Author's Note: Sorry for the brief posting interruption. Will continue as normal.


We walked into the avenue in silence, eyes on me. Cheren lead me over to a little kiosk. I could smell meat, vegetables, fruit, pies, everything I'd ever wanted and would ever want. I felt, and heard, my stomach growl loudly.

"Hello Alena," Cheren said to the girl at the counter. "What would you recommend for a poorly trained Pokemon with a weak stomach?"

Weak stomach? What was he talking about?

"I take it he's not yours then," she said, grinning, leaning forward on the counter.

"How about a Friendly Combo? And I'll have a Wonder Brunch. To go. I don't want the little monster to grab someone else's tie…"

Her eyes widened a bit at that, but she nodded and hurried to put together some food in a bag, and a drink tray, handing them over to him. He paid her and turned back the way we came.

I looked at her, shrugged, and followed him.

He lead me back out, across town, into a little nook behind the fountain in the park by the Ferris wheel. He sat down on the grass, which was not what I expected from Mister high and mighty, so I took it as an apology and sat, too.

Still, he was silent as he passed out the goods: a sandwich. A little bowl of something. A drink. Then he started pulling the same out for himself, although his were wrapped differently.

I opened my food... Grilled chicken sandwich in the wrapper, maybe, and in the bowl, what smelled like potatoes… baked fries? I let out a little moan as I stuffed the sandwich into my mouth. It was amazing. The bun was just a little bit sweet, the meat was juicy. I tore into it, chewing eagerly.

"Don't eat too fast," Cheren chided. I had forgotten he was there. "You'll make yourself sick."

"Kay, dad," I snapped, mouth full, and resumed eating.

That shut him up.

I ate everything in the sandwich wrapper. I seriously considered licking the paper. Then I moved onto the fries. They weren't potato, some kinda vegetable, and they were baked instead of fried. Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have liked them much. But they were so good! I ate every little piece. The drink wasn't anything super impressive; N and I had pretty much lived on vending machine drinks… but this one was fresh, and it was better. I drained it. I'd eaten everything. My stomach ached, but my head felt a little clearer.

Cheren was still picking at his sandwich. Looked like some kinda roast beef. He stared at me with those cold little eyes.

"What?"

"I want you to understand something, Sonic. I'm not heartless. N was a villain once, but I'm more or less on the same side as him now. But I saw N in action. I saw what he did, how he behaved. I saw him talk about what he believed, and I saw his beliefs tested and crushed. I trust him."

I nodded. "I got friends the same way. But Giovanni ain't from around here. He's from Kanto, and all the stuff he did happened when you were a little boy."

Cheren nodded. "There's one man who did see him in action. Who tested his goals and his beliefs. And Red talks to him even less than he does everyone else." Cheren sipped his soda.

"Maybe Red ain't as forgiving as you and me."

"Maybe not. But you're in a far more vulnerable place than us. Let someone like Blue or me try to redeem Giovanni. Don't put yourself and everyone else in danger to prove a point."

I pondered my wrapper for a second, and then I laughed. "How much would it tick Cobalion off if I told him he sounded like you?"

"I'm sure he'd be thrilled." Cheren droned, taking a bite.

"So what was up with that paternalistic crap you did in front of Giovanni?" I leaned back against the fountain we were sitting under, putting a hand on my stomach.

"You'd said all of two sentences to me. I had no idea how much of a Pokemon you really were. I just knew you were rare and special, and if you were going to go with someone against your will it was going to be someone who'd give you the respect you deserved. Probably Bianca. If you weren't happy with her, she'd set you free."

I couldn't help but smile. "She's a sweetheart."

"So you're where that spare Pokedex went." He sipped.

"I've meet a couple people I liked. N, of course. Professor Burnet. Hugh. I met him earlier today."

"I know." He grinned. "Hugh called me from Castelia City asking if there were any species of Pokemon that could speak our language. I came out to investigate."

"And there's this girl named Yancy. I found her phone not far from here. She seems nice enough. Oh, and there was a guy in the cave. Colress."

