Chapter Twenty-Four:
Roads Less Traveled

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way, shape, or form. The only "ownership" I can claim are the personalities and my interpretation of how Pokémon look in a more realistic light, but other than that...yeah, I don't own anything on them. XD I do, however, own my original characters and writings, unless otherwise stated. In an exceptional case, a few special OCs belong to their respective owners, I'm merely borrowing them for the story that's to unfold. I'll point them out when their time to show up comes. :3

Note: To my lovely guest, Furubachick: Yes, of course your reviews make it through! If you check in the reviews for the story, you'll see all the reviews you've posted! Or, hopefully all the ones that you create; if any didn't, then I'm stumped. XD But seeing you in there brightens my day because you're so enthusiastic about this story, I absolutely love it!

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The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Excerpt of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost

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Everything hurt, from the tip of his snout to the end of his tail. He wanted nothing more than to snap at the offending intruder pulling him from the cool and blissful darkness of his mind. Riptide hissed weakly, his armoured eyelids feeling like heavy weights as he struggled to prop them open. His vision blurred for the first few moments, but then a shape began to solidify before him. A relieved gush of air puffed past his flared nostrils before annoyance began to prickle at the forefront of his mind.

"You set yourself on fire again," he managed to croak out, a thin veneer of his irritation leaking in his voice. Lupin smiled Mareepishly at him, a rather lopsided look that fit her as she rubbed at the back his skull with one hand and the other spritzed bits of potion on his scales.

"You evolved," she retorted, although not unkindly. He detected a hint of pride in her voice. The potion was working well enough already; he could lift his head and it no longer feel like it was splitting in half. He gave a cursory glance around, to find that they were outside Liza's cabin, the moon and stars were still out, but the position of the former was farther down in the sky than before. The sky was also beginning to lighten, slowly but surely. He sighed in a resigned fashion.

"Fair enough," Riptide grumbled, relenting to her point. The fact that he had evolved was slowly beginning to sink in once again. He was a Croconaw now. He was no longer a tiny Totodile. He waited, almost impatiently, for Lupin to finish healing him before he tested himself on his arms, pushing himself up to his back legs. He wobbled, off balance and surprised at how much more height he had now and at how…saurian his legs had become in order to support his weight and posture. He twisted as best as he could to get a better look, but he was still as inflexible as ever.

"Keep chasing your tail like that, someone might mistake you for a scaly, blue Growlithe," another voice called with a snicker. Riptide turned to find the Growlithe laying on Lupin's other side, looking a little bit worse than him, but not by much. At least he was awake.

"And if I skinned you of your thick scruff and left only a few red tufts on your back, someone might take you for one of the Totodile brood."

The Growlithe offered a floppy-tongued dog-grin, blue eyes dancing with mischief and relief. Lupin sat down the empty potion bottle and patted Bullet on his head. He whined contentedly, dropping his head on her thigh.

"You feeling better?" She asked of him, to which he gave a little nod and heavy sigh.

"Still tired, but it could have been worse," he admitted, an eye sliding open to peep at Riptide. "Are you good?"

The question coming from Lupin would have been predictable. But Riptide was surprised when it came from Bullet. He stared, taken aback before he nodded dumbly, automatically.

"I…yes. I'm good. Sore. Tired. But good. Nothing a bit of rest won't heal."

Bullet stared at him with one blue eye open still before he let off another heavy, drained sigh and closed his eye. "Good."

Riptide parted his jaws, words on the tip of his tongue, but he stopped short at the immense shadow that draped over them all and the sudden rise in heat. He turned on his paws and froze at the massive, scarred face and body looming within a few feet of them, icy blue eyes watching. The massive Charizard didn't speak, but he did watch them for a time before turning his attention away and toward the sky, as though sensing something was coming. Beyond, the night was slowly beginning to give way to the light of day.

The sky itself looked as though it wanted to catch on fire. The blackness of the night was chased away by the peaking of light on the eastern horizon, changing it to dawn-early dove grey and rosy pinks. Soon that was joined in by light golds. It was going to be another cloudless day, and the heat would soon pick up, making the air dry and arid, parched like the dust carpeting the ground.

