All right. Here's the next chapter. Sorry that it's a little shorter than usual, but this size just fit with the plot, so I wrote it down. I'll take any characters or suggestions anyone wants in the story. Just shoot me a PM and I'll put them in somewhere.

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LELAND'S POV

Normally, when I woke up, I wasn't happy. While I did not always want to go to sleep, when I did end up in that state, I generally did not like to exit it. Full wakefulness always seemed to evade me for a while from when I first regained the ability to think.

Today was no different.

You would think that, since I was normally in the comfort of my own bed back at home, not sleeping on some slab of rock in the middle of the desert, things would be different this time, but that was not the case. I felt very much like lying back down and sleeping for a longer period of time.

"Wake up, Leland" said a voice I recognized.

As I opened my eyes, I saw that I was in the middle of the desert, a couple of miles away from a small town, in an area surrounded by small amounts of forest. For a few seconds, I had a hard time remembering where I was.

Then I knew.

This was Arizona, and we'd been teleported here by a member of a group called Team Atomic. And Team Atomic...they'd been trying to find a cure for us, if they were to be believed.

And there was that one little snag: I wasn't sure that they were to be believed. After all, they had never given me any evidence that they were even searching for a cure, let alone that they were actually making any progress. At the same time, I didn't know that I wanted to throw away any chance at turning back into a human.

But was Team Atomic my only chance?

I didn't want to think too deeply about that, but I fortunately didn't have to, because Sarah Mana asked me a question.

"Are you ready to go, Leland?" she said. "It's been a few hours, and that's as much sleep as you have time to get".

I nodded weakly, still feeling distinctly unrested. "Yeah, I'm good. I just want to leave, so can we do that? I feel like they're gunning for us".

I was fully awake now. After I had said, I feel like they're gunning for us, I knew that I was right. I knew that it wasn't too long until either group, Team Rocket or Team Atomic, caught up with us. I wasn't sure which one would be a worse outcome.

"Which one? Team Rocket or Team Atomic?" Todd asked.

"I don't know" I replied. "And, quite frankly, I don't want to know. I just want to get out of here. Can we?"

Todd nodded. "You keep saying that, but I think it's time to oblige. As someone who ran away from home at one point, I must say one thing, however".

"What is that?" Sarah said.

"You did not prepare very well to just run off into the desert like that. Clearly, your hearts, rather than your heads, were telling you where to go".

"Uh…" I started to say.

"Had you been thinking more clearly, you would have brought some supplies with you. Perhaps a backpack and some water, sleeping bags, that sort of thing".

"We really didn't have time for that, Todd" Sarah replied, getting to her feet. "In any case, let's get inside before I start absolutely boiling".

Let's get inside before I start absolutely boiling.

It might have been an exaggeration, but it might not have been. I had to keep on reminding myself that Sarah Mana was a Glaceon, and she was thus very much susceptible to the heat.

It was always very important for a Glaceon to make sure that they stayed adequately hydrated, or else they would quickly lose fluids until they ended up passing out. If they were not moved into a cooler place immediately, they could die of heat stroke.

I remembered how Sarah had been when I'd first found her, only five days ago. It was absolutely insane to think that it had only been that long, but she'd recovered quite quickly from her heat exhaustion. I knew that I didn't want it to happen again.

"Yes" Todd replied. "It's about eight in the morning now, and it's already about eighty-five degrees. It's only going to get hotter. We have to hurry back into town. Can you walk fast enough, Leland?"

I stood up, checking how my muscles were working. I was feeling a little achy, but that was only normal after having slept on any surface that was not a mattress. While it had not been a pleasant experience by any means, it was still quite something to be able to say that you had slept outdoors, in the desert.

"I can walk" I said. "Let's head into town".

We started heading back towards the town of Sedona. Occasionally, I looked around, convinced that we were about to be attacked at any moment. Whether or not my paranoia was justified can be left up to the reader, but it was very real.

