"Just so everybody knows, the forecast said something about a chance of storms later on tonight," the Professor alerted us all. "So, Hau, I don't think it'd be a good idea to do any night-training with your Popplio tonight."

"Thanks for the heads up, Professor. Catch you guys later!"

Hau made a mad dash back to the village he called home, and my other two human companions made their way back inside. I lingered on the front porch for a few moments, taking in the sweet nighttime air. Far off in the east, out above the ocean, I saw a large mass of grey blotting out the stars dotting the rest of the sky. The sky was just barely light enough for me to make out the rain shafts pouring out below them.

"Concerned about the stormzzz coming our way?" Rotom questioned.

{As long as we're sheltered, I have nothing to worry.}

Me and my sisters usually took shelter in a closed off area in our paddock whenever a storm hit. When we were little, we were scared to death of them; we thought that the crashing noises and bright flashes of light it made would try to break in and kill us. But they never did get to us in our shelter. We had nothing to worry...

I paused, getting a strong sense of deja vu from what I'd just said. Where had I heard that phrase before?

My train of thought came to a halt when I noticed Rotom's unnerving silence. I'd half-expected some reply from him to my remark, but I got none. And I was even further alarmed by the look of distress Rotom had displayed on his screen, gazing out at the storms even more intently than I'd been.

{Something's bothering you,} I acknowledged. {What is it?}

"What? Me? Nothing. Nothing's the matter."

His response was unnaturally curt, and I knew he wasn't being honest.

{You can tell me,} I assured, stifling a yawn.

"It's...stupid. You don't need to worry about it."

I sighed. His remark had only made me even more curious, but if it was really that insignificant, then I wouldn't push the matter.

"Roooooo," Rowlet yawned.

{Ready to go inside, Rowlet?}

The bird Pokémon nodded, and both he and the PokéDex followed me through the still open door, down the stairs into the lab and over towards the bookshelf. I bedded down right beside the shelf, Rowlet nudging his way into the crook of my right arm. Rotom positioned himself against the wall facing opposite to my head. Even from the underground lab, and even from so far away, I could still hear the soft rumble of the oncoming storm. It began to bring back memories that had been long-since buried deep inside my psyche, of my home, my routine...

My family.

Would I ever see them again? Were any of them even still alive after what happened on Main Street? I didn't know. I yawned again, opening my mouth wide enough to show off the rows of teeth inside. I saw Rotom shrink back in fear and emit an undignified squeak, and I mentally cursed myself; he'd been just a foot or so away from my razor-lined jaws when I opened them. I turned my head away towards the more trusting Rowlet and shut my eyes. I was beginning to get too tired to think straight at this point, so I thought it best to let the hands of sleep overtake me until morning came.

...

Dark.

Cold.

Scary.

The unrelenting rain assaulted the ground outside and bombarded the roof of the shelter. The winds howled, working with the rain to try and tear the roof off so they could get to us. And then came the flashes of white light, and the terrible, roaring sound that always followed. I was huddled in the far corner of the shelter, curled up in a tight ball, deathly afraid of the storm's attacks. The flash of light shone again, and no matter how hard I tried, nothing could prepare me for the crash that came afterward.

It sounded off, and I let out a high-pitched scream, backing even further into the corner I was in. How on earth did Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta sleep through this? Sure, we'd all gone to sleep quite a while before the storm began, but apparently I was the only one who couldn't stay asleep.

{Omega?}

It turned out, I wasn't the only one awake at this point. Beta stood over me, a look of concern filling her large, yellow eyes.

{Why are you awake?} I immediately questioned.

{I heard you crying, so I came to see why. Are you alright?}

{I'm fine,} I fibbed, not wanting to look any more pathetic than I already did. {Go back to sleep.}

The crash sounded again, and I let out another raspy screech of terror, curling myself up even tighter. Beta bedded down beside me, the concern in her eyes turning to understanding.

{What is it, Beta? What does it want?} I pleaded for the answer.

{It doesn't want anything. It's just thunder.}

{Well, what's thunder?}

{It's just the sound the lightning makes.}

{Is the lightning the bright white flashes?}

Beta nodded to my question, then continued her explanation.

