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Sorry I stink at life- or maybe just at getting chapters out on time. This chapter and the next one are super long and kinda brain consuming so its taken me a lot longer to revise. I will continue outputting chapters on a monthly basis and will even try to make up for missing May! Sorry again, guys!

A thanks to all my readers who stick with me despite my horrible updating skills!

obsesssed-beyond-reason2001 - Thank you!

Also, if anyone's bored this summer, I highly recommend watching the anime, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Anywho...

Previously in An Apple A Day:

Erin, Anita, Liam, and Mel set sail for Vintage Village, only to find the boat was being controlled by Team Glop'emm members in a scheme to steal every passenger's Pokemon. The Glop'emm members used several Ghastlys to control crew members and passengers. Jake was among the passengers. Apple came to the rescue. All Pokemon were returned to their original owners and everyone was freed from the Ghastlys' control.

Meanwhile, the Master paid Tamara Lilac, the psychic gym leader, a visit. He discovered that six years ago, his father forced Tamara's Xatu to reveal the next place Mew would appear. However, the Master has still found no information about how to destroy Mew.

Jamie Arkle has temporarily left Rita Teal in charge of Team Glop'emm so he can get more about the Master and hopefully discover the Master's location and future plans. The Master and Rita both believe Jamie has left to bury his dead mother in Hoenn.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 34: Smells Like Change

I hesitantly knocked on the door. When there was no answer, I used Mel's key card to unlock the door and stepped into the room. On my shoulder, Apple shuddered and covered her nose with her paws. Mel had been right; it did smell pretty bad in here.

The bed on the right was still perfectly made—Mel had slept on the floor of our room last night. Liam was asleep in the other bed, tangled in the white sheets. His hair looked like the back of a porcupine, sticking up in random directions across his pillow. He actually was kind of cute all snuggled up with the sheets. Much more relaxed.

I tiptoed forward, considering all the ways I could wake him up. I grinned. Maybe I could jump on him…

I felt uneven ground beneath my tennis shoes and looked down. Upon seeing the crumpled button-down shirt beneath my shoe and the pair of jeans at the edge of Liam's bed, I blushed slightly. So no jumping…

Six Pokeballs and a slightly bulky grey phone still hooked onto Liam's jeans caught my eye. Curiously, I bent over and reached for a Pokeball—

A hand grabbed my wrist. "What are you doing?" My eyes trailed up the arm grabbing mine to a bare-chested Liam, crouching over me. Apple's surprised expression mirrored my own. How'd he move that quickly so quietly?

"Nothing." I flushed as Liam let go of me. In an attempt to get out of my awkward crouched position, I twisted around but lost balance and fell on my butt. Apple leapt off my shoulder and onto Mel's bed, probably to keep an eye on Liam. Liam stood up. "I came to get you up—we're almost to Vintage Village."

Liam folded his arms across his chest, giving me an uncomfortable glare. I almost choked when I saw his boxers—they were covered in little pictures of chocolate chip cookies. Liam cleared his throat while I held back a fit of giggles. He pointedly shifted his eyes to the floor beneath me.

Patting my hand on the floor, I realized I was still sitting on his jeans. I scrambled backwards, crab walking, then picking myself off the ground, and suddenly finding the water outside extremely interesting.

Liam mumbled something that sounded like, "Laundry day… dumb joke gift… stupid… all my other ones in the suitcase" as he got dressed. Then he said more clearly, "Is there a reason you're still in my room?"

Why the hell did he always have that nasty terse tone? "Yeah," I said, watching him put his shirt on in the reflection of the window. "I just thought you should know that while you were unconscious or puking or whatever last night, the boat was taken over by ghosts apparently controlled by Team Glop'emm—"

"What?"

I turned around. Liam looked less put together than I'd ever seen him in his crumpled, navy blue button up and his hair falling over his ear on his left side and sticking straight up on the right side. I rolled my eyes. "Team Glop'emm used ghosts to take over me and Mel and Jake—he's on the boat, apparently Team Glop'emm snatched him up and had ghosts take over his body in Artemis Town, where he has not yet won a badge, thank you very much—"

"I don't give a crap about Jake. Team Glop'emm…?"

"Well, luckily Apple whooped their asses," I gave Apple a thumbs up. She sat a little straighter on the bed and cocked her head up proudly. "and with the help of other trainers' dark and ghost Pokemon we drove out all the ghosts. I'm still not quite sure how the Team Glop'emm grunts were able to control so many ghosts, but they had quite an operation here stealing Pokemon. They were even controlling the captain. Apparently, they had at least one successful operation in Artemis Town—"

"What happened to the Glop'emm members?" Liam bent over the garbage can and knotted the plastic bag.

"Officer Jennys from Artemis Town came really quickly when we called. The Jennys took the Glop'emm guys back for questioning after making sure everyone got back their Pokemon and everything was okay here." I sat down on Mel's bed next to Apple as Liam picked the plastic bag out of the garbage can. The bag resembled an upside down, closed, water-filled umbrella, because of the way it was weighed down. Okay, actually, an upside down, closed, water-filled umbrella that reeked. "That's… are you feeling better?"

Liam opened the room's door, and tossed the bag into the hallway. Ew, now some poor janitor would have to pick it up and the hallway would start to stink.

Liam slammed the door shut. When he looked at me, it was like there was lightning in his eyes, preparing to lash out. The rest of his face was expressionless. I'd never seen him this angry before. Actually, I'd never seen him angry at all. "Let's see… I've been puking for about the last twelve hours, all of my possessions were thrown overboard, you waltzed in here this morning poking at what's left of my stuff and laughing at my boxers, and you're still here." I flinched. Liam opened the door again, pointedly waiting for me to leave.

I felt my cheeks heat up in anger. Apple shot me a warning look, but I didn't care. "I don't get it," I said, my voice rising. "Why do you treat other people like shit? I just came in here to wake you up and let you know the messed up crap you missed last night—"

"Bullshit—you were being your usual nosy self, probably coming up with some ridiculous way to make me more miserable—maybe throw the rest of my clothes overboard—"

I got to my feet. "Will you drop it already? I thought it'd be funny, and its not like you constantly care about anything anyway—"

"Oh yeah, I don't care the slightest about not having any clothes to wear—"

"—and maybe there were OTHER reasons I used your suitcase—"

"Like? You're just a selfish brat—"

"LIKE APPLE NOT HAVING A POKEBALL." The room was suddenly eerily silent. "She was sick and I needed to get her aboard somehow."