After I looked behind myself for the hundredth time, Sarah snapped, "Leland! Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

I realized that the looks I'd been giving her were some that I would not normally want to give another person if I wanted them to like me, or at least not dislike me. I must have looked pretty angry, but what else would you have expected if I was being paranoid?

"Sorry" I said. "I'm just a bit worried about...everything".

"I can tell" Sarah replied, chuckling now. "You look like you just saw a ghost, and not the Pokemon type. Like, an actual ghost".

I couldn't help but laugh a little bit at that. There was something about the way Sarah said that that was just...adorable. I tried to keep myself from thinking these thoughts, knowing that the most important thing was to focus on the task at hand.

However...I just couldn't. The more I thought about it, the more I considered just what she looked like as a human, and whether or not she would make a suitable mate for me.

Whoa, Leland, you're really getting ahead of yourself, I chided myself. You're only seventeen, after all. You shouldn't be thinking about things like this.

But why not? As a sophomore in high school, I had had plenty of classmates who were already in romantic relationships, many of whom were with other classmates. Surely it wouldn't be crazy for me to have these thoughts at this age.

But perhaps not at this time, not when we were confused about whether Team Rocket or Team Atomic were more dangerous, about how Sarah and myself were ever going to turn back to normal, about anything else pertaining to our transformations.

"There's just no way", I said, "that nothing happens in Sedona. You know that we can't be that lucky".

"Be more optimistic, Leland" Todd replied. "You know that things don't always turn out in the worst possible manner".

But how could I be optimistic when the worst things possible kept happening to me? I'd never thought that I would ever be kidnapped by Team Rocket and experimented on to the point of transforming into a Zoroark, for instance. I'd never thought that we'd be teleported hundreds of miles from home, into a hot Arizona summer.

"I have to agree with Todd, Leland" Sarah said. She was picking up the pace, to the point that she was walking slightly ahead of me at this point. "You really are acting like a huge worrywart, concerned about things that you shouldn't be. Just enjoy the desert morning".

I supposed, when I really thought about it, that this was all I could do. All I could do was to hope that we got lucky, and there was soon a cure waiting for us from Team Atomic...but why would they give it to us, when we had deserted their headquarters?

I didn't know anything anymore. My entire mind was caught in an endless circle of terrifying thoughts, each one worse than the last.

At last, we made it back into the town of Sedona. I saw that it mostly consisted of stucco restaurants, New Age stores, and hotels, something that had not been quite as noticeable in the dark of night. In any case, I had expected it to be beautiful, but surely not this beautiful.

In a way, it reminded me of home. That was the best part...and it was the worst part.

I had started to feel homesick, and I really didn't like the reminders I was getting of what I was missing out on. I could be finishing my last week of 10th grade, getting full credit for my classes, and hanging out with my friends, what few I did have in real life.

Instead, I was far south of my home, wandering the desert with two people who had been strangers just last week. I had transformed into a Zoroark, and I was looking for a cure for my current condition.

If I had told you that paragraph, without telling you the rest of the story beforehand, you would probably look at me as though I was a madman. And you'd have good reason to think so.

We had just turned off of the street we were on and into an alleyway when I heard a voice say, "Go, Charizard!"

I gulped. Had we walked right into an ambush?

Jumping from a window five feet off the ground, a teenage boy, probably about sixteen or so, emerged. He looked not too different from my human form, with fluffy light brown hair and blue eyes.

I barely had time for my shock to register before I saw an orange shape flying down the alleyway, and I had to quickly step out of its trajectory.

Once I was able to see what it was, I was appalled to discover that I had just been charged by an orange dragon-like Pokemon. Of course, I knew which one this was, since the trainer had just called him out.

"What do you want?" Todd snapped. "Why do you want a battle?"

"Because I need to capture a Pokemon!" the trainer replied. "I need to bring it back to the base".

I need to bring it back to the base.

Those words were quite chilling, let me tell you that. I didn't know exactly what base he was referring to, but it wasn't a good thing that he wanted to capture me.