{The lightning makes the noise to let us know it's coming through.}

{Well, what does the lightning want?}

{It wants us to stay inside so we don't get caught in the storm. The lightning knows how dangerous it is, so it warns us. But it's only dangerous if we're outside.}

{So, we're safe in here?}

{As long as we're sheltered, we have nothing to worry.}

I began to process what Beta had just told me, and my fear began to fade. I supposed, in a strange way, it was nice of the lightning to want us to be safe. I just wished it could do so some other way.

The thunder sounded again. This time, the crash came from directly overhead, and it was louder than anything that had come before it. I couldn't help it; I let out yet another scream.

Beta placed a tender hand on the back of my neck and shifted closer to me so that our sides touched, then lowered her head next to mine and closed her eyes. Her presence alone seemed to slow my rapid heartbeat, so I finally found the ability to relax. Before I shut my eyes, another, softer flash of lightning illuminated the shelter, and the iridescent blue stripe running down Beta's side shimmered. The thunder that followed the flash was slow to come, and instead of a booming roar, it came as a low rumble.

{Beta?}

She chuffed in reply.

{Why aren't Delta and Gamma nice like you?}

{I don't know,} she answered drowsily. {I'm just...different, I suppose.}

It was a good enough answer for me, so I nuzzled my sister and shut my eyes. Just when I was about to fall asleep, I heard a clicking noise. The familiar scent of Alpha coming from above me filled my nostrils, and I kept my eyes shut.

"Oh, yeah. That one's a keeper," I heard him say, and I just barely felt the tips of his fingers brush my side as he ran them down Beta's. "Keep takin' good care of her, Blue."

I heard Alpha's footsteps as they walked away, back to where he was sleeping before. I wasn't scared anymore, especially with Beta sleeping next to me. Besides, Blue would take good care of me, just like he said.

...Wait. Who was "Blue?"

Something clicked. He'd called Gamma a strange name earlier that day; "Charlie." Maybe the humans had different names for us than what we had for each other? I didn't know of any "Blue" that took good care of me, but...Beta sure took good care of me. So then that must mean that the humans called Beta "Blue," just like they called Gamma "Charlie." Interesting. The name they gave Beta made some more sense, seeing the color of the stripes that ran down each of her sides.

Gamma was Charlie, and Beta was Blue. But, then, what did the humans call me and Delta?

...

It wasn't the mighty thunder crash that aroused me from sleep as much as it was the yelp that followed.

My eyes shot open, and I raised my head to look around. What made the noise? Was it Rowlet? I looked down at him; still sound asleep, nestled into the crook of my arm like it was his nest. I nudged him with the tip of my snout, earning nothing more than a small shift of his head. It couldn't have been Rowlet, he was too far into the realm of dreams.

The thunder above sounded again. There was no scream this time, rather a pitiful whimper coming from the corner of the bookshelf facing me. There was Rotom huddled against the wall, eyes covered by his blocky appendages, and shaking like a leaf in the winds outside.

{Is the storm scaring you?} I chattered, although I already knew the answer to the question.

The PokéDex jumped, letting out another yipe, and turned to face me.

"Bzzt! You're awake..." he acknowledged an awkward fake smile spreading across his screen. "Ha...Y-you startled me."

{My apologies. But it seemed to me you were more frightened by the thunder.}

The face on his screen blushed bright pink with embarrassment, and he covered his face again in shame, emitting a heavy sigh.

"I didn't want to tell you earlier," he admitted. "I didn't want to make myself look..."

{Pathetic.}

"Yeah. That. And I'm an Electric-Type; most of our attacks have a lot of thunder and electricity involved, so...I really shouldn't be afraid of something stupid like this."

{Have you ever used any of those electric attacks?}

"Well...No. I was lab-raised to power the PokéDex for a Trainer, so they didn't let me battle. They needed me to be more...You know..."

{Docile?}

"Heh. You took the wordzzz right out of my mouth...But that's no excuse for me. I-I've seen Water-Types that could handle some thunder and lightning better than I can. I'm just..."

He covered his face again and emitted what sounded like a sniffle.

"I'm just a coward."

Scared to death of the booming thunder and on the verge of tears, I couldn't help but take pity on the poor Pokémon. I'd been like that once; we were no higher than Alpha's knee the night Blue came to my side when she heard me cry out. She'd been there for me when I needed her.

