Chapter 10

Arcanine slowed down to a stop and me and Amy slid off it's back

"Thanks Arcanine" it gave a triumphant bark and was sucked back into the pokeball.

"Well that was fun wasn't it" Giles said sarcastically

"They obviously didn't like us poking around" Murphy said

"Well it was actually something else" Amy said openly "they all attacked me when I expressed my love to Aundrea". They both looked at her intrigued

"They obviously are very against Pokémon/Human couples" Giles joked "We all know it's illegal".

"Hmm, I suppose this is a lesson for us" Murphy said wisely

"How, it was all a misunderstanding" Giles said angrily

"We must be more careful when acting as if our Pokémon, well mates, are human" everyone just looked down in disappointment including me; this was going to be difficult.

"Oh well" I said as cheerfully as possible "We aren't around anyone at the moment"

"True, actually I have no idea where we are" Murphy said looking for his map in his back-pack.

"Ah, here it is, so we entered the city here… The house is here… We ran north so… We must be around here" He pointed at a wilderness of, well nothingness.

"I suppose this couldn't be more suitable for us rejects" Giles said trying to lighten the mood. It worked making Amy give a slight giggle, but her giggle faded and her face sank into I slight depression as she sat onto the floor looking at the pokeball that contained Aundrea

"Will we ever be accepted" Amy said to herself as Giles and Murphy started arguing on where to go next, Giles wanted to go to a restaurant because he didn't like the food Murphy bought but Murphy refused and started mocking him by saying

"Aww, does some body refuse to eat his din dins, aww stop being such a baby!" Murphy shouted. I quickly looked round at Giles who was in shock, Murphy has never shouted before, no matter how angry he got, Murphy always seamed to remain calm, this was new.

"Uhh, Murphy are you ok?" I said nervously, his face soon fell into more of an upset stance and he replied with a short sigh

"Sheesh, why can't you just not act like a three year old for one day" he said it so calmly, so quietly that Giles didn't know what to do. You could see the agitation in his face but he had already tipped Murphy over the edge once, he wasn't going to try another time. Amy had managed to completely ignore the commotion as she slowly muttered to herself

"Amy, this will all turn out right, for you and Aundrea" she looked up to me with a small amount of admiration in her eye but it soon faded

"I'm not only worried about me and Aundrea, or you or Giles or Murphy, I' worried about… Alastair"

"Hmm, has it stuck you yet that it was only his clothes and mobile they found"

"Huh?" she replied in confusion

"Doesn't that remind you of something that happens to us…?" I said trying to get the hint across. She gave a small gasp

"Of course, it's so obvious now but… he lived in the same village I did, did you visit his house, was it on your list

"I don't know, hey Murphy did we have any more forAzaleaTown?" Murphy stopped arguing and turned to face me

"No, I'm afraid not" he said shaking his head

"Oh, oh well you never know there maybe a lot more out there"

"Hm, maybe" she said slowly drifting off into her imagination. I wish there was something I could do but I knew there wasn't.

I started to make camp, helping Amy put up her tent and started making a fire. I brought a few rocks to encircle the fire and grabbed as many twigs as I could find. Giles got Flareon to light the fire and it started with ease.

"Uh… Darius?" Amy asked with a slightly embarrassed tone

"Yeah what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just, uh… Well my tent was built for two, there is plenty of room, and I just thought you'd be warmer in a tent rather than outside" Her cheeks blushed slightly and Natascha's ears started to twitch.

"Uhh" I honestly had no idea how to answer, yes I would like to because I was already cold and it wasn't even night time but if I say yes… It might make things, rather awkward between us.

"Well, uhh, I… don't mind, what ever you want" I think I might have just got away with that, it's now up to her whether things might get awkward or not. Well that does make me seem slightly like a coward, but it's for the best

"Well, its open if you want to" she said her cheeks getting more and more rosy. I sighed and did what was best

"I'm sure I will be fine, but thanks for asking, I appreciate it" her slightly embarrassed look past as she gave a small smile

"Well you're welcome to come in if you do change your mind" she said happily. Ugh I wish she would stop tempting me. Natascha looked up at me and then changed me

"Oh, what's wrong Natascha?"

