?

"Uh, sure, okay." I said, not able to think of a reason as to why and say no. And upon reaching the video chat machine- You know what, I'll just call this thing a phone. It's getting frustrating calling this thing just a 'machine'. It makes me feel like a caveman. So upon reaching the phone, Max turned towards his sister. "Hey May, how about you say hi to Alex yourself?"

"What? No! I-I don't want to talk to him right- Oh hey Alex!" She immediately changed her tone after she saw me walking into view of the camera. And after looking at her, I saw that Max's sister was probably a little older than he was. Or at the very least, taller than he was.

She had brown hair that stuck out from underneath a silver and white handkerchief that she had tied around like a hat. It had some kind of pattern with the white color, but tied the way it was, I couldn't make out what the pattern was.

She also had a sleeveless silver top as well, and gloves on as well. And her face looked pretty similar to Max's as far as I could tell, which was obvious considering that they were brother and sister. Except something that was different was that while Max had black eyes, hers were blue. Not only that, but her cheeks were a little red for some reason. Probably make-up or something.

"Uh, hi...May, right?" I tried, hoping that I hadn't have messed up her name already. I always seemed to forget peoples names nearly seconds after they tell me. Some random names stuck if they were interesting, easy to remember, o just reminded me of something else.

Max and Professor Juniper's names were easy to remember. Max's because it was just so common it was almost impossible to forget. And Juniper's...Well...I don't really know. For some reason, whenever I thought about her name, a video game called 'Skyrim' kept popping into my mind.

"Y-Yeah, that's my name..." She said awkwardly. I guessed that she was shy. And apparently it was funny enough to Max as he just sat back in his chair, smirking in victory. "So, uh, you battled Harley right? I saw what happened with that Poison Sting." She said, now going from shy to enraged.

"Yeah, that wasn't exactly fun." I deadpanned. "But at least Cactus Boy got what was coming to him." They both then busted out laughing. But quickly, May was able to calm down well enough to talk again.

"Anyway, thank you for helping Max and Kirlia. Knowing Cactus Boy, he wouldn't have cared about Kirlia's twisted ankle." May said with a frown, happily using my insult for his name.

"Well, it was only fair that...Wait. What did you say?" I asked, mishearing something about what she said.

"He didn't care about Kirlia's twisted ankle?" May repeated, unsure if that's what I wanted her to repeat or not.

"..." With my mouth slightly hanging open, I turned towards Max and Kirlia. "...You guys are kidding, right?"

Max and Kirlia slowly shook their heads no, as did May when I turned to face her again.

"Wow...I didn't know that part..." I said slowly, completely surprised by just how rude that sounded. "That freak had cameras set up and everything, and he didn't even care that it wasn't a fair fight?"

"Nope." "Nu-uh." Max and May answered respectively. Acting as if this was a common thing. Which it shouldn't be!

"Seriously?! What kind of half-baked man dressed in algae would do something like that?!" I asked, completely ticked off at that guy.

To quote the song from How the Grinch Stole Christmas; ~You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch.~

"Hardly Harley." May said with a nod. Earning a snicker from me.

"Hey May," Max started, wanting to change the subject. "Wasn't their something you wanted to say to Alex?"

"Huh?" May looked confused, but upon seeing the smirk Max had on his face, she instantly turned a little red again. "Oh! Uh. Well..." She only got redder and redder as she started avoiding looking at me altogether.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. No way was she shy this time. And I doubt it suddenly got cold that fast in there. So what was going with her?

"Well-You see-The thing is..." She kept stuttering for a few more seconds before finally stopping and putting the faintest of sly smirks on her face. And once again, it wasn't just any sly smirk, it was that 'I'm about to get back at my sibling' kind of sly smirk.

That was another kind of smirk that I knew very well. And for some reason, I felt like it had to do with me...It does, doesn't it?

"Oh right, that thing." She said coolly, her redness fading away. "You see Alex, Max wanted to know if you wanted to travel along with him."

"Wait, what?" Max asked, suddenly caught off-guard.

"Yeah, don't you remember Max?" May asked with as much innocence as she could possibly put into her voice and expression. "You wanted to ask me what I thought since I was going to come to the Kalos region to visit you anyway!"

At this point, I wasn't too sure what to say right now. I mean, I knew that she was really just trying to mess with her younger brother, but I didn't know if I could really say anything to help here.

You're coming to visit?" Max asked, again very confused as to what May was saying.

"Of course I'm coming to visit you! And now that you're inviting Alex to come with you, I can thank him in person for saving my kid brother! Oh! I mean, you are going to ask him to come, aren't you?!" She asked with a devious smile aimed right at him.