So I decided to take after my sister's example.

I reached my free arm out and drew Rotom to my side facing the bookshelf. I felt him tremble, so I held him just a little tighter, then curved my neck to the side around him.

{You're safe,} I reassured. {As long as we're sheltered, we have nothing to worry.}

"I know it can't get us in here," he informed me. "But I still can't stand the noise."

Once again, the thunder crashed, this time right above the lab. This bang in particular even startled me a bit.

"AH!"

If I was merely startled, Rotom was terrified. I felt him try to back up even further, though to no avail, since he was already right up against me.

"I-I'm sorry I had to b-bother you with this," he stuttered. Now I was certain I could see tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

{You're not bothering me,} I promised, then I gave him a small nudge with the tip of my snout. {You know, I used to be scared of thunder just as much as you. One night there was a lot, and I screamed every time it sounded off.}

"Really?"

I nodded.

{You seem to be handling it a bit better than I did then. I would have screamed all night if my sister hadn't come to my side.}

"You have a sister?"

{I have three. But the other two were never nice to me.}

"Oh...really?" He seemed to forget about the thunderstorm a bit. "Did they have names?"

{Charlie and Delta were the mean ones.}

"Kzzrt! Charlie and Delta...What'd they look like? Like you, I'm thinking?"

{I believe so. Except...}

I looked at my clawed hands; the scales on them were sort of a deep, golden brown, as were my feet and tail. The only obstruction of the brown was the column of indigo-grey stripes running down my tail, right down to the tip. There were probably some on my back, too, though I couldn't see them under the bandages. The pattern and colors were different from what I remembered on my sisters.

{Charlie and Delta were more...green. Charlie was the color of the trees, and Delta was darker. She was the color of the ocean, almost.}

"Sea green?"

I nodded. There was another rumble of thunder above, and the PokéDex barely seemed to take any notice. Perhaps the conversation was doing some good, so I kept going.

{Blue was different. Mostly grey, except for the blue stripes she had running down each of her sides. She's the Beta of our pack; she's the strongest, but also the nicest. I don't know what makes her so different from Charlie and Delta. She doesn't pick on me, she doesn't bite me like the others, and she's always there for us whenever we need her.}

"I'm already likin' this Blue character."

{But she wasn't a pushover. If one of us ever acted up, she would put us in our place in a hurry if Alpha wasn't there to do it first.}

"Ooh, what wazz Alpha like?"

{This might sound silly. Will you laugh?}

"I won't. I promise I won't!"

{Our Alpha. The leader of our pack. The biggest and strongest of us. He was...a human, like Lillie and the Professor. He raised us from the day we hatched, and he trained us. We would follow his signals and chase after the prey he and the other humans put in the Paddock.}

"What wazzz it like in the Paddock?"

{It was a closed area, but it was still spacious. Blue and I were content with it, but sometimes Charlie and Delta wanted to see what it was like on the outside, and they would try to break down the gates or jump the walls. They never succeeded in getting out. Until...}

"Until what? What happened?"

{We were all put inside very small rooms. Alpha held up a chunk of some sort of meat for each of us to smell; one we'd never smelled before. The scent seemed to linger in the air, an we realized that the meat had come off of some other creature. One that was outside somewhere, waiting to be found. He wanted us to go find it for him.}

"And were you all let out?"

{Yes. The gates opened, and we followed the scent deep into the forest. I'd never seen Charlie and Delta more happy.}

"So you followed the scent. What did it lead to?"

{It lead...It...}

I stopped. What happened when we came to the source of the smell was no less than traumatizing. Did I dare tell the fragile Rotom about the monster and what it had made us all do?

For his sake-and for my own-I decided to be as simple as possible.

{Something...bad. It got all of us separated. Blue, Delta and I finally reunited on Main Street, but then...}

"What?"

{We were all thrown in different directions. Blue was slammed against a wall. Hard. Too hard. Delta was thrown into a building, and I thought I heard something explode when she did. I was thrown down the corner of the street. I...landed on the ground, I think, and rolled into another building. I figured it was a lost cause at that point, so I got up and ran away.}

"To where?"

{I...don't remember exactly what happened next. The last thing I remember after that was being on the ground just outside the lab.}

"How long ago did that happen?"

