I wait for him to come out of the bathroom before I decide to make my move.

"Hey there, Giovanni!" I say, walking alongside of him. "You're looking…well darn it all, that suit's AMAZING. It even SMELLS nice!"

He raises his eyebrows, obviously surprised. Then he smiles. "Why thank you. It's Egyptian cotton, but…I'm intrigued." He and I began walking together. "From your last meeting with me, I had the impression you greatly disliked me, what made you change your mind?"

"Well, seeing as you're an evil mastermind with aspirations of world domination who went and threatened my girlfriend whom I love dearly, I knew that, heh-heh…" I chuckle slightly. "I knew that if I just complimented you on your suit, well you'd look at me a BIT too long and then THIS would happen!"

THA-THUDDA!

He hits an opened door and falls to the ground. The SWAT unit member gives me a thumbs up and drags him away, out the hallway. So much for being a "mastermind"! He couldn't see the oldest trick in the book coming?

Ironically the only thing they'll be able to hold him for is tax evasion, but that'll be enough for the next half a year, and there's NO way he'll be able to get out for good behavior! Still, the idea of interviewing the Legendary Pokémon intrigues me. Once I'm finished with my Guide duties, I'll get started…

Then, before I can enter my room, I feel him call out to me.

"Why did you not tell us the truth?"

…I smile.

"I'm not supposed to openly reveal what has to be done. I just guide you towards the choices and hope that my influence is enough to help you pick the right one. If I just forced you to realize something I'd be one of the bad guys. And besides, it's like the Wizard of Oz…if Dorothy had never gone on that adventure, would she have learned anything at all?"

"No, I don't suppose she would have, but…"

"But what?"

"…the others will figure it out soon, won't they?"

"Yeah."

"And then what?"

"…I'll come back. I said I would back then, and you know I always keep my promises."

"…Yes…you do."

"…Mewtwo…"

"Yes?"

"…take care of them."

"…as you wish…my friend."

KANGASKAHN

"Can I get a witness? Kangaskahn is in the hizz-ooouuse!"

Oh boy. I should have foreseen something like this happening. Why didn't I pay more attention to who was next up? Or at least put up some posters. Yes, posters. There are a few posters that make people automatically realize that they're in the office of somebody who won't fool around, like those Christian "inspirational" posters. They usually work.

It's too late now. I look my next and last patient over. She's an armored kangaroo, to put it bluntly, that looks almost like a cross between reptile and mammal. Brown arms, legs, head…with a dark brown armored plate at the top…and of course a large cream-covered chest/stomach area with a pouch and a little baby Kangaskahn in said pouch. The little light purple creature is sucking on a lollipop.

Her claws look sharp, and although kinda fat, she's muscular too. I imagine she has almost as much strength as Snorlax.

"Uh, would you like to sit down?"

"Fo sho, whitey." She laughs, plopping down. "After this, you down for some ball?"

"You play basketball with a kid strapped to your chest." I say this in a statement, not so much as I ask it.

"Junior here helps me out. We hoop it up!" She brags in her VERY thick accent. It's even stronger than Pidgeotto's!

"Something tells me you know the score…am I right?"

"True dat. So start flappin' your gums, say whatever." She tells me, waving her paw dissmissively.

"Alright, let's start with the word association. Sky."

"Pidgeotto."

"Sea."

"Lapras."

Seeing a pattern here…

"Earth."

"ME."

Oh yeah. Definitely a pattern.

"Mother."

"Kick-ass!"

Hmm.

"Father."

"…uh…I can't really think of anything. Sorry." She apologizes.

"It's alright, really! Brother."

"…see befo'."

"Right, right. Sister."

"Giiiiirl!" Kangaskahn laughs.

"Huh? Girl?"

"Yeah, me and my homies, we'd be addressing each other as "giiirl" all the time, if ya know what I'm sayin'?"

"I think so." I nod. "Normal."

"…uh…parenthood."

Hmm. That's a surprisingly revealing answer. I continue. "Life."