With the rising of the sun, a small flock of Pidgeot and Fearow came from the opposite horizon, rushing forward on speedy wings. Upon their backs were Azalea police officers, guiding their pokémon toward the Charicific Valley in the dawn light. Riptide and Bullet watched in a kind of detached manner, too tired to get up and greet the officers alongside their trainer, but awake enough to continue viewing the proceedings. For nearly an hour after they landed, Lupin retold the events that had occurred within the last twelve hours to one officer, while the rest gathered up the unconscious poachers and their pokémon. A medical pokémon officer was out in the nests, helping revive the little Charmander and Charmeleon, alongside their mothers and other assorted Charizard that had been drugged.

All the while, the large Charizard who had come to their aide stood by like a silent sentinel, his scarred face giving away no thoughts that crossed his mind. Icy blue eyes watched the proceedings with just as quiet revelations as other two, and for the time being, they were too tired to even note how unsettling it was. As the conversation between Lupin and the police officer dwindled down, the poachers' pokémon were soon revived. A ring of police-working Growlithe and one frighteningly large Arcanine were set to guarding them. The only one who showed an ounce of remorse was the Marshtomp. He looked morose and regretful, scared even.

Riptide stirred, if only briefly, at the mud fish's presence. The Raichu looked worn out and beat down, but that didn't stop her from glaring between himself and Bullet. The unconscious and injured Aerodactyl had been too large to move with the current teams the officers had on hand and was returned to her pokéball for safekeeping. No doubt the others were to be confined all the same within the next hour or so.

The scuff of boots against gravel drew their attention away from the posse of pokémon. Riptide pushed himself up to his hind legs, his body feeling rickety and not like the one he had been born into and was used to. Bullet lingered with a whine, waiting until the big jaw pokémon seemed stable enough to stand on his own. He trotted forward with a minor limp and Lupin paused to scoop him up, burying her face in his scruff. "You guys did really good. D'ya wanna rest in your pokéball until we can get to Azalea? They offered us a ride there."

"I think so…I don't like the idea of flying…especially on one of them," Bullet remarked, eying one of the Fearow with a suspicious eye. She nodded, fishing out his pokéball and returned him in a beam of energy. Lupin turned to Riptide next, and he cocked his head to the side, flicking his gaze toward the Pidgeot and Fearow, assessing if he was up for a flight and decided no, he wasn't either. Never, actually, was a good time though. He nodded to her.

"I'll take my chances in my pokéball. My sentiments are the same as the fluffball."

Lupin grinned at him, a mischievous light in her eyes and no doubt a prickly retort on her lips. She was interrupted by a shadow falling over her and she turned to find the Charizard from before standing over her, closer than ever. She gazed up at the brute, her smile dying down. Riptide edged closer, muscles tense at the sight of the giant. Fireproof, she might be, but she could bleed all the same and he didn't exactly trust the fire pokémon entirely. He helped them out, yes, but that didn't mean he did it out for altruistic reasons. The Charizard held a steady gaze with the werewolf, quiet and stolid. For the longest time, it was as though he was having a silent conversation with Lupin, before he gusted hot breath down on her, nodded once, and turned on his heel to stalk away. Riptide pressed against her side and leaned against her, watching the Charizard through narrowed eyes until the brute spread his wings and took off.

"What was that about?"

Lupin didn't answer for the longest time before she shook her head.

"I dunno."

She looked sincerely lost as she adjusted her hat and turned back to him, his pokéball in hand. Already, he could feel his muscles turning to putty as he swayed unsteadily on his paws. Exhaustion began to settle in his bones once more as she returned him to his pokéball.

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The sight of a town after several weeks on the road and the harrowing events of last night were a relief to weary bones. The officers dropped Lupin off in front of the Azalea Pokémon Center, bidding her farewell, good luck, and if they were in need of further information, they would contact her.

She watched as they took off once again, shielding her eyes from the sun momentarily as they sped off. Her ears gave a cursory twitch under her hat at a set of rapidly approaching footsteps and she turned in time to see an elderly gent making a beeline for her, looking haggard but determined. He skidded to a stop just short of her, his eyes glued to the rapidly departing officers.

"No, no, no! Dammit! I needed to talk to Officer Halberd! You there, girl! What were you doing with them just now?"

Lupin jumped, surprised at being addressed so suddenly.

"There was an attack at the Charicific Valley—poachers. I called them in earlier this morning to help with dispatching them and they gave me a ride here."

"Poachers in the Charicific Valley?"