{Just over a day.}

"Where do you think your sisters and Alpha went?"

{After what happened out there, I wouldn't be surprised if they're all...}

I couldn't say it. I could barely even fathom something so tragic.

"Oh, no." Rotom caught on to where I was going. "You mean you think they're...?"

{Dead.}

A long silence lingered throughout the lab, and the word repeated itself in my head, over and over. Alpha, Blue, Charlie and Delta; gone forever. Burned, eaten, crushed, blown to smithereens...Dead.

But did I know for sure? I hadn't seen any of them actually die right before my eyes. The last glimpse I got of each of them, they were still living. Even after the monster attacked us, was there, perhaps, the slimmest chance that at least one of them was still alive? Wishful thinking, but I couldn't prove either side to be true.

I felt Rotom's blocky arms wrap themselves around my own. There was a look of sympathy in his large, blue eyes.

"That'zz...Terrible. I'm so sorry that happened."

{Don't worry about me.} I made sure I sounded as strong and as confident as possible, even though my story made me want to cry out in emotional agony. {If I survived that fight, it means I'm strong, and I proved them all wrong.}

"Hm...Interezzzting mentality."

{And you know something else.}

"What's that?"

{You and Rowlet. You've both been sort of...filling the hole my sisters once occupied.}

"We are?"

I nodded.

{The three of us. We...We're a pack now.}

"Really?" A smile spread across his screen.

{Yes. You and Rowlet are my Betas. Together, we'll grow stronger, and stronger, and we'll find more Pokémon so we can make our pack bigger, and we'll become so strong, nobody will be able to tear us down.}

"Soundzzz like a blast! Don't know why I ever doubted you so much, zzt."

{My teeth and claws are to blame for that,} I kidded.

A barely audible rumble of thunder sounded from somewhere in the distance, almost completely drowned out by the soft pattering of the rain.

"Sounds like the storm'zz just about over with. Guess it'll be clearin' up soon."

{Best get some more sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow.}

"Heehee...That should be easier now."

He nestled a bit more into my arm, not unlike Rowlet, then the mild blue light emitting from his screen faded. I turned my head away and stared up at the ceiling, reflecting on the conversation. I tried to remember what else happened that day.

I hadn't noticed until now that Charlie had been absent at the fight on Main Street, and the last place I'd seen her was in the forest. Did she run away and escape like I did? Did she fall victim to the jaws of the monster? I didn't know. What about Delta? What was the exploding noise I heard upon her impact? And Blue? Blue had been slammed into the wall of the building very hard, but I wasn't sure whether or not it actually killed her. It looked like she was still breathing after the impact; incapacitated, but still breathing. And Alpha? I never saw the monster directly hurt him, even though it tried very hard. Maybe he escaped too.

If, by any chance, I happened to be the sole survivor of the event, I was very lucky. Lucky to have survived, and even luckier to have been healed by the humans, and extremely lucky to have found a new pack in the Pokémon that I'd taken under my command.

And I would be even luckier still if I ever saw any of my packmates ever again.

...

When the sun finally rose and claimed victory over the clouds, me and my two Pokémon ventured back outside. The Professor and Lillie were out and about already, even though it was barely past dawn.

"Gonna explore some?"

The Professor had followed me out onto the porch. I nodded.

"Just make sure you come back at some point today," he chortled. "Oh, and if you plan on catching any Pokémon, I got some things for ya."

He handed me several empty Poké Balls and...something else strange. It was brown and leathery, and it crumpled up in my grasp. The human saw the confusion painted across my face.

"That's a bag for your stuff, see?" he answered. "You pack things in it, sling it over your shoulders and take a bunch of stuff wherever you want without full hands!"

I decided to try it. I put the bag on the ground, popped the metal buttons open, took the six Poké Balls in my arms and dumped them into the empty sack.

"I know it's not exactly a sight for sore eyes," the Professor continued. "That's one of my old field bags; nothing fancy. But it does its job well, yeah!"

I pulled my arms through the leather straps and let it rest on the top of my back. It was surprisingly lightweight, especially with all of those Poké Balls inside of it. I gave the Professor a chirp of a thanks, hopped over the ledge behind the lab and ran north, my Pokémon following close behind.

