Polaris-Ponyta, Shanjin- Greninja, Yarak-Talonflame, Nelly–Auroros, Anakri-Dragelge, Charren-Charizard

Ulysses-Braviary, Mia-Cubone

Chapter 14: Communicating Without Language

I stepped into the Pokémon Center that night. Luckily the excitement of the police raid on the Pokéball factory made Ben forget that he was mad at me. Since I'd just gotten back from the station, he was eager for news.

"What did they say?" He asked.

"They didn't need my help, luckily. My last run-in with them didn't go so well. It seems like they got there before anything happened. The police found a couple Team Flare scouts skulking around, and brought them in. The factory beefed up security, so they should be okay for now."

"Did you find out who gave you the tip-off?" Hari asked.

"No, they were smart and didn't leave any clues. It was typed, and there were no fingerprints on the paper. The police think that someone recognized me as a champion, and thought I could help. I guess they were right."

"Are you still up for the gym battle tomorrow?" Ben asked.

"Yep, I'm ready. Nelly and Anakri will be my main fighters. With Polaris as a back-up." I was a bit unsure about this gym battle. Not because of the battle itself, but because of what would happen after. Ben and I would head on to Laverre City, and Hari would be on his own for a couple weeks. Then we'd circle back to Lumiose, pick him up, and head on to Anistar. I knew Hari would be fine. He got in less trouble than I did. I just felt weird and bad leaving him behind. Hari had always been a fascinating combination of little brother and human-shaped Pokémon. He was smart, skilled, and sweet. Also a bit annoying, as little brothers tend to be. At least as far as I know. I'm an only-child, though my parents had pretty much adopted Hari too.

So, basically, I was super fidgety about leaving him behind in a big city, even though I knew this would be a great experience for him. Professor Sycamore and Charren would be there to keep an eye on him.

"So," I continued, trying to shake away my nerves, "The Tympole Troupe is going to come to the gym tomorrow to cheer us on. They know gym leader Clemont too, since they often perform around the city. So they said they'd cheer for both of us. It sounds like it'll be fun."

After I beat the Lumiose gym, we headed on to the Laverre gym where I took on my first ever fairy gym. Anakri took out two-thirds of the gym team single-handed. Then Yarak and Shanjin finished off her tough Sylveon.

It was strange not having Hari. He'd been traveling with us so often that Ben and I kept forgetting he wasn't around. We'd phone him most nights to see how he was doing, and he'd share his stories of helping trainers and Pokémon.

We didn't run into trouble until we left Dendemille Town. As usual, I let my Pokémon out when we were out of town (except Anakri because there wasn't water around for her). Ben and I rode – him on Tauros, me on Polaris.

Polaris scraped her hoof along the ground and tossed her mane. "Someone's screaming."

"What?"

"What?" Ben asked.

"Polaris says someone is screaming. Yarak, fly ahead and check. We'll be right behind you."

Polaris and Ben's Tauros broke into a canter. Shanjin and Nelly followed. Nelly couldn't keep up very well, but she'd be along eventually. The ruins of an old building came into view around a corner. Yarak was circling overhead, and he screeched to get my attention. I could hear the screaming now too, as well as something that was snarling, spitting, and growling.

Polaris leapt over a wall of rubble and landed in the ruins. There was a teenage boy huddled on a narrow ledge of what was once a staircase. Below him, a Mightyena was leaping and biting, trying to grab him and drag him down.

At a gesture from me, Shanjin lunged forward and bowled Mightyena off her feet. She'd been so focused on her quarry that she didn't even notice us arrive. Shanjin took her completely off guard, and she tumbled head-over-heels. Shanjin jumped on her, pinning her down and holding a Water Shuriken over her as a threat to hold still.

"That thing charged me out of nowhere!" The boy cried. He was shaking and didn't jump down from his ledge.

"Lies!" Mightyena snarled. "He stole my cub!"

"Hang on," I said, rising my hands. I turned to Mightyena. "Please calm down. I don't what to hurt you, I want to help."

"There's nothing rational about having my cub stolen!"

"Why are you talking to that monster?" The boy exclaimed.

"Pokémon don't attack for no reason. Let's try to find out what's wrong, so on one has to get hurt. It might just be a mistake. We can do this peacefully."

"I'm not the one that tried to rip someone apart," The boy snapped. He didn't show any sign of coming down from the ledge.

"The last thing we want is for her pack to come and make things more complicated, so let's try to get this done soon. She says you took her cub. Do you know what she means?"

"How can it say anything? It's a Pokémon, it doesn't' talk, and I didn't catch no Poochyena around here. That thing is crazy!"

"He has my cub, in that Pokéball. In his pocket."

"What's the Pokéball in your pocket?" I asked.

He blinked, surprised. I couldn't even see his pocket since he was crouched up against the wall. He started to relax a bit, maybe believing that I could understand Mightyena after all. "It's just a Purrloin. Like I said, I don't have any Poochyena."

"It's my cub," Mightyena growled again.

I responded in telepathy, because I didn't feel like explaining everything to the boy. "Your cub is a Purrloin? As in, a Liepard is the father?"

