The next couple of days went by fairly slowly, probably because I was so eager to be able to go to Bryan's house. As the days went by, I felt much less sore whenever I moved. It was reassuring to know I was healing. I decided to finally take a look at my wound, one time when Christina was changing my bandages, I reluctantly looked down. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, it just looked like I was stabbed my something, but it didn't look like I had been stabbed from the front, so that had to mean I was stabbed from the back, which would mean it went all the way through me, it's a wonder it didn't hit anything important. I wasn't sure what it had been, but I did remember something falling on top of me, maybe that had something to do with it. One morning, which was about the 3rd or 4th day I had been there, I was eating my dinner when Christina spoke to me.

"So, tomorrow will be your last day here. Your wound has healed to where you should be cleared to leave" I was a little shocked at that, had so much time past already? I knew I was healing, but I didn't expect to be leaving so soon.

Christina gave me a pat on the head. "I'll be sad to see you go, but maybe one day I'll see you again! Let's just hope it's not here" she laughed a bit qt that last part. This time her words felt genuine, nothing like when I first met her. I rubbed my forehead against her palm to show my appreciation, she seemed happy about it. I finished up my food, and with that Christina left the room.

I sat down, pondering what would happen next. Would Bryan use me in battles? I didn't even think about battling, how did I use the cool moves they did in the games and anime? I barely knew how to walk in this body, let alone fight. Then again, I'd probably have to learn to fight at some point, especially when there were Pokemon that might attack me, I had to at least be able to defend myself. How would Bryan even react to me not knowing how to fight? Would he find it suspicions? Would Emma find it suspicious?

I decided I'd worry about it when I got there, I curled up in my bed, slowly drifting to sleep.

…

It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything. I tried to look at my paws, no... Hands?! I was... human again?
I tried moving, but I couldn't, it was as if I was chained to something, my whole body. After awhile, I could see a white figure in the distance. They seemed like they were just wandering around in the darkness, they were heading in my direction.

I tried to call out. "Hey! Help me out of here, please!". But my voice didn't sounded like a voice, it just sounded like a single worded, repeated over and over.

'Zangoose! Zan, Zangoose!' That was all I heard whenever I called out, I kept trying, trying to speaking words, but all I could hear from my mouth was "Zangoose! Zan, zan!".

I cursed under my breath, why the hell couldn't I speak properly?! I was human again! So why didn't my words sound it?!

The figure came close, I couldn't make out a person, nor a pokemon. I could just see a faint, white silhouette of the figure. I could see the figure was short, proportion wise it didn't look very human.

"A perfect world... All I need... Is a perfect world...". The figure spoke, it's voice was ridged and shakey, like it was trying to... Call for help?

The figure got closer, and closer, soon it was right up in my face, but I still couldn't full make out was it was, it was still just a silhouette. The silhouette started screeching at me, as if it was trying to call out at me, then everything faded to black.

…

I jolted awake, taking deep breathes as I regained my consciousness. I looked down at my hands, they were paws again, I was still a Zangoose. Must've been a dream. The nurses must have been monitoring me, because Christina came in I woke up.

"Rye, are you alright?" Bryan must've told her I had a name. I gave her a nod to tell her I was fine and it was just a bad dream, she seemed to get the memo.

"Alright, just call out if you need anything ok?" She gently scratched me behind the ear, which made me purr like I had before, then left the room.

I lay down and sighed, what was that dream all about? I could only hope it was just a bad dream and didn't mean anything. That figure was saying something about a "perfect world"? What did they mean? I wanted to just pass it off as a bad dream and nothing else, but it felt so real. And considering I was a Zangoose, it was hard to know what was just a dream now. All I knew was that I was worried, that was for sure.

After awhile, Christina came back in with my breakfast. I had just about gotten sick of this kibble, to the point where just smelling it made my stomach churn. I knew I'd only be here for one more day though, so reluctantly, I ate the kibble barely managing not to gag in the process. Christina seemed satisfied and she took the empty bowl away while I silently prayed I wouldn't be fed the same stuff at Bryan's house.

