Oscar was confused. It wasn't the kind of confusion he was used to, where you didn't know how or why something happened. He was a researcher and that was his every day. No, this was the kind of confusion where you didn't know where you were in life, what mistakes led you here, or what your future held. Even stuck in a rut working at the university, he always knew where he had been and where he was going. He was never confused. But here he was, alive and graced by the most pleasant weather he had experienced in decades. Was this hell? He certainly hurt enough, tired thirsty and hungry as he was. Yet it seemed too tame for hell.

A moan distracted him from his thoughts. He opened his eyes, which in his addled state he hadn't realized were closed and saw Gaia stirring from the ground a few feet in front of him.

"Gaia!" He said, and moved to pick her up, but fell flat on his face for the attempt. He clearly was still a little out of it from the teleportation, which in the back of his mind realized must have worked. Gaia was not so clumsy in her attempt to get up, and with a groan she got to her feet, shook her head and opened her eyes. Oscar noted she seemed taller somehow.

"Who the hell are you!" Gaia said. Said, as with words. Her mouth moved and Oscar heard for the first time her 'voice'. It was much like her mental projection, lower in pitch than he expected for such a small female, but with an added scratchiness that reminded him somewhat of a girl going through puberty.

"Oscar. What has gotten into you?" The Treecko was always on the aggressive side, but it had never been directed at him in the past.

"My Master is a human, you are some fox-thing!" Sure enough, when he looked down from his prone position to examine himself, he saw the yellow fur and tail of a Fennekin. At least, it seemed like it. A quick paw to the oversized ears confirmed it. He looked back at Gaia, who he could tell was angry and scared in equal measure even without going into her mind. He may have hurt a lot of Pokémon in his time, been a butcher by some accounts, but he couldn't stand to see his Pokémon in such a distraught state.

Fennekin, Gaia. The "Fox-thing" is a Fennekin. Do you not remember our lessons? Oscar said in her mind, hoping to remind her of better days and give information only he would know. Delphox were partly psychic types, and it was not unheard of for the earlier evolutions to manifest psychic abilities even if their typing was strictly fire. The limitations of the typing system. Oscar was simply glad that he retained the ability to communicate psychically, but noticed with some glee that it seemed much easier now than as a human.

"Master? Is it really you? W-what happened?" Gone was the anger, now there was only fear.

"I am not sure, but I have some ideas. Come, help me up." Gaia did so, and with deceptive ease picked Oscar off the ground and set him on his feet. He spent a few moments moving around, noting how he should not be able to move at all in a body different from his own. Even if the limb structure was largely identical, in a generic sense, the fine motor function required to move should not be transferable between species. This was the type of confusing he was familiar with, and the answer to this feeling was to ignore it until you had more information. It was enough for him that he could move, even if he lacked the grace he had come to associate with the species.

"S-so?" Gaia stuttered again, "What happened, where are the others?" Oscar put a paw over her mouth to silence her, and looked her in the eyes as he spoke.

"Enough, Gaia. I did not teach you to lose your shit when faced with the unknown. You are focusing on all the wrong things. We are alive when we should be dead, we are safe when we were in danger. We were playing with power we did not understand, and the unexpected happened. Just be glad we are alive and unharmed. Take a few moments to collect yourself, then ask the correct question this time."

She did just that. She pulled him into a hug and spent a few moments controlling her breathing. Oscar spent this time trying to calm himself down as well. The silence had let him appreciate just how nonsensical the situation was. Nothing made sense, and he still had doubts if he was still alive. He figured that the teleporter exploded just as the Charizard let out its attack. The explosion would have been far too fast for him to perceive, so assuming it didn't just kill him and did in fact teleport him somewhere, he would not have any memory of the event itself. And as for the subject of whether or nor he was alive or this was some bizarre after life, it didn't matter as far as he was concerned. It felt real, and in absence of evidence to the contrary he would treat it as such. He was still freaked out, and this threated to overtake him if he didn't take steps to control it now. So, as the greatest of sayings went: fake it till you make it. It helped that he had someone else to focus on in this time, to distract him from his own concerns. Finally, Gaia spoke.