"Apple doesn't have a Pokeball?" Liam asked, his face suddenly vacant of all emotion. He stared at Apple as she jumped onto my shoulder.

"No, she doesn't," I snapped, striding towards the door. I stopped just outside the doorway. "You know, if anyone's selfish, its you. You don't give a damn about anyone—I didn't have the best night either, being possessed by a ghost and forced into kissing Jake for two hours—"

"Oh yeah, making out is really awful. I'm so sorry—" I grabbed the cold doorknob and yanked with all of my strength.

The door's slam echoed down the hallway.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I have a boyfriend," a brunette said, stomping her foot against the deck and walking away from Jake.

I snickered as Jake signed and sat down on a reclining chair. Failed attempt number three.

I leaned on the slick wooden railing and reached up to my shoulder to pet Apple between the ears. Mint Mountain was easy to see, even from Cape Caution, but now we were close enough that I could make out wooden cottages scattered about the mountain's base—Vintage Village. A breeze brushed my hair away from the back of my neck, sending a chill down my spine.

Something didn't feel right. I didn't quite feel right.

Twice now, a ghost had taken control of my body. Twice, I'd been saved by Apple.

The one time Apple was in trouble—the one time I thought she needed to be saved, I failed.

Last night, I'd woken up sweating, terrified Apple'd be gone. I relaxed when I found her asleep, curled up next to my pillow, but I couldn't fall back asleep. I'd just lied there, breathing the salty air and listening to Erin's soft snores until the sun beamed its first few rays through our small, round window.

Something was coming and I didn't know what and I still couldn't talk to Apple and I didn't understand why or why I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach…

"So why won't Anita and Erin talk to you?" I glanced over my shoulder. Mel had sat down next to Jake. "Anita said you were a rival trainer. Erin said you rivaled wild Sentrets for most annoying thing on earth."

"I have a complicated relationship with the ladies," Jake said. "See…"

Or maybe that foreboding feeling was just a reaction to seeing Jake again.

"Anita, catch!" I turned my head just in time for something plastic to smack me in the face. I looked down at the deck and saw a bag of chips. "Nice catch," Erin said dryly, leaning over the rail next to me and popping a potato chip from a bag she was holding into her mouth. I bent over and picked up the bag of chips.

"Thanks. Where'd you get them?" I asked, opening the bag. Apple sniffed the bag. For a moment, I thought she would try to swipe one, but instead she lifted her nose to the air.

"Some concession guy. I mean, it was kind of a rip-off, but there's nothing else to eat on this boat." Suddenly, Apple leapt off my shoulder and took off running in the direction Erin just came from. "Aren't you going to chase her?"

"You shouldn't have mentioned 'concession,'" I muttered as I opened my chip bag. "I'm just going to pretend I'm not associated with that Eevee until she's through attacking the concession seller. Was he selling hotdogs?"

Erin nodded.

"We're doomed."

Erin glanced over at Jake and Mel. I followed her gaze. "I can totally get one before you do," Mel said.

Jake shook his head, smirking. "No way—you're too young. You've got to leave the flirting to us older teens."

Oy.

"Anita," Erin said, looking out at the water. The warm sun reflected off of the waves brightly. "We've got to talk about Mel."

"Why?"

"Well, I was asking my mom about it, and technically its illegal for him to be travelling with us. We're not eighteen so we don't count as guardians and Mel's not thirteen so he's not allowed to be travelling without a guardian." Erin sighed. "Plus, it was our original idea to leave him at the Vintage Village orphanage, and then there's his ghost powers to consider…"

"Whatever, it's not like anyone's going to catch us. I say we let him just tag along. I mean, he can be annoying, but he's a good kid." I chewed a potato chip slowly. We couldn't just abandon Mel in an orphanage, and Liam and I knew how to handle his ghost powers better than whoever ran that place.

"But what if something happened? What if we couldn't protect him from a dangerous Pokemon or from Team Glop'emm or something?"

"Mel can handle himself."

"No, I don't think so. He's eight years old, Anita. While he's a nice kid, he needs a parent right now, and someone who can teach him how to use his powers—"

"You've already admitted that he has great control, better than me—"

"Which is seriously not saying much, Anita." Erin lowered her voice. "Apparently, he got stuck as a ghost for months once. His dad thought he died; that's why his dad left. He told me a few nights ago…"

My chest constricted. I stared at Erin for a moment and then glanced at Mel, who was currently hugging a very pretty, busty woman around the waist. "Oh, you're so adorable!" the woman exclaimed, ruffling Mel's hair. Mel stuck his tongue out at Jake, who was watching Mel while chatting with a group of cackling girls.

"I had no idea," I said. I felt the plastic bag slide through my fingers and watched as it fell into the ocean and was sucked into the boat's wake, leaving a trail of soggy potato chips in the water. I shook my head. "I still think he needs to be with someone who understands his ghost gift."

Erin nodded in agreement. "We should contact Abalina. The other two don't seem quite as… responsible."

"Or sane." I watched as Jake tried to flirt with the same woman Mel had just hugged. The woman slapped Jake across the face while Mel pointed and laughed at Jake from behind the woman. "I'd still rather him travel with us."

"I just don't think we're qualified. I'll go ask Liam, and then I'll give Abalina a call—"

"Leave him at the orphanage." I whirled around. Liam stood on the other side of me, looking up at the clear sky and leaning against the railing. "He shouldn't be wandering about Acceber when there are people like Team Glop'emm searching for anything that could get them more power or money. If they ever discovered his abilities, he'd be taken hostage faster than he could turn invisible." Liam pointed his index finger so it was parallel to the railing, pointing towards the front of the boat. "By the way, Anita, you might want to fetch Apple before she tackles another person off the boat."

"She what?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

By the time I dragged Apple away from the cluster of wrapped hotdogs she had managed to bite into and the concession man was successfully pulled back onto the boat, we had arrived in Vintage Village, and we were waiting for the boat to dock. Luckily, the crew seemed to be too occupied trying to calm the concession man as he hugged the lifesaver in the seawaters, reassuring him that he would be reimbursed for his lost hotdogs, to look for the source of all the mayhem.