She immediately picks up "Junior" and cuddles him. "This right here? This my life." She says.

"…I see." I write some notes down. "Death."

Kangaskahn looks pained as she puts her child back in the pouch. "Ain't right. I've seen too much of it…"

"Oh, I'm…I'm sorry to hear that." I say sadly.

"Kangaskahn culture's all about the sisterhood. We're all there for each other. So if one of us loses a kid in terrible weather or a predator comes around, then EVERYBODY knows…y'know?" She asks sadly.

"I take it this happened a lot in your…uh, herd?"

"Too often." She mutters. "Waaay too often, shrink. Sometimes the Legendaries caused it JUST to f—k with us! It ain't RIGHT!" She stomps her foot, making my office shake.

Hold on, this I've got to hear. "The Legendaries sometimes cause accidents?"

"Uxie, Mespirit and Azelf are kind of known as tricksters. They pop up here and there, having "fun". Now, my idea of a good time sure as hell ain't the same as theirs and I thank my lucky stars for THAT, if ya know what I'm sayin'?"

"I gotta be honest, I don't."

"Well at least you honest. Cresselia sometimes straightens them out. She's a very stern old biddy, but she knows how to keep riffraff in check. Then there's Heatran. He almost never speaks. His actions speak louder than words and his smell speaks louder than THAT! Give it up!"

I slap hands with her. OW…OW…

"Shaymin, now he is so sweeeeet! He's always so shy. He wants to be appreciated and loved by the Grass Pokémon it looks after, since the Legendaries don't treat him with that much kindness. It's ironic that the Gratitude Pokémon wants gratitude, huh?"

I don't speak for a little while, letting her collect her thoughts. Then I hold up the inkblot test. "I'm going to show you some inkblots. You just tell me what you see."

She looks at the first one. "…aw, that's ol' Pikachu! He's all serious-like, but he got BALLS. Serious cred."

"You think highly of him."

"Anybody who can stick to an honor code's is a'ight in MY book."

"Okay, how about…" FLIP. "This?"

"Some kinda road. Makes me think of ridin' low and ridin' dirty!"

"Right. How about this?"

"Oh, that's Fairy-Boy right there."

"Huh?"

"Eevee. Totally queero, but hey, is cool…is cool."

"Uh…right. How about this?"

She stiffens up. "Blu-buh-buh…"

I can guess what she's saying. I switch cards. "This?"

"Th-that's…uh…that's a fan to keep things chill, y'know?"

"Right. And this?"

"That looks like some kinda…freaky helmet thang."

"Aaaand this?"

"Oh, that's a flock of Pidgeotto. You should have seen her half an hour ago!"

"Huh?" I tilt my head to the side, confused.

"Ring the bell, cuz I SCHOOLED her in Texas Hold 'Em, HELLOOOO!" She laughs.

"Right, right." I jot down more notes, then take a breath. "So could you tell me what "truth" means to you?"

"Truth? You mean like those dumb-ass cigarette ads? I don't give a S—T about those ads!"

"Woah, you're swearing around your kid?" I ask, a bit surprised.

"Trust me…he's gonna hear it pretty early in his life."

…it hits me like a freight train. "HE?"

"Yep! He's gonna get insulted and called a freak and crap for being the only boy Kangaskahn in existence, so I gotta get him to grow a tough skin and make sure he ain't offended by damn near anything!" She tells me proudly. "WORD to your mothers!"

"Right…okay, that makes sense. But I mean "truth" as in the OTHER kind of truth."

"Oh, that. Basically it's something that's for real-real, not just for play-play." She tells me.

I write that down, along with some other stuff while she hums a little rap tune to her kid, which seems to put it to sleep. I then speak up. "What do you remember about Nick, your trainer?"

"Oh, Nick!" Kangaskahn laughed. "That kid was soooo goofy! He was corny, cheesy, the whole works! He was a TOTAL nerd! But he was never afraid of keeping it real, y'know? He always was true to hisself!"