"What do we do now?" That was the right question. She was calm, or at least was pretending the be, which was all he could ask.

"That is a great question. What do you think?"

Gaia spent a few moments looking at Oscar while he sat. She sniffed him a few times, as she often did, and quietly thought for a few moments.

"Well, you are a Pokémon know. Fire type by the looks of it. I… doubt you know any moves, and a Pokémon should be strong. I think, you should learn to use your moves, so you can defend yourself. We don't know what's out here." That was a good answer, but not the right one in Oscar's estimation.

"You are right, no telling how long I will be like this. Maybe forever? But is my training our most pressing concern?" Oscar asked, leading Gaia on.

"Well," she said, seeming to lose a little confidence. She looked around the area. They were in a forest, next to a small river in a clearing without trees for about 20 meters in any direction. She seemed to have an epiphany, and looked at the sun, which was still high in the sky. "Its around noon, and no telling the season where we are, so we have maybe five or six hours of light left." Oscar let the statement hang, she was getting the right idea. "We don't know where we are, what kind of Pokémon are in the area, and we don't have any supplies. I think…" she trailed off for a moment, looking to Oscar for affirmation. He simply moved his paw in a rolling motion, suggesting she continue with the train of thought. "I think we need to find or make shelter, and find food. I don't want to rough it, so maybe we follow the river downstream to see if we can find a settlement. If not, we stop a few hours before sundown and make shelter for the night?" She stated as a question. When she was in the middle of it she seemed sure enough of her conclusion, but near the end that confidence waned and she looked to Oscar again. He never realized she was so unsure of herself, she was never like this at the base. This was something he would need to work on at some point. It was unbecoming of her line.

"Very good. I was thinking the same thing. Even if I trained until nightfall, I would be useless in a fight with so little time to train." Oscar assumed. "I think we should follow the river downstream, and see if we can find any settlements. I don't fancy getting caught by a trainer, but at least we know that the forest surrounding the settlement would be relatively safe."

And so the two took off, following the gentle curves of the river. The trees stayed a respectable distance from the water, and the firm, gently sloping ground made for easy travel. Their trek was not without incident, as they encountered a few wild Shroomish along the way. The first couple Gaia simply beat senseless, with the first being eaten by the two wayward travels (waste not, Oscar had said) and the second being left for dead. The third encounter with a Shroomish, some two hours into their journey, Oscar had tried to fight. While he had some limited telekinesis as a human, he found that as a Fenniken this had turned to the move Psychic. Normally an advanced technique for a Fenniken, Oscar assumed since he already 'knew' the low-powered version of the move, it transitioned to the more powerful form with his new body. He beat the Shroomish unconscious against a tree, and decided he liked this new body already.

About three hours into the trip, Gaia asked abruptly "So, what's it like?" They had ben mostly silent up to this point, paying attention to their surroundings and being wary or predators. When Shroomish was all they encountered, they had both relaxed by this point. Gaia's question was open-ended, but Oscar knew what she was getting at.

"It is pretty much the same." He remarked. "I feel like I was born to this body, and I do not notice any real difference in the way I think. There are some differences, like getting a little too excited for a fight where I would normally want nothing to do with it. My senses are more developed; there are many smells I do not recognize and sounds I do not think I would normally be able to hear. It will probably take some time and different experiences for more instincts to make themselves known, and for me to get used to 'enhanced' senses. But all-in-all I cannot say I feel very different. Like right now, nature calls. I will be right back." Oscar walked into some bushes to relieve himself while Gaia simply looked into the stream. Neither of them noticed two Pokémon approach from where they had just come from upstream, which startled Oscar as he had made a point to psychically scan for life after their first wildlife encounter.

"Well, well, well." came a grating, childish voice. "What do we have here? A little Treecko so far from home. Are you lost, little hatchling?" Common thugs, they dared!

