"Arceus damnit. . ." Arella sighed, looking down at her feet as she treaded through the Ilex Forest, "How the hell am I supposed to face him now? I just said I was a girl to his face. . ."
Matthew walked a little faster so he was right next to her, then pulled on her pant leg.
"What is it?" Arella looked down.
"You. . .never told us. . .anything."
Arella stopped, then turned around and looked at the rest of her pokemon. Daniel shook his head, Fudge shrugged, and Alucard simply looked around, confused..
". . .I . . .I guess I never did. . ." she bit her lip.
"Now would be a really good time for an explanation," Daniel sighed.
"Wait, no! Come back!"
Arella turned back around to where the noise was coming from, then sighed.
"After we figure out what's going on, okay?" She gave a nervous smile to her party, then ran towards the noise, all 4 of them following her. Eventually they came upon a boy that was looking around rather nervously.
"My boss is going to kill me. . ." he sighed, biting his lip.
"What's the matter?" Arella asked as she walked up to him.
"The Farfetch'd we used to cut down trees for Charcoal just ran off. . .Arceus he's going to kill me"
"We can get it back," she smiled at him, "Where'd it run off to?"
"Over that way. . .And, uh. . .thanks."
"No problem," she nodded, then ran off.
It was almost dead silent in the forest, besides the humming of bugs and the rustling of trees. A single Farfetch'd stood in the forest path, poking at various parts of the forest ground with his onion stalk.
He perked up when he heard footsteps behind him, than ran off as someone tried to grab him from behind.
"So fragging close," Arella grumbled, picking herself up from the forest floor. From the sounds emanating in the distance, her team was having the same exact difficulty with the stupid bird.
"I think we're going to need a different tactic," Daniel stated as he flew over to his trainer, "That bird is just way too fast."
"I'll say," she picked a burr off of her jacket, "Any fantastic ideas?"
"We could always chase it to that boy," he suggested .
"Let's just try the sneaking up on him for a little longer. . ." she sighed.
"You just want to put off telling us the truth longer, don't you?"
"No I don't!"
Daniel shook he head, "Suit yourself"
"Okay, so you were right. Big fragging deal" Arella grumbled, picking forest floor objects out of her hair as she walked back over to the boy who now had possession of the Farfetch'd again.
"Thanks again for your help," he nodded, smiling, "You guys are heading to Goldenrod, right?"
"Yeah," she replied, picking off another burr.
"You better be careful then. I've heard that the leader in that town is really strong."
"Thanks for the tip," she smiled, then walked farther through the forest.
"Arella. . .Are you going to tell us now?" Matthew asked quietly as they came up upon what looked like a shrine.
". . .Yeah, sure. . ." she sighed, looking up at the clearing above the shrine that revealed the stars in the sky, "It's getting dark, so we should rest here anyways. . ."
She released Hana and Elizabeth from their pokeballs and silently settled down next to the shrine, her pokemon looking at her expectantly.
"3 days ago. . .I just woke up here in this world," she drew up her knees to her chest, "I was a girl in my world, but when I woke up here I was a guy, and it was like I was living here for years. . .I had a 'mom', I had been living in New Bark for years, and I knew Professor Elm. It's like I replaced someone, took their life," she sighed, "I don't know how I got here, how to get back, or how I even changed genders."
"So you're not even from here?" Elizabeth asked.
"No. . .I'm not from here," she looked down at the forest floor, but looked up again when she felt something against her leg. Matthew had one of his claws on Arella's leg as he looked her in the eye.
"Then I'll help you get back," he nodded.
"We will help you get back home," Daniel corrected Matthew.
"Just tell us what to do," Hana chimed in.
She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she realized what just happened. She brushed them aside and smiled, "Thanks guys. . .but for now, we need to get some sleep so we're prepared for the next gym."