Apple now sat by my feet—I refused to let her cling to my shoulder with her disgusting hotdog breath. Erin was playing a game with Mel where the goal was to slap the opponent's hand—Mel was easily winning with his ability to make a hand disappear. I had no idea where Jake had wandered off to, but I didn't really care. Liam and I watched a larger ship pull away from the dock. Vintage Village's dock was tiny—it held a few small personal boats, but only had two major ports where larger ships could dock.

{Hotdog…} I looked at Apple in surprise.

{I heard you!} I said excitedly. Apple didn't react. Darn it, she didn't hear. "I heard you, Apple!"

Apple looked up at me grinning. She squinted at me. I thought she was trying to communicate with me so I reached out my mind. {…saying now? Guess… damn…} I looked at Apple in confusion. {…recovering… end of day.}

"I think I heard about every other word. Is that good?"

Apple nodded.

"Great, now you can start exploding light bulbs again," Liam said dryly.

I folded my arms across my chest, rustling my t-shirt. "Nobody asked—"

HOOOONK

The large white ship leaving the dock was now fully turned around, ready to start moving out toward the open seas. The ship had to be six times the size of the boat we were currently on, with eight or nine floors. It was so big, it could only be an interregional ship. I read the side of the ship: S.S. Tidal.

"Where do you think the ship's going?" I asked. When Liam didn't respond, I turned my head to look at him. He gripped the railing tightly as he sent a distant stare out at the other ship. I followed his gaze.

On the S.S. Tidal, a gaunt man wearing a long trench coat appeared to be staring right back at Liam. His hair was swept to the side and I could only see that he was wearing glasses from the reflection of the sun when his face moved slightly. A large white, feathery Pokemon sat by his feet. "Do you know him?" I asked.

"No."

I squinted at the Pokemon, but couldn't make out exactly what it was. "Can you see what Pokemon's by his feet? I don't think I've seen one like it before."

"Togekiss."

Liam watched the large ship drift away. When our boat docked, his gaze still hadn't faltered. "Uh, Liam, we have to get off the boat."

Liam nodded, finally looking away from the ship on the horizon, and followed Erin, Mel, and me as we walked down the aluminum ramp to the ground. Liam had ditched his suitcase, no longer having any possessions to store in it.

"Well, I guess we should probably find the Pokemon Center," Erin said, looking at the identical stone-built houses that lined the street the dock was attached to. Only a few other people had disembarked—most, apparently, were heading to Arctic Village, the boat's next stop.

"Why are we even stopping here?" Mel asked. "There's no gym. Shouldn't we just keep going to Artemis Town?" Erin and I exchanged knowing looks.

"Training," I said curtly. By my feet, Apple nodded in agreement.

"Hey, you guys didn't wait for me!" Jake jogged down the aluminum ramp, his blond hair staying in gelled spikes despite the wind.

"Quick, let's go before he can catch up," I muttered and started walking towards the street.

"What's so bad about Jake?" Mel asked, doing a bit of a hop-skip to catch up and walk beside me. When he almost stepped on Apple, she tried to hit his shins with an iron tail, but he turned his legs momentarily intangible.

"Why does he even wanna travel with us?" Erin asked on the other side of me.

Suddenly, there was pressure on my shoulder. "We're all going the same place," Jake said. He had one arm slung over my shoulder and one over Erin's. "Plus… err, I kinda need your help, Anita, for Artemis's gym…"

I pushed Jake's arm off of me. "Why would you—" I stopped walking just before we reached the street and turned around. "Hey, where'd Liam go?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / /

{That pink wig lady was creepy.}

I grinned, looking down at Apple as she trotted by my feet, happy I was starting to hear her thoughts more clearly. After wandering around the eerily quiet town for an hour, we still hadn't found Liam. We did, however, stumble across the Pokemon Center, which was run by a wrinkled old lady wearing too much eye shadow and a pink wig. The lady had informed us that the Pokemon Center—a small stone hut that was indistinguishable from every other stone hut on the street, except for a wooden sign—was too small to accommodate overnight visitors.

"What are you so happy about?" Erin asked, slowing her pace beside me as we turned a corner onto a side street. "Tweal hasn't come back from searching for Liam yet, now we don't have a place to sleep, and" she turned around and waved at Jake, who was walking with Mel a few yards behind them, "we have to deal with him." She stopped walking and sat down on the curb. "Ugh."

I sat down next to Erin. "Liam missing isn't a bad thing." Suddenly, Apple poked a paw at my leg. "Huh?"

{…statue…}

I looked at Apple in confusion, and she pointed her tail down the street. The street led to a cul-de-sac dead end, but in the center of the cul-de-sac was a small grass island on which a stone stood carved in the shape of a flame.

I stood up and approached the statue. At the base of the stone flame was a slab of stone with the words "In memory of those who perished in the fire of October 22, 2005." Underneath, there were a dozen names listed. I briefly remember the article I had read in Tinted Town's museum. There was a sudden heaviness in my chest—a guilt.

{This is where I was born. Those are the people I killed.} Apple sat between me and the statue, her ears drooped. She looked up at me. The regretful anger in her eyes made me flinch, and I suddenly realized the guilt I was feeling was her guilt.

{It's not your fault.}

"What's that?" Erin asked from behind me. I shrugged.

"Hey, guys!" Mel yelled from down the street. "Look who we found!"

I looked over my shoulder past Erin. At the corner of the street, Mel and Jake stood next to Liam and a girl with long black hair I didn't recognize. I noticed Liam's eyes were focused on me, narrowed.

{Play it cool,} I told Apple. {Act happy.} I tried to send Apple a surge of happiness with that last thought, but I wasn't sure if it worked.

"Where'd you go?" Erin yelled as we jogged to reach the group. "We've been looking all over."

"And who's she?" I added, stopping my jog abruptly in front of Liam. I was disappointed when he didn't flinch, not that I really expected him to.

The girl who stood next to Liam was tall and slender. Her hair fell straight down her back perfectly smooth to her hips, reflecting a dark purple in the sunlight—the color of a raven's feathers. She wore a knee length black skirt and a button-down yellow blouse. Her face was narrow. For a brief moment, I could've sworn I saw something like hatred in her eyes as she looked at me, but when I blinked the expression was gone, replaced with a bemused smile.

"This is Lily," Liam said. "She's a friend of the family from long ago."