"He's bad news. He was the head of Team Plasma for a while, after N's group split off."

I shrugged. "He warned me not to go in there and didn't seem so bad anymore. Maybe he saw the error…" Then I remembered. Giovanni. Two o'clock.

Cheren rolled his eyes, seeming to understand what I was thinking. "It's 1:55. You won't make it."

I laughed and stood up, stretching. "They don't call me Sonic because I make a lot of noise."

"No, they call you Sonic because you tear through the subway faster than the trains and can run fast enough to make a sonic boom out on Route 4. People talk, you know."

I looked down at him as he sat there, food in his hand, legs crossed in front of him. And he looked up at me with sad blue eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"You're so much like N, and a friend of mine who isn't here. But I don't know you yet. I don't know if you're stubborn like her or naive like him. I don't know if you've got the willpower of a human or the submissiveness of a Pokemon. …and if I pick wrong and I let you go, I'm damning you to slavery." He sighed. "But it isn't my decision to make, is it? It's yours. Probably the most important thing I learned from Alder is that might doesn't make right."

I wanted to give him something. I wanted to say something, do something, to let him know I understood what he meant. But how could I? Any words I could say would just say I thought I understood. Maybe I didn't really understand. Maybe nobody really understands. But he was trying. I had to try, too.

"Cheren… where I come from, I used to be only thing that stands between my world and destruction. And a couple of times, it wasn't me who saved the day. It was people I defeated before. When I fell, Shadow was there. Shadow wouldn'ta been there if Eggman hadn't saved him. They'd both tried to kill me." I took out the Lum berry Giovanni gave me. "Giovanni gave me this. I don't know if I trust him yet, but I have to let him know I care enough to try." I tossed him the berry, and he caught it in one hand.

"He'll expect you to eat it." He reached into his pocket, and tossed a different one back at me. "Give me the number on that Xtransceiver. I'll call you. If it was safe, I'll talk about Bianca. If it wasn't, I'll talk about Hugh. Good luck."

I gave him the number and looked toward the gates. If I stayed here with Cheren, I'd be safer. Everyone had respect for him. Not so for Giovanni.

But I've never been a guy to play it safe when the world could be in trouble.

I sped off.

Running across town was easy. I'd gotten used to the patterns people walked in there. My stomach was cramping up from eating like that before I ran, but I was no stranger to hunger cramps after my weeks with N. This was different, at least.

Once I got into the mall, it was harder. Busy in there. It had been busy before, but I'd been following someone then. I had to walk. I was pretty sure I was gonna be late.

So I started walking, trying to dodge and weave around people who were in my way. Some of them were running, which seemed like a bad idea to me. As some little kid burned after me, I quickstepped to the right, and stepped stomach-first into some woman's knee. I groaned and fell on my rear, holding my stomach.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry." In an instant she was at my side, arm wrapped around my shoulder, another around my hand.

I wanted to tell her it was ok, but I remembered where I was. "Saaaaaaaaand." I tried to stand up, and she helped me.

"You must be looking for your trainer. Huh, you're the strangest Sandslash I ever saw." She stood, brushing her purple hair out of her face, and smoothed out the skirt of her purple dress. "You're not Giovanni's Sandslash, are you?"

I nodded. That burned to hear.

"Let me take you to him." She held out a hand, and I took it, like a good Pokemon should.

She led me along the way, stepping in between me and any people who looked like they might get in my way. I didn't know how to feel. On one hand, she was treating me like a little kid… but she was still being nicer than a lot of the people who treated me with respect.

I saw the back of his head before anything, just about to pass out the mall's southern exit. She saw it a split second later, because she shouted, in a bellow that surprised me, "GIOVANNI!"

Apparently some shouting was normal in here, because only the people near us noticed. He turned, sneering, mouth open to deliver some sharp words, until he saw me. And his eyes widened. He smiled.

"Your Sandslash was looking for you. …You might want to get him checked out by a nurse." she let go of my hand, and I walked over to him.

He patted me on the head. "Thank you. I've already spoken to a doctor about his health. Are you ready to go, Sonic?"