The older man looked old enough to be her grandfather, considering if she even had one, she realized with a start. His hair was silvery-gray and receding from his brow, while visible liver spots decorated skin where hair was no longer growing. A weathered and sun-beaten face pulled in a scowl as burnt sienna eyes regarded her with suspicion for a long while. He turned on his heel with a 'harrumph' and a sweep of his aqua-hued hakama.

"Damn it all, those fools are wasting their time with petty cases outside of our hometown. Should have let another town, a much closer one, take care of the problem because we have plenty of our own!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. The rains have stopped in Azalea and the Slowpoke are beginning to disappear! Something is wrong, and I aim to raise all seven hells until things are put right. Team Rocket is behind this, cutting off our Slowpoke's tails and hawking them off the sides of the roads, I just know it!" The elderly man scowled again, gritting his teeth. "The Slowpoke Well outside of town…of course! Hang on, Slowpoke! Old Kurt's on his way!"

Without another word or look spared to the werewolf, the old man was off again, hobbling away down the street. Lupin stared after him, somewhat dumbfounded as she considered his cryptic words and actions. Slowpoke tails…where have I heard that before?

It hit her like a brick wall at full speed and she stared down the road where the old man had disappeared down more intently. That loiterer I called Professor Elm about, just a few days ago…he was selling Slowpoke tails on the side of the road outside Union Cave. And Team Rocket? Who're they?

With one question answered, several more bloomed in their place. She entered the center with her head buzzing and muscle memory had her going through the motions to secure herself a room and heal her pokémon. When the nurse manning the desk handed back her pokéballs, Lupin took them with an automatic thank you passed along as she shuffled off toward the chow hall. Once inside, she snagged a tray and loaded it with as much food as she could and found a secluded table away from other trainers lingering about. Only when she actually sat down did she finally think to release Riptide and Bullet. She took two small bowls off her tray and offered them to the two. Bullet dug in with gusto, while Riptide stared half-heartedly at the meal before glancing up at the werewolf.

"Azalea?"

She nodded, picking at a bowl of steamed rice and then another bowl lined with natto. Riptide croaked at her, eyes narrowing as he lifted himself a little higher, somewhat pleased that he could now clear the table with his head.

"And?"

Her gaze flicked to him briefly, then back to her tray of food. She took a few bites of the natto before pausing to top it off with some soy sauce. As an afterthought, she poured some over her steamed rice as well.

"We got dropped off, and then this old guy came up and started ranting about…Slowpoke tails. He wanted to talk to the officers who dropped us off, but they'd already flown off."

The gears clicked into place slower than he would have liked. He clacked his jaws with a low hiss. Lupin took this as a sign to continue. Bullet paused in his feeding to look up, his attention equally as sharp now. Lupin furrowed her brow.

"He said that the Slowpoke are disappearing here in Azalea, and that there's some kind of…well outside of town. And that someone called 'Team Rocket' was involved." She turned her mismatched gaze on the Croconaw. "Have you heard of them? The way he was muttering about them, he made it seem like they were bad news."

Riptide considered the name, mentally rolling over it before he shook his head, looking earnestly lost. For once, he didn't have an absolute answer.

"I've never heard of them. It's…I'd say it's a stretch, but they might be a pokémon-humanitarian group. There are plenty of organizations out there that deal with pokémon rights and…it's been a while, admittedly, since I've heard about them. Some tend to be…radical and dangerous, though. The professor would know more about them, and he might have heard of this Team Rocket group, to be honest. It's never been brought up in the laboratory. I'm sorry. Maybe you'd have better luck calling and asking him." He paused, before revising with, "Although I'm not entirely confident he'll pick up. He might be off somewhere. Phillip might possibly know, though, as a secondary source to ask."

Lupin considered the advice.

"I'll have to give them a call later. I think we should get some food in us and start looking."

"Looking? For what?" Bullet piped up, licking his chops. Riptide regarded him with a half-lidded gaze that all but said 'Really?'

"Me." Lupin said to the puppy pokémon. "Clues about me."

"You should have asked the officers when you had them here still."

"They probably wouldn't have been able to check their database for missing people out in the field. I think we should just hit up the station and start from there. You guys up for it?"