Lily held out her hand and continued smiling. I took it, grumbling, "Anita." Then I shot at Liam, "Who knew you actually had a family?" while Erin introduced herself.

"Lily lives and works in Vintage Village's orphanage," Liam said. "We're welcome to stay there overnight. The Pokemon Center in this town is too small."

"We know that, no thanks to you," I said. "You know, you could've told us where you were going."

"Aw, were you worried?" Liam asked sarcastically.

"More like ecstatic."

Lily frowned at me. "Just ignore them," Erin said. "Which way's the orphanage? Lead the way."

I scooped up Apple in my arms as we started walking. {You okay?}

I didn't hear a response, but Apple nodded.

Jake scrambled around Mel, who was kicking a stone as he walked, to the front next to Lily. "So, Lily, how long have you lived here?" He walked with his hands in his jean pockets, with a bit of a swagger. I snorted.

Jake turned his head around to glare at me while Lily answered, "My whole life."

Erin and I caught each other's eyes and struggled not to laugh.

"Would you like to speed up to have a… quieter chat?" Jake asked, holding out his arm for Lily.

"Uh, no thanks." Lily turned to her other side and took Liam's arm. I was surprised Liam let her. "I'm good."

Jake signed dejectedly and let Mel pass him. He turned to me. "You know, this is your fault."

"Right."

"No, seriously. Every time I'm around you, girls just don't flock to be basked in my awesomeness. You scare them away!"

"Have you ever considered, Jake, that maybe they just don't like you? What with your tact and modesty—"

"Geeze, does she argue with everyone?" Lily said loudly.

This girl's only known me for what? Two minutes? "Geeze, are you always a bit—"

"Anita!" Erin said, nodding her head toward Mel.

"What? I was just going to ask if she was always a bit cheery. Bitcheery. Bitch-eery."

Apple rolled her eyes at me. Whatever. Something was up with that girl. When she wasn't touching Liam, I sensed a sting of emotion aimed toward me—loathing and sadness. If I could barely hear Apple's thoughts, the fact that I could feel the emotions of this girl I barely knew meant that the emotions had to be strong.

After a few more minutes of walking, we arrived at the first building I had seen that did not resemble every other building in the town. "This is the orphanage," Lily said. While the orphanage was still made of stone, it was about six times the size of any of the other stone houses. There were several windows lining the front of the building, and I could hear laughing coming from the backyard. Lily led us to the front door. "We've got about eight other kids right now, but can accommodate twenty."

The inside of the orphanage was a lot more comfortable than I expected. As we followed Lily through the house, I noticed everything was in pristine condition— not a scratch on the hall floor, not a speck of dust on the living room shelves, and not even a stain on the kitchen counter. The kitchen table was already set for fifteen, and steaming pots of vegetables, rice, and some sort of stew had been placed in the center of the table.

"Lunch time!" I heard someone call. An elderly woman walked into the kitchen wearing faded pink slippers and a white bathrobe. Similar to the old lady running the Pokemon Center, this woman's face resembled crackling plaster.

{What's with this town and old women wearing way too much makeup?} I said to Apple.

"Oh good, you're back with your friends just in time for lunch, Lily." The old woman gestured from us to the kitchen table. "Please take a seat. My name is Helen, but you can call me Gran." Helen's dark brown eyes zeroed in on Apple, who was still lying in my arms. "No Pokemon in the house. You can let the Eevee out in the backyard. In fact, you can all let your Pokemon out in the backyard with the others… Here, follow me. Those damn munchkins should be in here by now anyway."

We walked through what seemed to be another wide living room. Three long grey couches faced a flat screen television that rested atop a wooden cabinet. On either side of the cabinet there were tall bookshelves, lined with books in perfect condition. The back of the room was made entirely of window sliding doors.

There was a large grey cat on one of the couches, lazily watching us as we walked through the room. Slightly unnerved, I looked away. Unlike the other parts of the house, this room smelled a bit like cat.

Through the sliding doors, I could see the orphanage's enormous, fenced-in backyard. It had to be as big as a Pokemon arena. Most of the yard was made of short cut grass, but there was a woodchip-covered area in the back right corner on top of which was a jungle gym. Several kids were climbing on the jungle gym when Helen opened one of the sliding doors and yelled, "No lunch for anyone who's not sitting at the table in the next thirty seconds!"

The kids raised their heads, jumped off of the monkey bars, swings, and plastic platforms, and ran toward the door. After all eight kids entered the house noisily, Helen whistled and held a hand over her eyes, looking into the bright sky. Suddenly, a Farfetch'd landed at her feet.

"This is Simon," Helen said. "He looks after the kids, and he'll look after your Pokemon." Helen nodded to herself. "He'll make sure nobody gets out and nothing gets in."

Apple jumped out of my arms, landing right in front of Simon. Startled, the Farfetch'd smashed his stick down on Apple's head. Of course, a wild chase involving Apple launching herself off of the swings and roof at Simon ensued.

Mel, Jake, Erin, and I released our Pokemon. Splash and Tweal immediately joined Apple in her endeavor to catch the Farfetch'd, while most of the other Pokemon lounged about the yard, enjoying the sun. Only Missy took to scaring Jake's Pokemon, who were unaware of her devious tendencies. Jake's Floatzel, which I hadn't known he had, drenched the entire playground with a whirlpool and nearly ran into the fence when Missy whispered, "Boo" in her ear.

"What about yours?" Helen asked Liam.

"Mine haven't been released in over two years," Liam replied.

Helen nodded. "Well, back to the kitchen, all of you." She gave Mel and Jake, who were closest to her, a gentle push back towards the kitchen. She noticed the grey cat lying on the couch. "Lily, don't forget to feed Dewy. You're the one who wanted to keep that good-for-nothing stray cat."

"Anita, I called Abalina. Your turn to talk to Helen," Erin murmured as we entered the kitchen and Lily scampered off to fill Dewy's food bowl.

The eight other orphanage kids were already digging into the food, clanging forks against plates loudly and barking at each other to pass whatever dish was out of reach. I counted three girls and five boys. The oldest of the eight was a boy with sandy locks of hair who looked about Mel's age.

I purposefully sat near the head of the table, away from the kids, where I thought Helen might sit. Lily sat across from me after setting aside a grey bowl full of tuna for the cat, Liam sat next to Lily, and Erin next to me. Mel had already started talking with the sandy-haired kid, and Jake was reaching across the table to get some rice.