Oh, I see how this is going now. I smirked mentally before turning to look at Max, looking at him with a slightly confused look. Acting like I had no idea what May was getting at. Older sibling had to stick together, right?

Kirlia saw through my façade, however, and talked to me telepathically. "You're playing along, aren't you?" She asked me. And not wanting to give it away, I just blinked twice to signal to her that I was and she simply giggled silently so Max wouldn't notice.

"Well now that you brought it up..." Max said through his gritted teeth. Angry that the tables had officially turned. Something I couldn't help but smirk at in appreciation. "So Alex, would you want to come along?"

"Huh?" Okay, that was unexpected. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Yep." "Uh-huh." Max and May said respectively. You know, the words 'deja vu' seems to come to mind right now...

"Wait, you mean for real? You actually want me to come along with you?" I repeated, still caught off-guard. Don't get me wrong, with how nonchalant everyone acts with kids walking around in the wild with a bunch of wild, fire-spitting, dragon-growling, random-colored Pokémon, it didn't exactly seem out of leftfield for kids to travel along together to make the trip just that much safer. Seriously, there was probably some kind of unspoken honor system or something around here.

But I literally just met this kid today, and already he's fine with me traveling around with him? Is everyone this trusting?

"Sure. I mean the Professor did say that you were beginning your journey today as well. So why not? We can travel together and then face each other in the Pokémon League." He said with a smile.

"Sycamore..." I muttered almost silently.

"Hey May! Are Pokémon are all ready to go!" A second female voice called out from out of view of May's side of the phone.

"Got it, I'm coming!" May announced with a smile. "Sorry Max, I gotta go! The first contest is in three days, and we have a long trip ahead of us before we reach Striation City! Not only that, but we got a reservation at this amazing restaurant there!"

"Of course you did May." Max deadpanned, not at all surprised. "So how high-class is it?" He asked with a smile.

"Very funny Max." May pouted. "And for your information, I didn't make the reservation. Dawn did. Apparently she knows one of the three people that work there. Anyway, good luck in Kalos! Bye Max! Bye Alex!" She then clicked a button that was off-screen and the phone call ended.

"Well, guess she's off to win the Unova Grand Festival." Max said with a smile. "So what do ya say Alex?" He asked as he turned towards me. "Want to go on an adventure with me and Kirlia?"

"..." I thought it over as quickly as I could, trying to think it all over. On one hand, I wouldn't be off alone wandering the wild with Pokémon that I knew nothing about with a Makuhita by my side. Not only that, but Max definitely wasn't trying anything underhanded. Plus he apparently new a bunch of stuff about Pokémon already. So I wouldn't be so clueless if I came across a problem I needed to deal with.

On the other hand, I still had my own problems to try and conclude. There's no way I can tell him upfront that I'm from another 'world' or something. And if he eventually found out that I was hiding that kind of secret from him, then it'd be just as bad if not worse. And let's not forget that he had a Pokémon that talks to you through brain waves.

Besides, what if in the middle of the entire adventure, I find out how to get home? Then I'd end up just leaving him to have to journey around by himself. And as much as I wanted to get back home to my family, I couldn't just abandon a kid that was even younger than I was.

But there was one other problem? How exactly could I say no? I mean, he and his older sister were already expecting me to say 'yes' so if I ended up declining they'd either be upset or confused. Not only that, but even the Professor was expecting me to agree. Which I can't really blame him for, seeing as having a friend in this messed up world is best in hindsight.

So putting all this together, I made my decision and gave him a smile and nodded. "Sure man. That sounds like a great idea." I said, keeping my smile as I turned to Makuhita. "What do you think?" I asked him.

"Ma-ku!" Makuhita nodded in agreement.

"Yes!" Max said excitedly, getting out of his seat. "So, do you think you're ready to go?!" He asked.

"R-Right now?" I asked, caught off-guard by that. "I mean, do you know where we'd be going first?" I asked, a little skeptical. I saw a map or two earlier today, but none of them pointed out any of these 'gyms' that the Professor told me about.

"Oh, right..." Max said, slowly losing that excitement that he suddenly built up. "I forgot about that..." He admitted with a foolhardy smile. Which just caused me sigh as a result.

Some way to start an adventure...

And so begins the adventure of Max and Alex! Glad I could finally get this chapter up, even after everything happening right now. Hope you all liked the chapter, and I will see you all next chapter! Goodbye everyone!

QotC: Since I can't exactly think of a question that relates to this chapter, how about this. A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon question! So if you were to be turned into a Pokémon, (And it can't be Legendary or a Pokémon at the highest evolution) which one would it be?