Oscar peeked his head out of the bush to see what was going on, careful not to alert them to his presence. He saw a Charmander and a Poochyena, both wearing blue scarves and the Dark type with a bag. The mutt's presence would explain why he did not notice their approach, he figured. He let out a psychic ping so Gaia would know that he was there and watching, but otherwise did nothing to give away the element of surprise.

"What do you losers want?" Ah Gaia, so timid with him, so fiery with literally everyone else. Oscar could already tell there was going to be a fight, if the newcomer's cliched introductions did not give it away.

"What do you have?" The Charmander asked, looking the Treecko over. "Ah, looks like you don't have any goods you can, uh, trade with us. So what else can you offer? The forest is dangerous, and we would be happy to see you safely to town, for a price." The Charmander winked. Oscar couldn't believe it. This was straight out of a cartoon.

"Nothing for you, best be on your way." Gaia said, and crossed her arms. She was not a battling Pokémon, Oscar would never subject her to that kind of lifestyle. But she was a Pokémon, and fighting was in her genes. Literally, he had seen them. She needed to fight to live a full life, and she sparred regularly with the Grunt's Pokémon back at base. Oscar was no trainer, but his gene-therapy was unmatched and the little Treecko had a natural talent that made her hit well above her weight class. She had an eye for gauging the strength of her opponents, and he could tell through their link that she was confident she could take them both on at the same time. Not that he would let her take them both by herself. Still, an opportunity presented itself. Perhaps these brigands were as dumb as they sounded.

Gaia, see if you can get from them where this settlement is.

Before dumb and dumber could retort, Gaia spoke again. "That is, I have nothing for you unless you can really take me to a settlement. I have been out here so long, and it gets so boooring out here, you know?" She said with a wink. Mischievous.

"W-well!" The Poochyena was blushing, "we have this nice place a little ways past the forest and I'm sure the others-" The Dark type was interrupted by a whack on the head from his companion.

"Shut it Poochy! You talk too much." The Charmander seemed immune to Gaia's charm. Oh well, 1 in 20 odds. "And you," he said, directing his attention to Gaia "you are in no position to offer anything! You are a wildling aren't you? Not part of a settlement?" Gaia was livid.

"Wilding! You are calling me a wildling! Go shit in a bush you savage!" As entertaining as this was, the situation was getting out of control.

Peace, Gaia. Find out what they know, then castrate them. Gaia calmed down a bit, but only just.

"Yeah, I thought so." The Charmander said. "That means no one knows you are here, and know one will care what happens to you. Now you don't have anything on you, and you probably don't know anything useful being a wilding and all. That means were going to work out some aggression on you, get some battling experience in, yeah? Don't worry, we won't kill you. We aren't feral after all…" They just wanted a battle? That was… kinda cute, Oscar thought. If they weren't talking about maiming his Gaia.

Go for the Darkling, I will take the lizard. He told Gaia, and the fight was on. It was a short fight.

Oscar knew now why Gaia was so confident, she quick attacked the Poochyena before anyone else could tell what was going on, and literally just Pounded the poor mutt into unconsciousness in the span of a few seconds. Oscar capitalized on a mistake the Charmander made in fighting near the river, and simply picked the struggling lizard up telekinetically and dumped him into the cold water. And held him there. The fire type thrashed wildly for a few seconds, muffled but audible screams making it to the surface. After about thirty seconds the struggling stopped, and Oscar contemplated simply killing the fool. He decided the information was more important, and brought the unconscious Charmander to the surface before it drowned to death. He set the Fire type next to the bleeding Dark type, and gave Gaia a grin.

"Brutal." He said simply, looking down at the bleeding snout of the unconscious Poochyena.

"Yes." She agreed, still fuming from being the center of the newcomer's attention.