My stomach growled impatiently, but I sat back in my chair. The food would get to this side of the table eventually. I craned my head around to see what Helen was up to and if she'd be sitting down any time soon so we could talk, but she was washing dishes by the sink. When I turned back toward the table, I found Lily staring at me.

The same prickling feeling I had this morning crept into my stomach, and suddenly I didn't feel like eating. Maybe this feeling had to do with Lily? I tried to focus on her thoughts and emotions, but I didn't sense any of the hatred I'd felt earlier.

I frowned. Only Lily's right hand was on the table. Liam's right hand was also out of sight. Maybe I couldn't feel anything because they were holding hands. I reached my mind out to Erin's.

{Do they have a thing going? They said family friends, but—}

I almost fell out of my chair. Apple had said I'd recover my power, or at least that's what I thought she'd been trying to say, but I hadn't expected to hear Erin's thoughts so clearly.

I narrowed my eyes at Lily. I bet they were holding hands. "So," I said. "You and Liam have known each other a while?"

Liam and Lily exchanged sidelong glances. "Not really," Lily said. "Our families knew each other when we were much younger. We met only briefly."

"So Liam's lived here?"

"No," Liam said curtly.

"Where are you from?" Lily asked suddenly.

"Melonbi Town."

"How long have you lived in Acceber?" She sounded like she was interrogating me, as if I'd strangled her cat.

"Um, six years."

"Where'd you live before that?"

The brussel sprouts had finally made their way to me. I only scooped a few onto my plate, having lost my appetite. Lily clenched her fork tightly, almost stabbing the table. I didn't think she was that hungry…

"Where'd you live?" Lily repeated. Liam gave her a sharp look.

"What's your problem?" I asked. "Seriously, what'd I even do to you?"

Lily's eyebrows shot up. Erin and Jake, who'd been talking, became quiet. Liam muttered, "Girls…"

Lily took the bowl from me and jabbed at a brussel sprout with a fork. "Let's have a Pokemon battle," she said.

"I don't think that's going to solve whatever issue you have with me."

"After lunch."

"Do you even have Pokemon?" I asked. "I didn't see any in the backyard."

"One on one."

Whatever. If she wanted a battle, I'd give her one. "Alright, psycho, you're on."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"This is an emergency meeting," I declared, looking at the small camera at the top of the screen. The screen was divided into nine different sections, in a three by three formation. The middle miniature screen was black. I watched as my image in the top, center screen echoed my declaration. The system had a slight delay. Now my image was looking up. I frowned at the wrinkles I could see deepening around my violet eyes; I wasn't getting any younger.

"We know this, Tamara. Get on with it," Dustin said. In a screen to the right of mine, he rested his head on a balled up fist.

{As if that seventeen-year-old snot had somewhere better to be. Honestly, I don't know how we agreed to institute him as a gym leader—}

{Quiet, Espeon,} I said. I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering the Mendol boy's face. So serious for one so young. I willed myself to tell the other gym leaders about his surprise visit last night. I opened my mouth—

And nothing happened.

{Tamara, we've already tried this. It won't work with the Spiritomb around… wherever it is.}

"What Tamara is failing to say," Nai snapped, her grey eyes narrowed. "is that Mendol was spotted in Winsk City the other day. I chased after him—he left a pretty clear trail of footprints—but they disappeared after less than half a mile. Where his footprints stopped, Weavile footprints were found approaching his final footprint and then heading back the same direction." That wasn't at all what I was attempting to convey, but I had no way of conveying my newfound information.

"He has a Honchrow, he probably flew away with that—"

"Why would he be in Winsk—"

"It probably wasn't even him—"

"Does he even have a Weavile?"

"SHUT UP!" Aden yelled, fire coming out of his ears. Everyone was quiet. "Dustin, if Nai says she saw Mendol, she saw Mendol. No reason for her to lie and she wouldn't tell us if she wasn't sure. And Abalina, he's a master of dark Pokemon. Of course he—"

"While we don't know if Mendol has a Weavile," Kyle interrupted. His voice was calm, almost soothing. His Vaporeon, Tounsil, peeked up from behind his head. "What Aden is suggesting is that with his dark Pokemon bond it would be unsurprising if the Weavile helped him get away."

Abalina nodded, her cheeks slightly pink with embarrassment.

Nai nodded. "We followed the Weavile footprints, but they disappeared into a wooded area. We've been unable to locate Mendol or the Weavile."

As Tali spoke in the screen below her brother's, her short light brown hair bobbed. "We do know he has a Honchrow. Why wouldn't he have flown away on that?"

Nobody had an answer.

Sparky, who had been unusually quiet, said, "Pickles."

I looked at the old man in disbelief. Sparky had always been…eccentric, but unlike some of the younger gym leaders, I'd seen his serious side. I'd seen him bury his dead Raichu; I'd seen him single-handedly take down a Team Glop'emm hideout; I'd seen him prevent a man's suicide.

Then again, we hadn't had a serious situation since Mendol senior had died.

Dustin rolled his eyes. "I'm out. This is retarded." Dustin's screen went dark.

"Sparky, why—" I started.

A spark danced across Sparky's grey hair. "Don't go blaming me for that lad's lack of respect. I was just pointing out that we're in quite a pickle. The very same pickle, in fact, that we were in prior to this meeting. The lad has a good point."

The only sound in the room was the soft buzz of the screen's fan. Finally, I said, "We can only keep looking for him."

Nai and Aden nodded in agreement.

"There's something else we need to talk about," Abalina said, running a hand through her long brown hair. "I got a call today from Erin Kendle, a girl travelling with the psychic gifted trainer, Anita Parkwood. They've been traveling with another gifted child named Melvin we had not known about—a young gifted child with no parents. He has a ghost gift, and I believe one of us needs to care for him and teach him. He is only eight."

"Oh, I know him," Sparky said, laughing. "We had some good times two days ago…"

"Why didn't you inform—" Nai started.

"Actually, I was thinking about adopting him."

Everyone was suddenly very quiet.

Aden broke the tension, chuckling while running a hand through his short red hair. "Oh, the old man's such a riot, right?" Nobody else laughed.