Riptide rolled his shoulders as he turned to his dish of food. He could smell the tangy aroma of freshly caught fish and meat and if it were possible, his mouth would be watering at the scent. He took a few bites, snapping up and gulping down the more acceptable palette of food than the tripe he had to suffer on the road.

"We should rest first. We had a long night. Even after being healed, I still feel like I got hit by a truck and ran over by a Rhyhorn right after for good measure."

Bullet whined his agreement and glanced at Lupin with a pleading gaze. She hesitated, and for the first time, Riptide actually looked at her. She had bags under eyes as though she hadn't slept in days. Her usually tanned face looked ashen, like she had wasted away years off her lifespan overnight. Everything about her seemed to show more about her true age than usual; the way her shoulders and body sagged, the lethargic way she regarded her surroundings.

It came to him, once more slower than he would have liked, but it came nonetheless as he realized why she looked so haggard: the full moon was almost upon them. She looked like this a day or two prior before, although at those instances, he hadn't paid as much care or attention to the details, but they had been there, he was sure of it.

"You need to rest as much as we do," he stressed more carefully, giving a side eye to their surroundings and the patrons close by. "Running around wasting what little energy you have now won't do you much good in the next few days. You saw the moon last night. I know you did."

She tilted her head, regarding him with another tired stare. If it were possible, her shoulders caved even more as she nodded. "Right…yeah, I get what you're saying. We'll…we'll take a rain check on that visit to the police department, then."

Riptide nodded, huffing in satisfaction. Bullet had paused in his feeding to look back and forth between Lupin and Riptide, confusion clearly written on his face. The Croconaw regarded the puppy pokémon briefly.

"The night of the full moon is when she changes, remember? She'll be gone for the night, but should be back by morning, before anyone else is awake."

She'd done it well enough in Violet City. He didn't see why it wouldn't work here. It was the more densely populated cities he worried about.

The rest of breakfast passed in a blur and the trek to their appointed room even more so. Even after the healing, Riptide and Bullet still felt exhaustion wriggling about their joints and bones, worming deep into their muscles and demanding a physical respite. Luckily, Lupin was feeling the same way, if only for other reasons. They all collapsed onto the twin bed in the room, Lupin barely pausing long enough to tug off her boots before curling up with Bullet against her belly and Riptide snoozing at her back.

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The heady scent of campfire smoke perfumed the air, leaving her nose tingling pleasantly. A light wind whipped at her fur, and brought about more scent marks for her to sniff. A symphony was playing in her ears, a call of the wild, and she wanted to answer it in earnest. Lupin paused long enough to give a cursory glance over her shoulder, ears swiveling atop her head as she regarded the bejeweled little town to her backside all aglow with life. To the south the town continued, stretching out with sleepy fingers that dug into the land around it, while to the north was the untouched wilds that had yet to be assimilated. To the west lay the Ilex Forest, and oh, she wanted to race through those trees that towered high and proudly and blocked out everything, even the moon and the stars. But there would be time for that later, when she was ready to move on from this place.

It was inevitable to keep moving forward.

For now, she wanted peace away from humans while she still had her fur and the call to roam free was impatiently tugging at her now. She turned back to face the yawning, tangled expanse before her. She lurched forward, spurred to listen to instinct, but stopped short only a few meters away when something came on the wind.

It was a foul, cloying stench with the hint of a coppery tang that heralded the images of blood and struggle, coming from the east. Curiosity tugged at her, and for a moment, she put off entering the forest proper again. Through the tangled underbrush she slunk through, as quick as a shadow until the reek was so strong, it made her eyes water and her snout crinkle in distaste until her fangs were showing.

Voices drifted in soon after, adding to the quiet night orchestra, until that was all she could hear. The insects chirring, the croak of toads, the whisper of the wind—it all came to a baited hush. She could smell a small score of humans mingling with the tainted stench of fear and pain and blood and hopelessness. It all crafted a sour taste in her mouth and it coated the back of her throat, crawling down into her lungs and back again. It was sickening, to say the least, but at the very least, it wasn't human blood. That would have made it nearly unbearable to her nose. It just didn't smell right to her.

It didn't take her long in her trek to come to the source of it all. The forest gave way to a deep impression in the earth, the sides lined with packed down earth trodden in the likeness of footpaths. At the center of the depression, a large and simple stone well sat. It wasn't grand or impressive, but it was wide, wider than the average well should have been. Scanning over the area, Lupin's muzzle twitched as a wind finally stirred, as though daring to break the silence, even if only for a moment. The leaves in the tree danced in the respite before falling still once more.