That got me thinking, what would his place be like? Would there be other Pokémon? Would his parents like me? I hoped that he had talked to his parents beforehand, if I was some sort of surprise to them then that scene wouldn't be pretty at all. I'd have to act like a Zangoose, I wouldn't want any of them getting suspicious of me. Emma already thought that I had amnesia, I had to make sure the others did to. How many of them would there be? How could I convince all of them I was a Zangoose?

"Too many question..." I spoke to myself, once again hearing the roughness of my voice. "Focus one at a time..."

A few hours later, I got bathed again, but this time after it was over they didn't give me new bandages. They said my wounds had healed, but the scar on my stomach from it wouldn't for a long time. I didn't fancy the idea of seeing the scar every time I looked down, but I didn't have much choice, so I went with it. Later, about noon I believe, I was laying on my bed with Christina sitting on the chair nearby.

"Bryan will be here soon, so I guess this'll be farewell". She gave be a scratch behind the ear. I'll admit I had gotten so used to Christina I wasn't exactly happy to be leaving her. I once again rubbed my hand against her palm, she seemed happy that I had warmed up to her so well.

A few minutes later, we heard a knock on the door. Christina opened it, Bryan walked in, alone this time. Christina greeted him with a bow, he nodded and shook her hand, then went over to me.

"So little guy, you ready to go?" Bryan pulled out a ball, unlike Emma's, this one was nearly pure black, but it had a red and yellow strip on the top and was yellow in the middle ring where the button was, a luxury ball. I was a little nervous about going in a pokeball, but if Emma was alright with it, then it couldn't be that bad right? I gave Bryan a nod to confirm I was ready. He nodded with a smile, then gently tapped the center of the ball onto my head. In almost a second, I could feel myself... deforming? A strange red glow surrounded me as I starting feeling like I... wasn't whole. Soon the pokeball was getting close, and could feel myself getting transferred inside, making the reality around me fade to darkness.

…

I... woke up? I wasn't sure if I had ever been asleep. I wasn't even sure how to describe the feeling I had, I knew didn't feel normal, whatever normal was. It was like a mix between being conscious and unconscious at the same time... I didn't get it. I'd tell you what it looked like, but it didn't look like anything, it wasn't dark, but there wasn't anything visible to me, not even my own body. I felt myself moving, or at least floating, which was a little reassuring, but other than that I couldn't really feel much.

Then, I suddenly felt... relaxed. Like, a bunch of pressure had been lifted away. I don't know how to explain, but, it was like some sort of relaxing aura had surrounded me. It started making me feel happy, not just in general, but towards Bryan. He wasn't there, but I just felt some unexplainable happiness towards him, at least I think I did, I could feel myself smiling. Then it hit me, I was in luxury ball, which in the games increased a Pokémon's happiness towards you when you caught them. I'll admit it made me feel like I was being forced to be happy towards him, but at the same time, it felt good. I hadn't felt happy since becoming a Pokémon, sure I've had positive feelings, but until now I hadn't truly been happy.

I just floated there in my state of happiness for what felt like hours. Suddenly, I saw a sudden flash of light. I could feel my body reforming in a way, as if I was slowly being pieced back together. I opened my eyes to see I wasn't in the hospital, but I was outside. I squinted at the sudden brightness of the sun. Looking up I saw Bryan smiling at me.

"Hey Rye! We're here!" Bryan then pointed ahead. I looked to see a fairly large, two-story house, it was mostly burgundy with a navy blue roof, as well as a decently sized garage on the side. It had a balcony on the top floor and a well decorated porch with potted plants and windchimes. It was much bigger than my apartment back when I was human. Bryan chuckled at my amazement.

"I'm glad you like it so much! Come on, let's go inside!" Bryan made his way towards the porch, I got on all fours again and followed him. The porch stairs actually gave me a bit of struggle, it stung my chest a little each time I climbed up a step since I had to do it two legs at a time, but I managed without too much effort. Bryan opened the door and we walked inside, it almost looked bigger than the outside! Just in the entrance I could see multiple hallways, and the from I could see of it the upstairs had just as many. I had seen large houses before, but for being much smaller than human, this place was absolutely massive.