"I've never thought about kids before, but this Mel kid… well, he was quite something. He reminded me of myself when I was his age, and then I started teaching him... I talked to Cape Caution's Nurse Joy, and she seemed fairly certain the boy was going to be dropped off at the Vintage Village orphanage. Plus, I'm getting pretty old. One day I'll need a successor…"

Nai shook her head of grey streaked hair. "You can't actually expect us to believe you'd raise a child. That you are qualified to raise a gifted child."

Aden stopped chortling. "He's serious?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Dustin would agree this is a bad idea," Tali said, playing with a lock of sandy hair. "He can't be a parent—he practically acts like a rebellious teenager."

"You don't have to be qualified to be a parent," Kyle said quietly. "And who else would look after him? Are any of the rest of us ready to take on the responsibility of a gifted child?"

I nodded in agreement. Beneath Sparky's goofy façade was a very caring, intelligent, and playful man.

"We should take it to a vote," Nai snapped.

"We're leading a region, not people's lives," Abalina retorted. "Who are we to determine whether Sparky should be able to adopt a child?"

"A gifted child," Tali said. "It's our duty not only to lead Acceber, but to ensure that all gifted children are taught to control their gift."

I cleared my throat and asked, "All those in favor of Sparky teaching this gifted child through whatever means he feels are appropriate, raise your hand."

"Sparky doesn't know the meaning of the word appropriate," Nai grumbled as Sparky, Abalina, Kyle, and I raised our hands. Aden hesitantly put a hand in the air after a moment as well. "That's the clear majority," I said.

Suddenly, Sparky jumped up faster than I'd ever seen a man his age move. "Whoo!" he yelled, running off the screen. A door slammed.

For a moment, we all watched Sparky's screen, eyebrows furrowed.

"Err, well then. That concludes the meeting."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

I narrowed my eyes. The Farfetch'd was sitting on top of the monkey bars.

"What's the plan?" Splash asked me, also watching the bird Pokemon.

Between us and the Farfetch'd, Griffy was refereeing a game of soccer played with an old faded rubber ball Tweal had found and picked up in a neighboring yard. On one team was Allo, Sunflower, and Tweal. They were up against Jake's Quilava, Floatzel, and a strange looking grass Pokemon I'd never seen before, apparently called Petilil. It blended in with the shrubs that lined the wooden fence so well I hadn't even noticed it until it moved to join the game.

How the grass Pokemon even moved was beyond me. It didn't have arms or legs and more or less resembled an onion with a face. To join the game, it had kind of flapped the bottom part of its body and inched its way across the grass. Had Quilava and Floatzel actually had a Pokemon on their team that could move, they'd probably far outmatch Allo and Sunflower's team. As it was, the match was pretty even.

Whatever the case, to get to Farfetch'd, we'd have to maneuver through their field. I watched as Sunflower kicked the ball up to Tweal… Perhaps I could iron tail the ball hard enough to knock the Farfetch'd right off his perch—

"Apple." I turned around. Fiery was standing behind me, his ears pointed forward. "Apple, we need to talk."

"Sure," I said. "After I bite this Farfetch'd—"

Fiery's nose twitched in annoyance. "No, we need to talk now."

"Well, we're talking."

Fiery's eyes flickered to Splash, who was still gazing intently at the Farfetch'd. "We need to talk somewhere more private."

Splash's ears suddenly twitched back toward Fiery. "Don't be a spoilsport, Fiery! We were just about—"

"Enough," Fiery growled. He released a small ember at my feet, which I avoided by jumping back. "Let's go." He took off in a quick attack toward the empty back left corner of the backyard.

"Sorry, Splash," I said and took off running after the Flareon. What could this be about? I grinned. Maybe he was about to confess his long overdue, undying love for me—

We reached the fence. I sat down and began licking my paw. "So what's up?" I asked.

"We haven't talked since after your disappearance."

"And?"

"And, I wanted to let you know that you put on a good show, but I'm not fooled."

I stopped licking my paw. "Huh?"

"You're not an Eevee."

I snorted. "What have you been smokin'? Do you see the ears? The paws?" I waved my tail. "My beautiful, fluffy tail—"

Fiery stood up, towering over me. He took a step forward. I stepped back, toward the fence corner. He took another step forward. I lit up my tail, refusing to back up further. "You don't scare me."

"You may be able to convince two month old Eevees that you didn't actually disappear, that they just missed the hole you dug in the ground out of Sparky's gym, but you can't fool me. Vanilla and Splash are more observant than they give themselves credit for. Splash remembers a green flash of light. He said so when I first asked what happened, before you fed them this 'I dug a hole' bullshit." Fiery's fur bristled. "They wouldn't believe you if they weren't so young. They wouldn't buy into this hole nonsense when they didn't even see a gaping hole in the ground. It wasn't until after you fed them that lie that Vanilla thought she might've seen a dark crevice in the corner of the room, that Splash was sure he must have imagined the light, that he had to have been bored and daydreaming."

I stayed silent, unsure of how to react. I curled my claws into the ground.

"Anita was terrified when you were gone, you know. I think the lack of telepathy with you was painful. You two share a strong psychic connection. I know you've lived with her for most of her life, but how'd she figure out how to use her powers? And could she have used her powers when she was younger?"

"You don't know anything about the gift."

"Ah, but see, you do." I was overheating—my breath felt dry and my fur heavy. Fiery was much too close to me. "I've heard you; I've even seen you instruct Anita. I doubt anyone who wasn't an Eevee would notice, but the way you hold yourself, the warning looks you give Anita, the way you wave your tail impatiently when she screws up making her psychic barrier, your cockiness, the ridiculous pranks you play—more over the top than Splash's—these are all very un-Eevee-like characteristics."

I gave in and took another step back, snatching a breath of fresh, cool air.

Fiery tilted his head. "So Apple, what are you?"

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Just when Apple ditched me for Fiery, the sliding doors slammed open. Anita marched into the backyard with that look in her eyes that made me think she might accidently shatter the glass sliding doors with her crazy psychic stuff. I smiled. That would be so cool!

Behind Anita, another girl with angry eyes and dark hair walked out of the orphanage. Actually, she wasn't quite angry; her face reminded me of Apple when she saw someone with a hotdog—determined and pretty much obsessively focused.

Liam, Jake, and Erin followed the two girls warily, followed by a bunch of kids cheering, "Battle! Battle!" Mel was with the kids.

I skipped toward Anita. Battling would be more fun than chasing the Farfetch'd. And Anita would definitely pick me because Apple and all of my siblings were busy, unless you didn't count Vanilla lying in the sun as busy.