"Really?"

"A lot of people talk about "keepin' it real". But you know what? Before "keepin' it real" meant wearing gold and having rims that spun and all that s—t, it just meant bein' yo-self and not having nobody tell you otherwise. That takes a lotta guts." She tells me proudly. "So he kept it REAL. He was always just himself and never cared what other people thought about him."

Interesting. "So that's why you stuck around with him?"

"Naw, he just always needed somebody to guide him 'round the Safari Zone and other places like my pad and he had chocolate, so hey, I ain't gonna turn down a chance to have me some chocolate! Can I get a witness?" She hollers.

"Uh…holla?" I respond.

She laughs. "You are so WHITE it's cute. Plus y'know what they say about men with big feet. They got big-"

"Uh, okay, okay!" I write down some notes. I nod. "Thank you, you've been very helpful. And I think Nick would be glad to know you liked how "real" he was." I tell her.

"Anytime, shrink. Anytime. You know…I wanted to tell the kid how I admired him before. I wish I could have told him that before he had to go back to his world. I wonder what he's doing now?"

She smiles. "He's probably keepin' it real! Ha-ha! Now then…exit stage right!" With that she snaps her claws and walks out with her kid still in it's pouch. "Make way! Baby on board!"

I start writing.

Subject: Kangaskahn

The subject is unmistakably prideful in her ability to take care of her kid. She also hasn't really had any male figures in her family that made a big difference. Her mother and sister were very important, and she is unmistakably feministic. Not that she doesn't admire some men, but she seems to hold women on a very high podium. I'm not completely sure this is a good or a bad thing. Perhaps she would have been more open with me if I was a female.

She has also been privy to seeing death frequently due to accidents that occurred in her herd, and this has had an effect on her. She saw blood in an inkblot test, making me believe she witnessed a terrible, horrific accident in her past. She should allow herself to open up about it, it's not good to keep something like that inside. I'm certain that with the proper therapy, and perhaps a few sessions with a female therapist, she'll become more open.

She's "from the block" but is surprisingly sensitive in certain areas, being appreciative of other people despite their flaws and admiring those who can "keep it real" and just be themselves. She has a good grip on "Ebonics", as they're called, and is apparently very good at basketball. She incorporates her child into everything she does and, as fitting for her species, is protective of him…but she's also realistic. She knows that he will face great adversity and will do everything she can to prepare him for it, even if it means being occasionally harsh.

I can't help but wonder how the child will turn out.

EPILOGUE

It's interesting, really…fascinating how much Pokémon are like people. Or is it the other way around, and it's amazing how much WE'RE like them?

People tend to focus on differences that people have all the time. This person's gay, that one's straight, I'm Catholic, you're a Jew, he's black, she's white, so-and-so's a democrat, this-and-that's a republican, blah-blah-blah.

When you get right down to it…all of us have a surprising amount of things in common. All of us worry about what the future holds. We think about our pasts, we feel regret or joy at what passed by our eyes. We play and have fun. We worry about ourselves, our bodies, if perhaps there's something wrong with us. We all want to live…and above all, we all feel love at some point.

And we do these things because we are people. Not things…not mindless beasts…sometimes we're idiots, true. Sometimes we're assholes. Sometimes we're pussies. Sometimes we're crazy!

But we're still people. And people are connected, no matter what they're made of or where they come from.

If more people realized that, then we'd probably be a lot happier than we are right now. And you know what? I think one day…we WILL realize that. We will understand and accept the differences other people have, and we'll get along. Because people, because life ITSELF…both are changing all the time!

And ain't that the truth?

Author's Note:

I intend to return to the Pokémon section of to write about the Legendaries, but I must work on developing my "Grand Tour" series more. However I wish to thank all of you who read my story and extend happy thanks to Gameplayer Ali, GirlWaterShaman, Dragonchild25, Takahiro, Silentlysnowing and of course, Dynamite Dude for your reviews! You rock out loud!

Farewell for now...

...Nick