Lem

"Where is that freak?" Caro wanted to know.

Lem had been wondering the same thing, albeit in kinder words. He had not seen Oliver since he had helped him over to Agga's place. That had been almost a week ago. Was he still recovering? That didn't seem likely; pokémon healed very quickly. So why hadn't he returned to Box Four? What was keeping him away? He couldn't be dead, could he? No, that was silly. If he was dead, they would know. Still, it was worrying to think about what might have happened to him. Was it possible that he had gone with the twins on the night that they ran away?

Stan was less concerned. "How should I know where he is? I'm not his blasted mother. He's probably out somewhere staring at the sky, same as always." He had taken a big red ball from the trainer's house, and he kicked it along as they walked through the forest. Not the Unnamed Forest in Box Four, but the big one a couple of miles from the house.

They were in the real world now. In many ways, Lem preferred the PC. There, the air was almost always comfortable, and it never rained or snowed unless the Skychanger wanted it to. But out here, the weather was not so pleasant. A light rain was falling now. The thick foliage overhead kept most of the water away from the four friends, but some drops still made it through to wet the forest floor. Every once in a while, a raindrop would land right on Lem's back. That always made him shiver, since it was so cold out today. Autumn was coming to an end, and winter was eager to take its place.

"We should find him," Caro said. "You promised I could have him. You promised."

"You'll have him later," Stan said. He eyed the poochyena. "You obsess over him too much. All you ever want to do is find him. Just shut up about it." He kicked the ball again. It rolled across the wet soil and bounced against a tree. Stan adjusted his course to retrieve it, and the others followed.

"I think Stan is right," said Split, who always thought Stan was right. He was not even six months old. Split had begun to follow Stan, Caro, and Lem around shortly after he hatched, and he had proven himself to be an excellent yes-man.

Caro was obviously unhappy, but he let the matter drop. He never defied Stan. None of them did.

They continued to walk and joke. Well, Stan, Caro, and Split did. Lem never spoke unless he had to. He had always been quiet and timid. He was Harmony's seventh child, only a couple of months younger than Blizz and Jay, and the first of her sons who had been born without a twin. Even before he hatched, he had been an outsider. Night and the others had tried to include him in their games…for a while. Lem had never been any good at fighting or racing or anything, really, and the fact that he never wanted to talk drove the twins away.

He hadn't made a true friend until Stan hatched. Both of them had been lonely and quiet, so they complimented each other well. Lem had not changed over the years, but Stan had. He was mean and arrogant now, and the biggest bully in the PC, or at least in Box Four. But Lem couldn't stop being his friend. If he left Stan, he would have nobody. Maybe he would end up just like poor Oliver, constantly bullied with nobody to help. He wouldn't be able to handle that. So he walked with them, hating himself, hating his part in their endeavors. He always kept slightly behind them, as though that could disassociate him from them.

"Can you hear that?" Caro asked suddenly.

Stan's ears perked up. "I hear something."

Lem heard it too. Smashing noises; grunts of pain; someone cheering.

"Sounds like a battle." Caro was looking over in the direction of the noises.

"I want to watch," Split said in his young, whiny voice.

"I want to fight," said Caro.

"Could be dangerous," Stan said.

"Not for us," Caro said. "You and I are stronger than anyone."

Stan still looked unsure. He put his paw atop the big red ball and rolled it around a bit. "We'll go see," he said after a while. "But we'll sneak up slowly. Just in case." He kicked the ball hard, sending it flying deeper into the woods.

Stan said he was pretty sure that the fight was happening just outside of the forest, so they made their way over to the treeline, slowly and carefully. Stan didn't allow anyone to speak. The trees began to thin out, and Lem could see dark thunderclouds in the sky above. The rain was falling more steadily now. Lem's fur was soaked, and the cold was almost too much to bear. But he kept following and did not complain.

They stopped at the treeline, and saw the source of the noise. It was indeed a battle—the strangest, most lopsided battle that Lem had ever seen. There were five pokémon out there in the rain, and three were watching. Lem recognized the two that were fighting. One was Scull the houndour, who probably the best fighter in the PC. The other was Oliver.