Anita, however, brushed past me when I reached her feet. {I want to battle!} I yelled. I wasn't sure if she'd hear me—her psychic powers had gone wonky recently.

Anita looked at the dark haired girl, who was bending over to pick up the weird onion grass Pokemon named Petilil. {…don't need speed.} Anita looked down at me. "Sorry, Splash. You got to participate in the last gym battle. Allo, let's go!"

Allo's ears pricked, and he bounded toward Anita. Great, now the teams for the soccer game were even again. If I wanted to play, I'd have to convince someone else to play too…

I looked over my shoulder at Fiery and Apple, huddled in the back corner of the yard. Seriously, why would Apple pick talking with my stupid older brother over catching a Farfetch'd with me? If you ranked playing with me and talking with Fiery on a scale of funness, I'd win 'cause my games were overstuffed with fun.

"This'll be a one-on-one match, Lily Smith versus Anita Parkwood," Erin announced. Sunflower, Tweal, Quill (the stuck up Quilava) and Floatzel all stopped playing to watch the battle. Griffy watched from behind the group of kids, and the Farfetch'd swooped down from the playground, landing on a curly haired kid's shoulder.

Even Missy was watching while she hovered behind Jake and blew on his neck. Every time Jake turned around she'd disappear.

I looked around the yard. Great, now there was really no one to play with. The only Pokemon that weren't watching the battle were Apple and Fiery, Vanilla—and everyone knows she's no fun—Wella, who glared at me from the shade of a tree when I looked at her, and Jake's Diglett, who I hadn't seen since she buried underground after being let out of her Pokeball.

"Allo, quick attack!"

"Petilil, leech seed!"

There were too many kids and Pokemon blocking my view of the battle now. Whatever. I ran around the crowd. The old lady in charge of this place was standing in the doorway of an open sliding door. She was watching Mel thoughtfully.

Suddenly, I smiled. Exploration time!

I edged along the outside of the house, just below the sliding doors. Wella, who was the only Pokemon that might've spotted me, was now snoozing against a tree trunk. Quietly, making sure I didn't accidently brush the old lady's legs, I slipped through the sliding door doorway into the house.

Immediately, my nose wrinkled. It smelled like cat.

I looked around the room. I liked the feel of the long carpet between my paws, but there wasn't much to do except smell the old-paper-smell of the books.

I spotted a wooden staircase. The stairs were a bit worn—there were lots of scratches on them, probably from the cat. I started up the stairs when I heard a hiss. I looked up. The cat that was stinking up the place glared at me from the top of the stairs.

I licked my lips and quick attacked my way up the rest of the stairs, jumping over the cat. The cat turned around, snarling, but I had already taken off, leaping into the first doorway I'd seen on my left. I pushed the door closed with a paw, smiling smugly when I heard scratching on the other side of the door.

Then I realized I wouldn't be able to open the door again. I didn't have opposable thumbs. Oh, well.

This room smelled like cat even more than the living room. The room was so small, I could jump up onto the bed from right in front of the door, and so I did. There was a window overlooking the street at the head of the bed and a closet right up against one side of the bed. On the other side of the bed, there was a dresser. I grinned at my reflection in the mirror above the dresser and had the urge to give myself a congratulatory lick on the face. Thus, I hopped onto the desk and licked the mirror.

Tasted like cat hair. Gross. I lifted a paw up to get down from the dresser, but something was stuck in my nails. I looked down. My nails poked down through a piece of newspaper. I shook my paw off, looking at the picture on the newspaper. In the picture, there was a pile of ash. When I looked closer, lowering my nose to the dresser, there were eyes poking out of the ash pile. Weird.

I lifted my nose up, only to bump a picture frame in front of the mirror. The frame held a photo of two dark haired adults holding a small, dark haired girl. All three people were smiling. The girl looked like the girl battling Anita outside only much younger. This must be her room.

As I moved to get off of my dresser, something gleamed near the edge of the dresser. It was a rock. I moved my tail to let the sunlight hit the rock once again. It sparkled yellow. My eyes widened.

I knew a way to get Anita to use me more in battles.

I leaned forward and licked the stone.

My body tingled.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"Anita Parkwood is the winner!" Erin announced. Allo jumped into my arms, and I laughed as he licked my face.

"Nice battle," I said. The orphan kids crowded around me, trying to get a look at Allo.

"She beat Lily—"

"I've never seen an Eevee up close before—"

"Did you see how fast—"

"Can I hold him?" a small girl asked, tugging at my sleeve.

Allo seemed to like the attention so I passed the Eevee to the girl. I looked around the yard. Apple and Fiery were still in the back right corner. I caught Apple's eye and raised my eyebrows at her.

Apple shook her head. I frowned and took a step in her direction. Apple shook her head more fiercely, and Fiery turned around to glare at me. {Is everything okay?} I asked.

{He knows. He knows I'm not an Eevee.}

I froze.

{I told him what I really am. He doesn't believe me.} I gently pushed kids aside to get out of the crowd, toward Apple. {Don't worry. I can handle this. We'll talk later.}

Apple and Fiery turned back to their conversation.

I frowned, thinking. I wasn't sure if Fiery knowing what Apple was would change anything unless Fiery decided Apple was too dangerous to be around. Apple said that he didn't believe her anyway. It would only be a problem if someone were to read Fiery's mind, and even then, the person would have to be looking for it…

Automatically suspicious, I looked around for Liam. He and Lily were nowhere to be seen. Helen was standing in front of the open sliding door. Well, at least now would be a good time to talk to her about Mel.

I passed Erin and Jake, who were arguing.

"Come on, Erin, we had a civil conversation! You can stop being mad at me now!" Jake complained.

"Well, you decided to call my Pokemon an uncouth, vile-smelling bag of dust so I'm not talking to you."

"Your Misdreavious was obnoxiously giving me the chills! How do you expect me to react? And you just talked to me." Jake smiled.

Erin crossed her arms and walked away, towards the playground.

Jake ran after her. "C'mon!"

I rolled my eyes. When I reached the sliding door, Helen moved aside to let me in. She was watching the orphans, still crowded around Allo. "Uh… Helen?"

"Oh, yes dear?" Helen moved her soft brown eyes to me.

"I wanted to talk to you about Mel. See, he'd—"

"No need to worry about that, dear. I already have it taken care of."