"Well," said Oscar after a moment, "I don't know Dream Eater, but an unconscious mind is an unguarded mind without training. Let's see if our Charmander friend here knows anything of use." And with that he tried to enter the sleeping Charmander's mind. He was untrained in psychic defense, as Oscar expected, but Oscar was similarly untrained in psychic warfare. He never got the chance to make it to Saffron city for a proper psychic education, and Team Rocket only had a budding program dedicated to such things, and his duties kept him too busy to participate. Still, it was better than nothing.

"There is a cave," Oscar began after a few minutes, eyes closed in concentration as he spoke, "to the east. About two days on foot. It is their hideout, and there are about ten other outlaws there. It is in a mountainous region just outside the forest." A few more minutes pass. "They are outlaws according to the… exploration society? A group of, ah, Pokémon?" That stuck Oscar as very odd, but he continued. "Dedicated to, well, exploration and the common defense I suppose." Another few minutes, Gaia silent the whole time. "They focus on petty theft, they were eager to bring back a good haul to appease their boss, a Gabite. They are scared of him, but terrified of the Alakazam guild leader in… some nearby province. I cannot tell where." Oscar was straining now, this was the longest he had ever tried to peer into a mind and it was showing. "He is waking, I could keep going but I think it might be best to get the rest out of them the old fashioned way for now."

"Yeah, okay Master." Gaia said, "if you think its best. That was all useful information anyway." They kept their attention on the two other Pokémon as they regained their consciousness, at about the same time, Oscar mused.

"ugh-ow" the Poochyena groaned, putting both paws on his head. He looked up after a moment and yelped, seeing not one but two angry Pokémon looming over him.

The Charmander woke up with a scream and a gasp, panting heavily as his eyes flew open and moved rapidly. He was clearly in shock from the near-drowning, and Oscar decided to strike while the iron was hot.

"You will answer each of my questions directly, you will answer them without complaint and you will answer truthfully. I will know if you are lying. If you fail to do this, I will put you back in the river until you lose consciousness again. And we will do this again, over and over until I am satisfied with the answers. If I like what I hear, I may just decide to not hold you under the water until you die. Do you understand?" Gaia simply chuckled at the promise, Team Rocket didn't play games. The Poochyena whimpered but otherwise stayed silent as the grave, as he did not want to direct the attention to himself. The Charmander, after a taking a moment to process what was said, simply started crying. Oscar came off too strong, and the little Fire type was overtaken with fear. He wailed and begged and groveled, pleading for his life. Oscar felt genuinely bad. He had escalated the situation from an unfriendly battle to torture and threat of death, on a Pokémon and not a human no less! Something about the situation rubbed him wrong. Still, always double down. He stayed silent until the wailing turned to quit sobs, then asked "Are you done? Ready to answer some questions?"

"Yes!" cried the Charmander, grabbing Oscar's forepaw and burying his head into the ground. "Just don't put me in the water again!"

"Good. What is your name, Charmander?" Oscar put some kindness into his voice, both because he felt sorry for the Pokémon, and because this kind of tonal whiplash helps to put subjects of interrogation on their back feet.

"C- Cinder, sir." The Charmander said.

"A sad name for a Charmander. You come up with that yourself?"

"M-my father! He said I would never be strong enough to master fire, he said my Ember was like the cinders of dead fire before naming me and kicking me out!" A sob story then, but true enough from what Oscar could tell.

"Well Cinder, why did you decide to attack my companion here."

"The Boss told us to get some goods to sell, said we haven't been pulling our weight. We went far away to the villages in hopes of finding some weak Pokémon to rob. We… aren't very strong. Not yet! So when we saw your Treecko friend alone, and realized she didn't have any goods, I thought at least I could get some battling in! You know, to get a little stronger? I wasn't going to really hurt her, I promise!" Cinder was telling the truth. He turned to the Poochyena.

"What about you. You are not a Fire type, but I hear drowning is unpleasant for anyone. I'm sure Gaia will be happy to oblige." With that Gaia cracked her knuckles and gave the shaking mutt a manic grin. He folded immediately.

"Same! Same! Uh, we were just looking for some easy marks, you know? Boss is real mad at us, and when she didn't have anything we wanted to make the best of the situation." He looked away to the ground, entirely too bashful.