I nodded.

He turned to leave, and I waved goodbye. The woman waved back.

Once outside, he chuckled. "I'm surprised you decided to show up."

"Hey, you were the one who warned me about how naive N was. Someone doesn't like the person I'm travelling with, and I gotta know why. It isn't personal."

He nodded. "And then you hope your travelling companion doesn't feel slighted."

"Oh, because you just expected people to trust you. What a shock when they don't."

That earned another chuckle. "You seem to be in good spirits."

"I ate real food. On someone else's dime. Although I gotta wonder why he asked the lady at the counter what would be good for a Pokemon with a weak stomach."

Giovanni started walking again, looking back at me. "I imagine he was concerned you'd have trouble adjusting to processed food after subsisting on whatever you and N managed to forage. Cheren's the teacher at the Trainer's School in Aspertia City. He may be young, but he's a man of both great experience and considerable academic learning."

I shrugged. "I always feel a little funky when I come back to society after a long time out in the wilderness. Body needs time to get used to things."

Giovanni turned back around, stopping. "You're certainly doing better than I did when I first left Tohjo Falls. But if you want to be a part of this, and you aren't up to it, we can wait another day."

I shrugged, but I couldn't help but smile a little. "Dude, I'm fine." Then I walked on ahead of him, changing the subject. "So, we'll just find a Pokemon who wants to go with a strong trainer and fight in tournaments, you'll catch him, and I'll see if he acts different."

Giovanni laughed. "I think your green friend is rubbing off on you, Sonic. Clearly you intend to see the extent of the mental alterations Pokeballs make on a Pokemon's mind, but how would you observe those changes in a Pokemon who wants to travel with a human?"

We passed under an overpass; I could hear the cars zooming past overhead. A man in a purple shirt was standing nearby, staring up at the cars.

"I don't know. Wouldn't it be a different kinda want? I guess there'd have to be changes."

Giovanni adjusted something in his pocket. "You can't seriously expect to learn anything from having me capture a Pokemon who enthusiastically wants to be caught. If I catch someone who wants to be caught and they show no changes, and you use that as a justification not to interfere with Pokemon trainers, you could well be deceiving yourself." He was making a face, uncomfortable. This was an uneasy topic for him.

"You aren't saying I should sit by and let you catch someone who doesn't want to be caught."

"I was going to catch my Sandile without regard for its desires anyway. That's the way of catching Pokemon. We assume any Pokemon that appears before us without some obvious reason wants to be captured. What's one more Pokemon, one more day?"

I wrinkled up my nose. "'What's one more person, one more day,' you mean. I can't just let you capture someone who doesn't wanna be captured."

We walked past a set of stairs, toward a dig site. "How about this: we find a Pokemon who wants to be caught, but has reservations about me. Then, I capture him, and we see what happened to those reservations. Afterwards I let him go and catch a more willing target."

I probably should have been more worried about the lasting effects mind control of any kind would have on someone. I probably should have thought about it harder. But something in me was tired of fighting people who were on my side. The compromise seemed more than fair. I said, "Sure" and walked a little faster to catch up with him.

"Excellent. And it seems we needn't use that protective gear for you after all. You appear to be a ground type; most Pokemon who aren't are hurt by the sandstorm. Another case for you being some kind of Sandslash, I suppose."

I grumbled. "I have a type now? This sucks. I'm not a Pokemon."

"Most humans are normal type. Some are fighting or Psychic. It's not as clear-cut with us, but the type advantages are still clearly in place. Perhaps humanity and Pokemonkind are not so different as we thought. And you and I, we can bring them together. But first, you must see with your own eyes what a Pokeball can do." Giovanni motioned down the path ahead of us. "That way is the desert resort. It is the best place to catch a Sandile. From here, there's no turning back. If we go through that pass in the hills, I need you to commit to helping me find two Sandiles: one with reservations about letting me capture him, and one who wants what I want. Otherwise, this whole endeavor of yours will have been for naught." He looked down at me, smiling. "And what do you say, Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"I'm in."