I stopped just left of a house. To my right, the dirt road turned to pavement, and the city sparkled in the daylight in the west.

{Show me the map, Rotom,} I commanded. {Where can we find some strong Pokémon to add to the pack?}

"There are some pretty strong Pokémon up on Route 3!" he informed. "I hear they attack Trainers all the time from above!"

{Then, let's put them in their place.}

I turned right, passed the house and found myself facing a rather steep incline. I continued to ascend up the path, and made a clean leap over a patch of tall grass, fearing it might be hiding more of those nasty brown and white Pokémon. They knew how to fight, but seeing how well Rowlet had done fighting against them showed that they probably weren't very strong, and, therefore, not worthy of being pack members. The grass thinned as the path grew rockier, and at the height of the path, there were large, brown rocks and thin passages; an interesting place. Shadows loomed overhead; I looked up and saw more odd-looking bird Pokémon. One of them apparently caught sight of me, as it swooped down, landed in front of us and displayed its flight feathers in a threatening fashion.

"Ru-kaw!" it squawked, fluffing out the large, poofy crest of feathers on its head.

{Rotom,} I chirped while pulling out Rowlet's Poké Ball. {What kind of Pokémon is this?}

"Allow me!"

He circled the odd bird, then returned to me, displaying a picture of the Pokémon on his screen.

"Rufflet: the Eaglet Pokémon! Known as a natural-born warrior, it will challenge its parent to a fight in order to gain their acceptance!"

A natural-born warrior? Sounded like a worthy opponent, so I thought it would be worth my time to catch it. I sent out Rowlet, and he let out an aggressive hoot.

{Rowlet. Tackle.}

The round bird slammed himself into the opponent with blinding speed. Now the creature was mad; it gave Rowlet a wicked glare.

"Bzzt! It'zz using Leer!"

{Tackle again, Rowlet!}

Rowlet looked like he was going to slam into the Rufflet again with his whole body, but when the Grass-Type's beak began to glow white, I knew something new was happening.

Rowlet raised his head just before the impact and slammed his beak into the enemy's abdomen, sending it flying into one of the nearby rocks.

"A new attack! He learned Peck!"

This new Peck attack Rotom spoke of was apparently a very strong move. Rufflet fell back onto the ground, completely dazed by both the attack and the crash.

I pulled out a Poké Ball so I could capture the Rufflet, but just before I was about to throw it, the creature stood back up, let out a nasty hiss and flew away.

{Hey, wait! Come back! I want to make peace!}

Rufflet simply glared down at me from above before disappearing. He didn't want to join us, even though we'd beat him fair and square?

I figured that if he didn't want to join our pack, then he wasn't as worthy as I'd first made him out to be, so I continued; maybe I would find something better.

As I continued, I found a patch of grass obstructing the barren terrain, just at the edge of a small cliff. Maybe I would get lucky and find something other than those nippy Pokémon.

I began to make my way towards the grassy area, and when I started making the left turn, I saw a human; he was clad in green, and was tossing a Poké Ball in one of his hands. Was he another Trainer? Could I try to battle him, maybe? Would I actually get the chance to battle him, or would he scream and run away in terror upon seeing me?

Only one way to find out.

I barked to get his attention. The human turned around to face me excitedly. Sure enough, when he saw me, he jumped back.

"Yo, what!? What are you!?"

I showed off Rowlet's Poké Ball, and my partner Pokémon fluttered onto my head and let out hoot to challenge him before hopping off and assuming menacing pose before him.

"You're...You're a Trainer?"

I nodded.

"And you want to fight me with your Rowlet?"

I nodded again, this time more vigorously.

"Uh...Well...Alright, then. Let's see what you got. Go get 'em, Psyduck!"

He threw his own Poké Ball, and out came another odd bird-like creature. It actually didn't resemble a bird much at all; It did have feathers, but it also had sorry excuses for wings, as well as very large eyes and an extremely large, rounded bill. Not to mention its awkward, webbed feet, as opposed to Rowlet's small and nimble talons. It's unfamiliarity made me wonder what kind of attacks it would use.

{Any tips, Rotom?}

"You have a type-advantage! Psyduck's a Water-Type! Rowlet's a Grass-Type! Leafage will be super effective!"