"It's the freak," Caro said.

"No talking," Stan whispered. "I don't want them hearing us."

So they all watched wordlessly, hidden by the trees. There was no contest, of course. Every time Oliver tried to attack, Scull pushed him away with little effort. The houndour never made his own attack.

"How come he's not hurting him?" Caro asked, apparently unable to grasp the concept of mercy.

"Be quiet!" Stan hissed.

The three spectators were shouting encouragement, though they were too far away for Lem to hear their exact words. He thought he recognized one of them, the machop. He wasn't sure if he had ever seen the skitty or the growlithe before.

The four of them did not watch for long. In less than a minute, Stan turned away and began to walk back into the forest. Caro, Split, and Lem had no choice but to follow.

"Why'd you run?" Caro asked once they were far enough away. "We should've gone out to fight them. Then we could've taken the freak for ourselves."

"I didn't run," Stan said, growling. "I'm just not as stupid as you. Those other four are on the trainer's main battling team."

"Why are they out here?" Split asked him.

"Why do you think? They're practicing. Training."

"They have the freak," Caro pointed out.

"Do I look blind? I saw my brother. They're training him."

"Why would they do that?" Split said. "I thought everyone hated Oliver 'cause of his eyes. That's what you told me."

Stan didn't answer for a while. He looked like he was chewing on his tongue. "I guess those others are freaks too, then."

"Then we have to go hurt them!" Caro said. "They deserve it."

Stan rounded on the poochyena. "I don't have to do anything you tell me. If you want to go get yourself beaten up, then go. I'm going home before this rain gets any worse. You coming with me or not?"

Caro looked taken aback. He nodded.

"Go on ahead, then. I need to get the ball from the woods, then I'll meet up with you. Split, go back with Caro and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Lem, you come with me."

Lem flinched, just as he always did when he was called on. "All right," he said. He had not spoken for hours.

Split and Caro walked away and eventually disappeared into forest. Lem followed Stan around trees, back to wherever the ball was.

"That stupid poochyena will get us killed someday," Stan muttered as they walked.

Lem didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. Rainwater still leaked through the treetops.

"I should've given Split a better excuse about Oliver," Stan continued. "Plenty of eevee have red eyes. I've seen a few. Some of them were nice." He shook his head. "Caro never needed an excuse, but Split did. He just wants to do what I do. He wouldn't hurt someone for no reason, though. The only reason he believed me is 'cause he's so young. I know you never believed me, even though you never said so."

Well, he was wrong about that. Lem had always thought that Stan just hated Oliver's eyes. Maybe that's because he was too afraid to question his brother. "Why do you hate him, then?"

"Honestly?" Stan said. "I don't even know. There's something about him. He is a freak. A monster. I don't know why. He just is. You can tell by the way he looks at you, the way he looks up at the sky for hours and hours and never says a word. That kid is dangerous."

And you're not? Lem thought. It was a dangerous thought, and he knew better than to give it a voice. He said nothing.

This time, Stan noticed his silence. "I wish you would talk more. You used to talk to me. You were always quiet, but you at least used to say a little, when it was just you and me. Before Caro."

Before you changed. "I'm just quiet."

Stan studied him. "Well, whatever. Come on, let's just get home before the sky opens up and drowns us."

"What about the ball?"

"I don't care about that blasted toy. I just wanted to get away from that stupid poochyena and that stupid kit and their stupid words. Sometimes I wish I'd never met either of them." He was silent for a moment. "I don't feel that way about you, though, Lem. Sometimes I think you're the only real friend I have."

You'd think differently if you knew how I really felt about you. "I feel the same way, Stan."

They made their way back out of the forest and found the sidewalk that would lead them to their trainer's house. From here it was about two miles away. The rain was falling hard now, so hard that it almost hurt. Lem couldn't wait to get back to the PC. As soon as they entered that electronic world, they would be dry.