We walked into the main room, there was a decently large couch in it, seemed fit for a family of 4 or 5. On the ceiling was a large, crystal chandelier handing from it. And in front of the couch was a large, flat screen tv. It was huge compared to the one I used to have, but for some reason it gave me a bit of a shiver down my spine, but I shrugged it off for the time being. On the walls were bunches of drawings, seemed like they'd been drawn by a young child, but even then they looked fairly well done.

All of a sudden I was overwhelmed by a myriad of new smells, I couldn't exactly define them, but some smelled human like and others smelled like they'd belong to Pokémon, Emma and Bryan's smells were amongst them.

Bryan sat on the couch. "My folk aren't here yet, so you just relax and make yourself at home until they get here!" he pat the cushion beside him, prompting me to jump up. I wasn't too keen on jumping since I didn't know if all the movement would be healthy. Bryan seemed to notice, so he gently picked me up and placed me on his lap. I didn't hate it as much as I did with the nurses.

Bryan stroked my head, which I enjoyed and purred in response. I was almost getting used to being treated like this, as embarrassing as it was. I couldn't lie and say getting your head stroked when you're covered in fur doesn't feel incredibly relaxing.

We sat for awhile while Bryan stroked me. He picked up the remote and turn the TV on. On the screen seemed to be some Pokemon version of Naruto, with a pikachu as the main character. It played excatly as the original show, and was fairly entertaining to watch. Bryan soon took me off his lap, which saddened me quite a bit, and stood up.

"Imma go make us some lunch! Feel free to explore the house if you'd like!" Bryan the made his way into what I assumed to be the kitchen.

I decided to take up his offer to explore, I carefully jumped down the couch and made my way towards the hallways. The house was so big I didn't know where to start! I looked down the large hallway and decided to just try as many doors as I could. I went down the hallway and tried to open the first door, I couldn't just push it open, so I tried to reach for the doorknob. I couldn't jump up to it since it still hurt to jump, so I just figured I'd only go in rooms with open doors.

I walked further down the hall and got to the first open door. Peeking inside, I saw a large table with a TV that was a bit smaller than the one in the living room. There was a line up of chairs in the back as well as some sort of gaming console on the table. It seemed like a game room to me. I was glad to know that I'd potentially be able to play video game again, if I was even able to with paws.

Next room was a fairly large one stacked with instruments. Pianos, trumpets, guitars, you name it! I wasn't much of a musician when I was human, but I did know how to play piano. I wondered if I'd get an opportunity to again. It would be fun to try and play it without having thumbs .The next few rooms weren't much special, some had building tools, some had stacks of board games. There was laundry room, some bedrooms that looked like guest bedrooms, one of the rooms had a broken vending machine. Similar to the TV, the vending machine gave me a small chill up my spine, but I once again shrugged it off.

I soon got to the very back of the house, there a door that led outside to what I figured to be the backyard. It was closed, but it had a small flap on it that acted as a pet door for me to slip outside. The backyard was absolutely beautiful, there was a garden with an myriad of flowers! There were all rainbow colored too, and in perfect lined up patterns. There were two small fountains on either side of it, and behind the flowers were a couple of berry bushes. It was absolutely amazing to look at it all.

I decided to take a bit of a tour of the garden. I walked towards the flower patch, when suddenly I heard a loud noise.

SNAP!

It sounded like a twig snapping, I looked behind myself to find the source of the noise. But I didn't see anything nearby. I tried to shrug it off and kept walking towards the flowers, but then I heard it again.

SNAP! SNAP!

I looked around again, still trying to find where it came from. After searching to no avail, I heard a semi-deep voice from behind me.

"Well...? Don't be rude... Turn around, and tell me who you are..." The voice spoke very slowly, almost threatening.