Oscar couldn't get a psychic read on him, so he simply asked "Is that all you wanted to do?"

"Well," the Poochyena said after a moment, "I thought, maybe after a fight and we showed that we were strong, maybe she would want to come with us, you know? She could join our team and maybe we could get stronger together?" He lifted his head up and gave Gaia a dorky grin, seemingly forgetting his situation for a moment.

"You aren't my type." She dismissed him, and the mutt pawed the ground miserably. Speaking of mutt,

"What is your name Darkling?" Oscar asked.

"Darkli- uh, Stumpy, sir!" he said, and Oscar looked took a moment to look at him more closely. His legs were short, sure and he was a little stocky. But stumpy? Eh.

"Where is the nearest settlement?" Gaia asked, taking charge of the situation. Good girl.

"Uh, if you keep following the river you should hit a small village by nightfall. Its where we were going before…" Cinder trailed off.

"What did you hope do get from this village?" Oscar asked, more curious than anything.

"They make some pretty neat scarves, especially Pecha ones so you don't get poisoned!" Stumpy seemed excited at the prospect of getting a hold of these… Pecha scarves? Wait.

"Like the scarves you two are wearing?" He could see the blood drain from their faces.

"Uh…" Cinder began, looking anywhere but at them "no, these are decorative. You know, so 'mons don't mistake us for wild?"

"You are lying. What do those scarves do?" Oscar asked, eying the blue scarf around the Charmander's neck.

"They aren't even good!" He pleaded. "They boost defense, but only a little bit. Look how fast you two took us out! Please don't take them, the boss would kill us for real if we went out to get scarves but came back with less than we left with!" He was almost crying again.

"You are an odd thief. Willing to steal from others but upset at the idea that someone would steal from you? I think blue would look good on us. Hand them over." He said, giving the two brigands a stern glare.

"But-" Cinder began, before a blue glow enveloped him and he began to move towards the water. "Okay! Okay! Anything you want!" He tore the scarf of his neck and threw it on the ground. The Poochyena followed shortly after. Gaia moved to pick up both the scarves and tied the first around her neck, then the second around his. He did indeed feel a little stronger for it, but only just.

"What's in your bag?" Gaia asked, and Oscar didn't think it was possible for the two Pokémon before them to look any more defeated.

"Just, food and supplies. Honest! Please, we need it to get back, or to get anywhere. Were sorry, okay? Were really sorry, you have the scarves, please just let us go!" This was getting a little sad, Oscar was beginning to feel like a bully. He was a researcher not a grunt, and he could never communicate with his subjects, or at least he never tried to. This was new territory for him.

I think we made our point. He said to Gaia, and she nodded in agreement after a moment. Whether it was because she agreed with him or because she was just going along with what he wanted, he didn't pry to figure out.

"Fine, I think you had enough for one day. If we see you again…" he let the threat hang.

"No! Never! Thank you!" They said in unison and scurried off.

Gaia and Oscar turned to continue their trip down the river, the whole ordeal taking about ten minutes. They both walked in silence for a bit, before Oscar spoke up.

"I hope I did not make a mistake, letting them live. This kind of thing can really come to bite you in the ass. They probably only have vengeance on their mind now."

"I don't think so, Master. Pokémon aren't really as, well, vengeful as humans are. They are probably just happy to be alive, and maybe angry they were weak enough to be beat in the first place. It takes a lot for Pokémon to seek vengeance like a human does, I think we don't have anything to worry about from them." She seemed confident, unworried. Oscar decided to defer to her judgement on this. If those brigands were humans he would be sure they would be out for blood, but they were Pokémon and Gaia knew Pokémon psychology better than he did.

They soon encountered the village the brigands were talking about. About a dozen brightly colored and oddly shaped homes in the land between a fork in the river, wooden bridges across either side of the fork leading to the village proper. Without a word the two made their way into the village, just as the sun was beginning to set below the tree line.