"Look, if you did that for me then I don't mind, you can sleep in her tent" I gave a small laugh

"No it's not because of that; it's just that I don't want things to get awkward between me and her"

"Well she has Aundrea, and she knows that your mine" she said with pride

"Huh, yer I won't ever make that mistake again" remembering the time when Natascha and Crystal met each other.

"Actually I might reconsider As a Pokémon as well it would be less awkward I believe" Natascha smiled and added

"As long as I'm there with you"

"Of course" I said smiling. I dragged my clothes into Amy's tent and Natascha dragged my sleeping bag in to the tent which both me and Natascha were going to use. I came in as Amy was just snuggling into her sleeping bag, she hadn't changed, and there was honestly no point really.

"Ah so you decided to join me after all" she said guessing I was one of the two Jolteons that entered her tent. I just smiled up at her, signaling I was the one she was mainly trying to speak to.

I snuggled up in the sleeping bag as Amy got out of hers to close the tent door. Natascha joined me and Amy went back into hers, as she did Aundrea joined her lying on her stomach under the covers.

"Hmm, they must have a very close bond don't you think?" I said to Natascha

"Uhh, yer I guess so" she said just trying to make herself comfortable. I moved to the very bottom of the sleeping bag so that Natascha could have the better part. I saw a glimpse of her smile, as it was very dark and then I felt her draw closer to me. She obviously didn't care where she was, salon as it was by my side. It made me smile.

Once morning commenced, my eyes slowly opened only, I felt a lot more cramped then when I fell asleep. I wiggled myself to the opening of the sleeping bag and looked upon Amy who was struin out diagonally over the tent floor. Aundrea was in the corner of the tent, he obviously got off of Amy as she moved through the night. I came outside to find Murphy packing up his sleeping bag; he seemed to have a smile on his face.

"Oh hey Natascha, up so early?" I just shook my head

"Oh, sorry Darius" There was a new sense of confidence in his voice, also he sounded incredibly relaxed,

"I wonder if it had anything to do with yesterday" I said to myself. As I thought about yesterday I remembered Arcanine, Arcanine didn't know about my transforming so it was about time to tell him. I went back into the tent, Natascha, Amy and Aundrea were all still fast asleep so I treaded carefully, grabbed my belt of pokéballs and came back out. I pressed the button of the ball which contained Arcanine and he shot out in a beam of light.

"Oh hey Natascha, why'd you releas... Wait you're not Natascha, your male... Darius?"

"Ok, how the heck did you work that out?" This was amazing, I knew no one had told him because last night was the first time I had let him out of his pokéball since I could transform

"Oh, well I have a knack for working things out"

"Arcanine, don't you trust me" I new he wasn't being honest with me

"Fine, I could smell you and your gender"

"You could smell me?" I said in disbelief

"Yer, everyone and everything has its own particular smell, and you kept yours, even when you became a... Wait how come your a Jolteon anyway?" Suddenly realizing that it isn't normal for humans to turn into pokémon

"Long story"

"Tell me" he pleaded

"Fine..." so I told him the whole story and he shockingly replied with

"Oh, understandable"

"What, how is any of that understandable?"

"Well it's the Ninetales curse, every Pokémon has heard of the Ninetales curse, haven't you?"

"No, maybe that's because I'm not a Pokémon"

"Hm, probably" I wondered for a few seconds and just incase I asked him

"Have you heard of any other cursed people?"

"Uhh, well actually yes"

"Really, who?"

"Uhh, well I promised them I wouldn't tell..." To be honest I didn't really care

"I'm your trainer and you will do as I say"

"But your so tiny" he laughed "what are you going to do about it if I don't?"

"Put you back in your pokéball" I said seriously

"Oh, yer, ok It was" he leaned in closely turning from a normal voice to a whisper "Aqua"

"Who? Oh you meanAlice"

"What you know her real name?"

"Yer of course I... Wait, so you knew she wasn't called Aqua?"

"Uh, well yes"

"How long have you known about Aqua...Alice's transformation?"

"A couple of years..." he said shyly

"What and you didn't think to tell me?"

"I just found out now that you could transform" he said angrily

"Oh yer, sorry". Soon everyone started waking up. First it was Giles, then Amy, well what I meant by everyone was all the humans, well human humans, not Pokémon humans

"Ugh this is way too confusing" I sighed.