"You know why they're training him, right?" Stan asked. He spoke loudly so that his voice could be heard over the rain. "They're teaching him to defend himself. Against us."

Against you, Lem thought, not me. But he knew that by letting it happen, he had played a part in Oliver's suffering as well. He tried not to think about that.

"I don't like this, Lem. I don't think this is going to end well. For anyone."

Finally, after a very long and miserable walk, they reached the house. By then the rain did hurt, and thunder clapped every few seconds. The two brothers leapt over the backyard fence and hurried over to the unlocked door. Stan got there first, and pushed it open. The trainer was inside. She glanced at the eevee, but then looked away. She didn't seem to care that they were both dripping water onto the kitchen floor.

Mother was inside as well. She obviously hadn't been out recently, because her fur was perfectly dry. She hopped off of the couch and walked toward them.

"Oh, you two should know better than to go out when it's raining like this." She didn't sound angry with them. In fact, she sounded eager about something. Almost anxious.

"Sorry, Mother," Stan said politely. "We didn't think it would get so bad. Did Caro and Split make it back safely?"

"They did. You four should really stick together if you're going to go so far away."

"What about Oliver?" Lem asked. "Did he make it back?"

"Oliver? I didn't know he left. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I saw him. Was he by himself?"

"He was with Scull," Lem told her.

"Really?" She looked a little surprised. "Well, I'm sure he's fine, then."

"We're going to the PC to dry off," Stan said.

"You go, Stan." She looked at Lem. "But you stay." She had that anxious look on her face again.

Stan looked a bit confused, but he obeyed. Lem and Mother stood alone in the kitchen.

Mother looked over at the trainer, who was playing on her phone. "Let's go outside, Lem."

"Outside? It's pouring."

"We'll stay on the patio, so the rain won't touch us."

Lem desperately craved the PC's warm interior, but he didn't want to defy his mother. "Will it take long?"

"Of course not. Come." And she led him back out of the door and onto the patio. The breeze made him shiver.

"You know what happened to the twins, don't you?" Mother asked him over the wind.

"They ran away. All six of them."

"Do you know why?"

Because Night didn't want to be your mate, he thought. Everyone knew that by now. But it would have been rude to tell her that, so he said, "No."

"Your father is much older than me," Mother began. "I knew that he wouldn't be my mate forever. So I made a plan for when he would no longer be able to make eggs with me. Night was that plan. He was my oldest son, and I loved him, and I thought he loved me too. I was wrong, though. When I asked him to be my mate, he repaid all of my love by running off with Sky and the other twins. I didn't know they were gone until the next morning. I had sixteen sons, but now I only have ten. You're the oldest now."

That was when Lem realized where she was going with this. He was her seventh son, but now that the oldest six were all gone… "You're asking me to be your mate?"

Mother lifted her paw to stroke the fur on his back. "Would you like that?"

Did Lem want that? He wasn't sure he did. He said, "I'm sure Night will come back. I bet you just scared him. He'll be back, I know he will." He tried to give her an encouraging smile, but his teeth were chattering from the cold.

"No," Harmony said, still stroking his fur, "Night won't be coming home. Neither will the others. You're all I have left. Oh, think about it, Lem. We could make so many eggs. We'll have more twins than we know what to do with! And you'll give me so many daughters, I know you will. You'll be a good father. You want that, don't you, Lem? Don't you?"

Lem was taken aback. Harmony looked very desperate now, and she was speaking very quickly. He was starting to grow a little afraid. "But…Night…"

Mother's claws suddenly dug into his flesh. "Your brother Night is dead, and so is his little whore. The other four are dead as well. You'll never see them again. And unless you want to join them, you'll never speak of them again. You'll never be half as good as Night, but you are my oldest son now, and you will be my mate. Do you understand?"

Lem began to cry.

Mother pushed her claws in further. Something trickled down his back, and he didn't think it was water. "Do you understand?"

He nodded.

Mother's claws pulled out of his flesh. "Good." Her face showed the warmest smile. "Come, then, let's get you dried off. We have a lot to talk about."