She didn't have to strain herself to pinpoint the source of the voices, but it puzzled her. They were coming from inside the well. So was the source of the rotten stench.

Humans, she could smell. There was also the gentle slap of water repeating over itself in the background. She could hear the soft noises of animals as well, moans and whimpers. Farther out, near the opposite lip of the ridge, she could make out a pair of sentries, standing guard side by side along with their pokémon, as though guarding it. She snorted. It would be easy to slip in, and yet…

This place had a bad air about it, and it wasn't just the smell of it. Something was wrong. The sentries, the cries of pain and mewls for help, the scent of blood.

Core instinct urged her to go into the well. Find out more. Tear out the festering rot and patch up the bleeding wound. But a niggling sense of herself remained, battling with the wolf that promoted reckless abandon. It told her to wait until she had strength in numbers. The predator in her wanted to push aside the voice of reason, the small part of her that was even remotely human in resemblance pulled at her to stall charging in. That, and a certain little blue gator would chide her endlessly for doing something stupid again. She felt the nagging could be downplayed if she waited.

That, and her stomach was giving twinges of protest every now and then, demanding to be filled and soon. She needed food to replenish the energy she'd wasted after the full moon had risen and triggered her change. With a silent vow to return in full force, Lupin turned on her heel and made for the deeper forest, allowing the wolf within to take over for the hunt.

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Bullet jumped with a start at the sound of a door slamming, but calmed the moment he saw the familiar dusky shadow standing in front of it and could smell the familiar aroma of his trainer. Riptide snorted and croaked, but didn't stir from his spot on the bed. Lupin stood there for nearly a minute, as though completely unsure of what to do, and it worried the Growlithe. He was almost ready to spring up and go to her side. She began to move before he did with a sudden lurch toward the adjoining bathroom. He remained tense, contemplating, before he quietly got up and leapt off the bed.

Padding toward the bathroom, the shower turned on as he approached, but Lupin had yet to turn on the light. He found her seated on the toilet, the seat closed and her form hunched over with exhaustion. He could smell it on her as well. That, as well as blood from a fresh kill. Not pokémon, not that he could tell anyway.

"Lupin?"

She didn't move at first, but finally stirred when he called her name once or twice more. It was still early, the sun not even up yet. Very little light was filtering into the room, never mind the bathroom. He could just make out her features. Carefully, Bullet crept forward, Lupin's gaze never leaving him but it didn't look like she was fully comprehending he was there. He paused, just inches from one of her dangling hands. He pressed forward; gladdened when her reaction was to scratch his head and not push him away. He licked at her scarred wrist and she sighed.

"Hey," she croaked back belatedly, rubbing at one of his ears. "Sorry…'M just a little tired, Bullet. I'll be out in a minute, just…wait for me. Okay?"

The Growlithe hesitated.

"What did you do?" He responded softly. He had never seen her…well, Riptide had called it her other face: a wolfish beast that stood on two legs with scars all over and yellow flashing eyes. He found it hard to imagine that the small woman before him could turn into some giant monster.

"Hunted…found some elk not that far in the forest…ran along a river for a while and…" She paused, her brow furrowing in puzzlement. "I smelled death. There was…there was a hole in the ground, with…it was a well at the bottom. I…can't remember…"

Bullet whined, alarmed at her admission.

"No, no, no, don't forget, you can't forget—what was it? Tell me!"

His heart hammered in his chest and rushing blood was pounding away in his ears, making it harder to hear her soft response.

"I'm fine, Bullet, just…it's hard to remember what I do in that other…form. I think I found something bad east of Azalea, just outside of town," she replied. It quelled his panic a little, but not by much. He continued to whine in concern. She rubbed at his head again to comfort him. "I'm okay, I promise. I'm not forgetting. I'm remembering, don't worry. Just give me a few more minutes to gather myself."

He wasn't entirely convinced, but she did sound tired. Maybe if she showered and rested, she'd feel better. Bullet gave a nod. "Okay. Just…don't forget anything."

Lupin offered him a smile, patting his head one last time and hauled herself to her feet, slowly stripping off her clothes. Bullet left her as the air began to grow muggy in the bathroom from the shower.

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