{Good call. Rowlet! Use Leafage!}

Rowlet flew into the air and readied to aim his glowing leaves at the opponent.

"Psyduck! Use Tail Whip!"

The yellow Pokémon turned around and began to wag its stubby tail. I saw Rowlet's confused expression from above.

{Don't let down your guard, Rowlet! Attack!}

Rowlet shook his head to regain his concentration, then fired his leaves. They did a number on the Psyduck, but it was still standing when the leaves cleared.

"Water Gun!"

The opponent shot a stream of water out of its mouth at Rowlet. It hit the Grass-Type, but it didn't seem to do much in the way of damage.

{Try your Peck attack!}

Rowlet stooped into a dive, his beak glowing an intense white, then slammed himself right into the center of the Psyduck's head.

"Scratch, now! While he's close!"

Psyduck responded to the impact with a furious slash of its small, yet surprisingly sharp claws. Rowlet fell backward and landed in front of me. He looked somewhat battered, but he wasn't giving up yet.

{One more Leafage should do it, Rowlet,} I told him. {Make your final move your greatest.}

Rowlet gave me a confident smirk and nodded. He flew back into the air, then shot so many leaves out it was difficult to keep track of them all, and they began to kick up dust as they bombarded both Psyduck and the ground around it. When the dust finally cleared, it revealed the enemy Pokémon; collapsed and abstinent. We'd won.

"Hoo, koo hoo!" Rowlet hooted victoriously.

"Heh..." The Trainer returned Psyduck to it's ball. "Not bad. I thought we could take on your Rowlet since it had a lower level than my partner here, but, I guess you showed us who was boss."

I extended one of my scaly hands in greeting, and, to my satisfaction, he met me halfway.

"Name's Ian. Yours?"

I chittered nervously; I had no answer to that question yet.

"Ah, it don't matter. I gotta go take my Psyduck to the Pokémon Center. See you 'round!"

He ran in the opposite direction. I was surprised at just how friendly everyone was to me here, despite my supposedly menacing appearance. It was nice to know I could trust the people here. It was nice to know that they trusted me.

{Come along, you two. Let's see about that grassy patch.}

"Koo...Roo?"

Just before I stepped into the grass, I paused and took a better look at my bird Pokémon. He was breathing heavily, and the place where Psyduck had scratched him across the face was rather obvious. It was then that I began to have second thoughts about having him battle whatever we found in there, at least not until he had a period of rest.

{Alright, Rowlet. Let's take a-}

"Lu-CHA!"

Before I could finish, something cried out from behind me, crashed into me and pinned me onto my side. I opened my eyes to meet those of whatever creature was holding my head down. It was smaller than me, but more than double the size of Rowlet, and it was leaner and more robust than my round, pudgy partner. It sported flashy red, green, white and orange plumage, and its black and gold eyes gave off an intense, angry glare. It stared into my gaze, and I stared right back.

"Ruche..." it growled, apparently satisfied with having pinned me down so easily.

I wasn't about to give up so easily. I began to growl myself, and the growl turned into a snarl, which turned into a screech. I surprised the Pokémon for a moment with my loud noise, and I seized the opportunity to fling it off of my face and push myself back onto my feet. It flipped backwards off of me and stood its ground, beating its small clawed fists together; it wanted to challenge me, and I accepted.

I screamed at it again, and came at it with full force. The Pokémon flew into the air, and readied an aerial attack. I braced myself for the impact and readied to open my jaws; if I got the creature in my teeth I could take it by surprise.

"Koo, ROO!"

Rowlet came between us just at the last second and hit the Pokémon with Peck. It was thrown back into the grass by the attack.

{Rowlet, you need rest,} I urged. {If you fight anymore, you'll-}

He didn't care. As the other Pokémon rose from the grass again, the two began to stand off. The taller one made a menacing fighting pose, then began to charge. Rowlet braced himself, then, just before the enemy could perform any moves, he slammed into it with another Peck attack. The Peck seemed to be doing a lot of damage to the limber opponent, as it looked as though it was beginning to wear itself out.

{What is that thing, Rotom?}

"Scanning...Scanning..."

His screen flickered as the battle between the two birds continued.