She gave a nod of her head. "I told her not to come to the ruins. Humans hang around here."

I sighed. "The Purrloin is her cub."

"What? But a baby Pokémon is the same species as its mom! A girl Mightyena has to have baby Poochyena."

"That is usually true. But sometimes there are exceptions."

"You're not messing with me, are you?" The boy asked, looking dubious.

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at the Mightyena, her teeth still bared even though she had stopped struggling.

The boy decided the Mightyena was deadly serious. "So, what, I'm not allowed to catch wild Pokémon? I've always wanted a Purrloin!"

"I understand. There will be other Purrloin. It's usually good to check in with a Pokémon before you catch it. They're smart. They'll understand if you ask. A lot of them think it's exciting to live with humans. But you don't want to separate a baby from their mother."

The boy deflated some. He pulled the Pokéball out of his pocket. He hesitated, then tossed out the Pokéball. Instead of the usual red light, this time it flashed blue – the sign of a release. Purrloin appeared, blinking. It was definitely a baby. Too young to leave home. She saw her mom and ran over. Shanjin backed away, letting Mightyena stand up. Mightyena bounded forward, sniffed Purrloin, licked her head, then Grabbed the scruff of her neck. Purrloin curled up, like babies do when their mom carries them. Mightyena glanced up at the boy, still on the ledge. Then she turned and bounded away, disappearing into the brush.

"Thank you," I said to the boy. "That Purrloin was still a baby. I'm sure you'll find one older that's happy to go with you. You considered the Pokémons' feelings, so I know you'll be good with them."

"Thanks," the boy murmured, looking dejected. He finally lowered himself back to the ground. "Jeez, Mightyena are terrifying. Those teeth…"

"They are tough," Ben said. "But I think any mom would go crazy to protect her kid."

The boy finally quirked a smile. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks again." He walked back toward Dendemille Town. But after a few paces, he broke into a run, obviously afraid that the Mightyena would come back for him.

I sighed and leaned against Polaris. "Man, I'm glad he didn't get mad at me for making him release his new Pokémon. A lot of people would."

"Well, to be fair I think he wanted to avoid getting eaten. But I hear ya. N would be proud."

I looked at Ben, then barked out a laugh. "Well, N did help me get better at this kind of thing. The least I can do is try to help other people respect the feelings of Pokémon. It's hard when humans can't understand Pokémon."

"You're not kidding."

We left the ruins too. Nelly had caught up with us, so we headed on toward Lumiose. But we hadn't gone very far when we were interrupted yet again. A rustling in the bushes made all of us jump. A Liepard stepped onto the path. He examined us for several seconds, then bowed his head.

"Thank you for helping my cub. We're all used to having some of our cubs captured by humans. It's inevitable. But not when they're still young."

"You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. I know it's hard to get along with humans sometimes."

There must be some way I could help fix these problems. I wouldn't be there every time something like this happened. People needed to understand it for themselves. I was a champion, so I had some influence. I wasn't well-known, by any means. But I still had the potential to make a difference. N had tried to make a change. He had been badly mislead, but he had tried to do the right thing. That should be enough to get me to act. I could give talks about catching Pokémon, like Crystal had done. But instead my talks could be about understanding Pokémon. Not their spoken language, but their body language. Checking in with them before battling.

If someone has the ability to help, then they should try to help, right? It sounded like a lot of trouble, and probably some stage-fright. But just because I didn't want to do it didn't mean that I shouldn't. Look at Hari. He was helping people with their Pokémon.

"I- I'll see if I can spread the word so this doesn't happen as often. It would probably be a slow process. A lot of humans just catch the first thing they see. But if nothing else, I'll try to start something."

Liepard blinked at me. "Thank you. That's more than I would have expected. Is there any way I could help you?"

It was Yarak that responded for me. "We're looking for a strange Braviary. He escaped from some bad humans, and we want to find him before he gets hurt anymore."

"Well, if that's the case maybe you should try the Pokémon Village."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Humans aren't supposed to know about it. But you understand us and look out for us. So I think you can know. It's deep in the woods beyond Snowbelle City. A lot of Pokémon have gone there to escape humans. They've been mistreated, usually. I think that's your best bet."

"That's amazing! Thank you so much!"

Liepard bowed his head once more and retreated into the bushes.

"What did he say?" Ben asked.

"Give me one minute." I shut my eyes and called out telepathically to Charren. Then I returned my attention to Ben. I told him with Liepard had said. "I just called Charren. I'm going to fly there. Ben, can you fly back to Lumiose on your Pidgeot and meet up with Hari?" Since I was taking Charren with me, I didn't want to leave Hari alone. "I can meet up with you in Lumiose, or maybe even in Dendemille."

Ben sighed. He didn't like being left behind. I didn't blame him. And I felt bad about leaving him and Hari. But it sounded like we should limit the number of humans that went to the Pokémon Village.

Charren arrived shortly after. I returned my Pokémon and jumped on her back. Ben did the same with his Pidgeot. All of us took to the air, soaring away to opposite corners of the sky.