Was he working for Team Rocket or Team Atomic? Either way, I wanted to kick his ass, to show him that no matter what team he was a member of, he was playing for the wrong team.

"Oh, it is on" I said, with an emphasis on that last word. I was very angry at this young man, and I didn't even know his name.

I decided to go all out with an illusion. I hadn't tried one of those in a while, and it struck me that it had been quite stupid to go without one in the desert. Had we disguised our appearances, I realized with a mental facepalm, we could have avoided so much worry.

Ah, well, I thought to myself. No way to change that now. And we still haven't been captured, so I'd say we're doing pretty well.

I transformed into another Charizard. I knew that I couldn't growl in this form, or else I would turn right back into a Zoroark. However, I figured that I would still be able to breathe fire; how hard would that be?

As it turned out, a lot harder than would be expected. After huffing and puffing, I opened my mouth as wide as it would go, trying to breathe fire.

Perhaps fighting fire with fire was a bad idea here, I realized. I decided to take to the sky, trying to get a spot where I could attack the trainer's Charizard. I didn't know what else I could do except hope that….

Suddenly, the air felt very cold. I looked around and saw that Sarah was using Icy Wind. She seemed to be aiming at both the trainer and the Charizard.

She's helping me, I realized. That might have just turned a losing situation into a winning one.

I couldn't believe it. Sarah was being so helpful that I could have hugged her at that very moment. I didn't do that, since I didn't want to distract her from what she was doing, but I was quite impressed by what she had done, by what she was still doing to help us win the fight.

It wasn't too long until both the trainer and his Pokemon were frozen, having fallen unconscious to the ground. I looked at the Glaceon girl, shocked that she'd been able to win it for us that easily, as well as slightly annoyed that she hadn't helped us do that earlier, before I had made a fool of myself by transforming into a Charizard.

"Thanks, Sarah" I said, breaking the illusion on purpose. "Sorry that I did that".

"It's fine" she replied. "That was pretty fun; I'd love to do it again sometime".

Okay...I thought. Sarah likes to freeze people.

As awesome as Sarah Mana was, I felt slightly afraid of her in that moment. The very idea that she was able to freeze enemies, seemingly without a second thought...yeah, it's an understatement to say that this made me feel a little uncomfortable.

"We should get out of here" Todd said. "If there really is a team backing that person up...we don't want to meet them".

"Good idea" Sarah replied. "It won't be long until they start to thaw, and then we're going to be in big trouble. I think that we should head inside somewhere; I'm starting to feel really hot".

When I looked at the Glaceon, I noticed that it was true. Sarah appeared to be panting a lot more than she had been before, and her tongue was occasionally sticking out of her mouth. Clearly, she was not enjoying the hot Arizona day.

"Let's get inside" I agreed aloud.

After we headed out of the alleyway, we soon found ourselves in front of a store that looked like it sold just about anything you'd need to head out into the desert with; backpacks, water bottles, buffs, jackets, and various other types of items filled the shelves.

"What should we get here?" I asked the others. "Water?"

That wasn't a hard question to answer. All of us, especially Sarah, were going to badly need it on this hike, or whatever we were about to do.

"I have money, don't worry" Todd said. "I brought some with me when I was heading up the hill. Let's get some sleeping bags, some water, backpacks to hold them in…".

We went into the various aisles of the store and purchased all of those things. The cashier eyed us somewhat suspiciously, but I supposed that she came to the most logical conclusion, which was that all of us were about to go on a camping trip together. That was true, although not the whole truth.

After leaving the store, we started to walk back towards the edge of town. This time, we avoided the alleyway on purpose. We didn't know if any trainers or Team Rocket grunts were going to be present there, but we didn't want to take that risk.

"Where are we going?" Todd asked. "Do you have any particular destination in mind? Or just away from the town?"

Probably better that I don't say it here, I thought to myself. So that we don't attract any unwanted attention.