"You do?"

"Yes. A gym leader is coming to adopt him tomorrow morning."

Feeling slightly awkward, I moved inside the house. "Okay, then. Thanks." Mel, leaving? Already? I knew we'd have to do it, I just didn't expect it to come this fast. I looked out a closed sliding door window. Mel was showing off Sunflower's shadow ball to the other kids. Who would adopt him? Who would adopt him on only a few hours notice?

An image of Mel laughing and talking with Sparky about incorporating destructive robots into the gym's prelim flashed across my mind.

Sparky.

Mel and Sparky got along. Sparky was crazy enough to make such a life changing decision in mere minutes.

Maybe I should've been freaking out over the possibility of Sparky adopting Mel, but I felt abnormally calm—I could see it happening. I could imagine Sparky teaching Mel, encouraging Mel's creative streak with new pranks, battle techniques, and gym setups.

I wondered how Mel would react. What if he wanted to keep traveling with us?

Suddenly, I heard a voice from the top of the staircase. "Did you see the way she battled?" It was Lily. "She didn't try to drag out the pain, and before the battle she told me that if I needed a potion at any time, to let her know because the Pokemon Center in town didn't look like the greatest." I moved to the bottom of the stairs to hear Lily better. I looked up and saw she was talking to Liam. "All that and I've only acted hostile towards her. I don't believe you. I can't believe she's—" Lily spotted me at the bottom of the staircase. "Oh, hi, Anita. I was just showing Liam where the bathroom was." She pointed down the hall. Liam muttered something under his breath and walked where she was pointing. I climbed the stairs.

"I just wanted to tell you, nice battle," I said. I tried to reach into her mind, but couldn't hear her thoughts. I sighed. At least I was starting to pick up on the thoughts of my friends…

"Thanks. You too." Lily put a hand on the doorknob of a room on the left. "Look, I'm really sorry about earlier… Liam told me some things and… I'm sorry." Liam told her some things? He told her about my psychic powers? Why? He's always so uptight about keeping it a secret. Maybe he told her that I was dangerous? It would explain why she didn't like me…

"It's cool. Liam and I aren't…" I couldn't come up with a good word. "We don't see things the same way. Anyway, where'd you get that grass Pokemon? I'd never seen it before."

Lily looked relieved. She opened her door. "Actually, I got her as a present for my birthday from my aunt who lives in the Unova reg—" Lily stared through her door. I had reached the top of the staircase so I peered over her shoulder.

There was a Jolteon sitting on the bed.

{Look, Anita! I evolved!} Splash said, grinning and shaking his pointy fur.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"Lily, I am so sorry," I said, balancing three giant sleeping bags in my arms. I couldn't see over the sleeping bags so I was trusting Lily to tell me if I was about to run into something.

"Again, Anita, don't worry about it. I don't even have an electric Pokemon. I don't need a thunderstone." I heard a door creek open. I looked to my left, out the sliding door window. The sun was setting and most of our Pokemon were curled up, lying on top of each other in the backyard. I noticed Apple and Fiery were on opposite sides of the group. Between the afternoon battle and dinner, I hadn't found time to talk to Apple alone. I'd have to sneak out in the middle of the night. "Okay," Lily said. "There're some stairs ahead of you leading to the basement. Watch your step."

Lily led me down the stairs. The basement smelled slightly musky, but the floor was carpeted and there were two small windows near the ceiling allowing the last of the setting sun's light to trickle across the floor.

"Seriously, Lily, if there's anything I can do to repay you—besides actually repaying you in money 'cause I don't have any—I'll do it." We laid the sleeping bags out on the floor.

Lily smiled, putting a hand on her hip. "Well, I guess if you really wanted to, you could help me convince the others to play truth or dare!"

"Deal."

And so Lily and I dragged Erin, Jake, Liam, Mel, and Freddie, the sandy-haired eight-year-old Mel had become fast friends with, down into the basement. I was dared to put ice cubes down Liam's shirt, Mel had to talk about the time he'd convinced a woman she had a third leg, Erin and Jake ended up having to play leap frog for forty minutes, and Lily kissed Liam on the cheek, making him blush. Laughter rang about basement until Helen opened the basement door to yell at us for waking the younger kids.

Even after, giggles could be heard well into the night.

/ / / / / / / / /

I was about to get up to talk to Apple when I heard a tapping sound. I had been fake sleeping for almost an hour and a half now. Erin had tossed and turned for quite a while, but now I could hear her soft snores. She was asleep, just like everyone else.

I peeked an eye open, only to see two bright green eyes reflecting at me. Quickly, I closed my eye, steadying my breathing. I listened the best I could for any movement.

I heard the tapping again. Then there was the creak of the door at the top of the stairs. Then nothing.

I opened my eye again and sat up. Erin was curled up in her sleeping bag, next to me. On the other side of her was Lily, whose hand was almost touching Freddie's. Mel slept on the other side of me, murmuring incomprehensibly and rolling over. Jake slept across from me, near the window, and Liam…

Liam was missing from his sleeping bag.

I pushed aside my sleeping bag, cringing every time it wrinkled. Luckily, I was close to the basement stairs so I didn't have to step over anyone. I started up the stairs, holding my breath when one of the stairs creaked.

I couldn't stop the basement door from creaking when I opened it, but I only opened it as much as necessary for me to slip through.

I looked around the living room and out the sliding doors. Nothing seemed amiss.

There was one tap—then silence. It was coming from the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen. Dewy, the cat, watched me from atop the kitchen table. Could the sound have been the cat? Down in the basement, it sounded like the tapping was coming from outside.

I was too short to see out the window above the kitchen sink so I climbed up onto the counter. I peered into the night.

Liam stood in a baggy t-shirt Helen had lent him with his back to the orphanage. In front of Liam was a Noctowl.

In one hand, Liam held a letter. Despite the darkness, he seemed to be reading it. There was something in Liam's other hand that glittered in the moonlight. I couldn't make out many details, but it seemed to be composed of a blue spark between two strands of metal.

Liam dropped the letter. He touched the device in his hand to the Noctowl as casually as if he was about to stroke one of the Noctowl's feathers.

Suddenly, the Noctowl screeched. There was flash of blue light, and then the Noctowl was shrinking. There was a pink blob where the Noctowl had been standing just moments before.

A Ditto.

Liam could force Pokemon to transform.