"Scan complete! Hawlucha: the Wrestling Pokémon! It fights by using its profound speed to attack its opponents' blind spots. But sometimes it showboats too much when using a special move and gets itself into a pinch!"

The Hawlucha was flitting about the air, making impressive fighting poses and taunting caws. Rowlet seemed like he was getting annoyed, as well as even more worn from excessive battle.

The enemy continued to flaunt its speed and agility; it seemed so absorbed with its act, I didn't think it would even notice if I...

That's when the idea hit me. I reached back into my bag and pulled out one of the Poké Balls the Professor had supplied me with. The creature was moving fast, so I either had to aim just right, or get Rowlet to weaken it a bit more, just enough to slow it down. I knew Rowlet was getting tired out, but if I wanted to catch this thing and put it in its place, I had little choice.

{Peck! One more time!}

Rowlet fired up his beak and readied a pounce. The Hawlucha had landed for a brief moment to rub its claws together, as though to sharpen them. My partner took the chance and ran full force at the opposing Pokémon, sending it flying into the air, stunned.

I took the chance when I had it, too. I threw the capsule while the enemy was still airborne, and it hit its target precisely before trapping it. The Poké Ball fell to the ground and began to wobble.

Once.

Twice.

Three times...

Stay in, stay in, stay in...

It clicked.

And then, it sat there as still as a rock.

I caught it.

To make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me, I stepped toward the ball and picked it up. I sniffed it; I could smell the Pokémon inside.

"Hey, you actually did it, partner! Congratzzz on your first capture!"

"Koo roo, koo roo!" Rowlet cheered, despite his fatigue.

"You know, if you want, you can give that Hawlucha you caught a nickname!"

{Pokémon can have nicknames, too?}

"Well, yeah! A lot of Trainers do it! I mean, it's not a requirement, but it's fun to give your Pokémon names!"

I released my new pack member from his spherical containment. He shook the dust off of his feathers and looked up at me.

"Lucha?" He wore a defeated, yet curious look on his face. He was certainly a strong fighter, so it must have been a surprise to him that I'd been able to use a Poké Ball on him. I decided to give him some credit for his effort by giving him a strong-sounding name. What was something about him that I could turn into a name?

He brushed some more dust off of his right wing with the clawed hand on the other, and the pristine, red feathers on the wing shone clean again. It was an intimidatingly bright color.

That was it. That's what his name should be.

{Your name,} I announced to my new packmate. {Is Red.}

Red. Like his feathers. Like the dawn. Like blood. It sounded strong, so it sounded perfect. He seemed to agree, as he showed me another one of his satisfied smirks.

"Ooh, going for the 'naming after colors' thing, huh? Interesting!"

{It's not bad?}

"Far from it! Besides, didn't you say you had a sister named Blue? It's sort of like paying tribute, am I right?"

"Rucha. Lu, ru-cha HAW!""

{What'd he say, Rotom?}

"Um...Since you won the battle against him, he will 'allow you' to train him so that he can be strong enough to defeat you one day."

He made a sorry attempt at making quotations with his fingerless "hands," as he answered my question. I saw red hold back a laugh, but he was good enough to keep it in.

"Say, how about we stop at the Pokémon Center? It's just west of here, and Rowlet needs the rest now more than ever."

I looked down at my partner; he looked especially worn out after having battled Red.

{Now would be the best time. Lead the way.}

We continued down the dirt road, and the path ahead turned green again. As we went, I reflected back on my success at a Pokémon capture; hopefully, Red would prove to be a valuable new asset to the team. And now that there were four of us, we were beginning to look less like a small group and more like an actual pack. Four of us, just as there had been four of me and my sisters.

But this time, it was different. I wasn't the lowly Omega like I'd been back in the Paddock; now, of all things, I was Alpha. And my pack members weren't just compliant, but also pleasant to be around, unlike my sisters, with Blue having been the one exception. Even Red, who I had just barely begun to know, seemed well-meaning with his compliance to stay with us, despite the roughness he'd displayed so far. Everything seemed to be going very smoothly. I was happy; so much so that almost nothing bothered me.

Except, of course, those few questions I kept in the back of my mind that I still wanted the answers to.

What was my name?

What was I, exactly?

Where was my old home and my old family?

And what really happened to them?