Aloud, I said, "We'll figure it out, Todd. That's the way we're going to have to do it".

The young man nodded. "Just making sure that this was a path you guys were willing to take. If you don't want to, you might as well say so now".

Neither of us did.

"All right" Todd said. "We're going to look for some form of shelter. We need to have some way to shield ourselves from the heat. And I do have one more question".

"What is that?" I asked. I was genuinely curious.

"It is this. Leland, do you have any idea how much danger you are in right now?"

That question kind of took me off guard. I hadn't been expecting to get back to that so soon. I thought it was very obvious indeed that I had two organizations trying to capture me and experiment on me.

To paraphrase a quote, you know you're in trouble when both the good guys and the bad guys want you dead.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be exactly the situation I was in. I wasn't sure that my very life was on the line. Or perhaps it was, because I didn't know how I could go on living as a Zoroark.

We had to find a cure.

First things first, I thought. Get to safety first. Figure out a way to turn back human second.

Indeed, I had to keep telling myself that, so many times that it might have seemed redundant. I was glad that I wasn't saying it out loud, because then I would have looked quite weird.

After Todd had asked me if I knew how much danger I was in, I said, "Yes, Todd. I do know. I am in a lot of trouble".

"Quite" the telepathic trainer replied. "And, let me tell you one thing, Leland; we have to be extra careful, because you can't use your illusions here".

"Why not?" I asked. "Why can't I use illusions?"

"Because", Todd said, "we need to be able to communicate with each other. If you turn into another Pokemon, you won't be able to speak without breaking the illusion. I won't have this becoming any more complicated than it needs to be".

That sounded like a reasonable request.

We kept walking for a while, Sarah leading the way. I saw that we were heading towards a large rock formation about two miles ahead of us. She'd evidently noticed the small indentation in the rock before either of us had.

"Is that a cave?" I asked. Even though I had very good eyesight in this form, better than it was as a human, I had not been able to notice it.

"Sure as hell is" the Glaceon replied. "Let's just keep go...oh, no".

"What is it?" Todd exclaimed, sounding very worried indeed. His eyes had become as wide as golf balls.

"The heat...the sun…".

Before either of us could say anything, Sarah collapsed forward, unconscious. Immediately, I knew what had happened.

"She just passed out" Todd said, echoing my thoughts. "We need to get her someplace cool right away. I'll carry her".

I nodded. I wasn't going to admit my weakness, but I felt as though I might pass out soon as well. It was getting really hot out, and being covered in dark-colored fur didn't exactly help either. I felt as though the black fur was heating up my heart, which it would continue to do until it started cooking.

Of course, that was an alarmist way of putting things. However, it was genuinely what I thought might be about to happen if I didn't get someplace cooler soon.

Todd bent over and picked up the unconscious Sarah, hefting her over his shoulders. How he was able to do that in the desert heat mystified me greatly; I might never understand it.

"Let's keep going" he said. "The cave's not too far away now".

I don't remember much of the rest of the journey towards the cave. For the most part, I was relying on adrenaline to get me over the finish line. I didn't think that I had the strength to make it too much further than where I absolutely had to go.

The only distance I had to walk, I reminded myself, was to the cave. After that, I could just sit down and pass out, just like Sarah.

Speaking of Sarah, she didn't stir at all when she was riding on Todd's shoulders. I wasn't quite sure why this was, but if it was due to a heat coma or whatever...that was alarming.

After what felt like an eternity, we reached the cave. It didn't look like much at first, but once I walked through the opening, I saw how big it was.

With a seven-foot ceiling, the cave expanded what looked like a very long distance into the red rock formation. I remembered, now- the red rocks of Sedona were quite famous, something that people came from thousands of miles away just to see. And now we were inside one of them.

As Todd lay Sarah on the ground, I walked into the corner. Sitting down on a rock, I didn't even take the time to worry about what might happen next, even though that was a very big concern for me.

All I had time to do was fall asleep.