I took a deep breath, then slowly turned myself around to see a indigo, cat-like creature looking back at me. They had a tuff of fur around their neck, as well as on their hair, They also had white strips on their ears, which were folded in on their head, on their paws and feet, and on their two long and soft looking tails. It was a Meowstic, a male one at that. Though one thing that made him stand out was that he was taller than me, weren't Meowstic only 2 feet tall?

"I-I'm Rye..." I stammered, a bit intimidated by his presence.

The Meowstic went silent for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face.

"So you're the kid Bryan was yapping about eh?" He said. "Well then, name's Gaze. Nice to meetcha' kid" Gaze held out his paw to me, I hesitated, but took it and shook it politely.

"N-nice to meet you too.." I was still a bit nervous, but I could tell from this guy's expression that he had good intentions, so I managed to ease up a bit.

"It's been awhile since Bryan's had some new catches. Let alone two in the matter of a few weeks" Gaze said, his eyes darting left, I assumed he was talking about Emma when he said 'two". "So, where ya from kid?"

I was nervous to answer that, since I technically didn't know. So I just went with it.

"I... don't exactly remember..."

"Aw come on, Zangoose can't learn amnesia, you gotta have some sort of recollection right?" It's as if he saw right through me, I couldn't tell.

"All I remember was the attack on my village, then I woke up in the hospital... I don't even remember where my village was at..." It sounded weird calling it "my" village, but I went with it.

"Hmm... guess we just gotta hope you can remember something soon huh?"

I nodded, he definitely didn't seem like he wanted to hurt me. So that was reassuring.

"So.. are you one of Bryan's Pokémon?" I asked, curious.

"Righto, kiddo. I'm his first one at that!" Gaze replied, he winked at me at the last part. "So, how do you like it round' here so far? Pretty nice place huh?"

I nodded in response. "Yeah! It's a very beautiful house! Especially here in the garden!"

"Heh, glad to know you're taking a liking to it." Gaze darted his eyes left again.

Just then, we heard Bryan call out. "Lunch is ready!"

"Guess that's our cue, come on kid." Gaze said as we walked back inside the house.

Once we got in the kitchen, I saw there were four bowls lined up on the floor, smallest to largest. The smallest one had Emma's name, the second largest one had Gaze's, the one in the middle of them had my name. Emma was by her bowl already, eagerly munching on whatever was inside. I took a peek inside it and was met with a fantastic surprise, inside wasn't that kibble I had been eating before, but instead was freshly cooked meat! Just the aroma of it made my mouth water.

I sat down and happily dug in, it tasted just as great as it smelled! I hadn't had fresh meat in weeks leading up to it, making the experience of eating it all the more better. Soon I had finished up my fantastic meal and laid back on the floor in content. Emma turned in my direction, and Gaze looked at me with a smirk.

"Heh, if you think that was good, just wait until ya see his mom's cooking." Gaze chuckled.

I didn't quite catch it clearly, but I could've sworn I heard a slight giggle from Emma.

After lunch, I felt rather tired. It made sense really, I hadn't had such a hearty meal in quite a while as far as I remembered, guess my body wasn't expecting one so suddenly. Bryan seemed to notice my drowsiness. He picked me up, which does not feel good when you on a full stomach, then he sat on the couch and placed me in his lap. I curled up and laid there as he stroked my head. Gaze sat next to us.

"You're gonna like it here kid, trust me." Gaze smiled at me when he said that.

"Thanks Gaze.. I'm glad to know I'm I good hands.." I said with a yawn. I was just closing my eyes when I remembered something, so I asked. "Hey Gaze? Who does that large bowl belong to? I never read the name on it..."

"Oh, it belongs to my little brother." He replied.

Gaze had a brother? Where was he at? And why was his bowl so large in comparison to everyone else's? I wondered all these questions as I drifted often into a slumber, rather nervous yet excited for the events to come.

…

(AN: I don't usually do these but I want to thank you all so much for the support and patience! I know it takes awhile between uploads, which hopefully will stop once summer starts up for me! Until then I hope you enjoyed! I'll try to make chapters around this length moving forward!)